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CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – A battle over a C$5.5 billion ($5.7 billion) oil pipeline to the West Coast and oil sands tax policy have led a thorny debate over energy and the environment early in Canada's election campaign. Canada has become the biggest energy exporter to the United States with its oil sands the main supply, prompting Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper to tout the country as an emerging energy superpower.</p>
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Conservatives could get majority: poll</p>
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TORONTO (Reuters) - The Conservatives have a lead of about 9 points over the Liberals in an opinion poll released on Saturday, hovering around levels that could give them a majority in the May 2 federal election. The Nanos Research tracking poll of results over three days of surveys put support for the Conservatives at 40.5 percent, barely changed from 40.6 in Friday's poll.</p>
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Liberals pledge to maintain healthcare funds</p>
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TORONTO (Reuters) - The Liberals pledged on Friday to maintain a 6 percent annual funding increase for healthcare beyond 2014 if they win the May 2 federal election, touching on a key issue facing the nation's aging population. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff tried to differentiate his party from the ruling Conservatives, saying he would maintain the funding transfers to the provinces after the federal-provincial Health Accord expires in 2014, rather than spending billions on fighter jets, tax cuts for large corporations, and new prisons.</p>
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Conservatives vow to kill deficit early</p>
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MISSISSAUGA, Ontario (Reuters) - The Conservatives, trying to secure an elusive majority in the May 2 federal election, promised on Friday to eliminate the budget deficit a year earlier than planned if they win. Polls show the Conservatives, in power since early 2006, are likely to retain office. Prime Minister Stephen Harper insists only his right-of-center government can be trusted to ensure Canada recovers fully from the global financial crisis.</p>
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Canada loses jobs but full-time positions surge</p>
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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's economy unexpectedly lost jobs in March but a huge jump in full-time positions suggested solid economic growth and bolstered expectations the central bank will raise interest rates later this year. The "curveball" report initially knocked the Canadian dollar lower. But traders, seeing signs of strength beneath the weak headline figure, then pushed the currency to its strongest level since November 2007.</p>
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TMX deal opponent set to issue "minority" report</p>
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TORONTO (Reuters) - A critic of plans to take over Canadian exchange operator TMX Group will put out a minority report that opposes recommendations to come from an Ontario legislative panel, raising the prospect that an early step in a complicated review process will approve the deal. Gilles Bisson, the only member of the left-of-center New Democratic Party on the Ontario committee, would not comment on the contents of his minority report, or on the conclusions of the majority report.</p>
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Vote, but not Conservative: Canada's Arcade Fire</p>
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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Grammy-winning Canadian rock group Arcade Fire urged voters not to choose the ruling Conservatives in Canada's May 2 election, though the indie superstars said it was "really important" to get out to vote. A statement on the band's website drew attention to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's opposition to the Kyoto climate change treaty and his support for the oil sands industry, a large emitter of greenhouse gases.</p>
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Separatists could decide on who governs Canada</p>
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LAVAL, Quebec (Reuters) - A party that seeks independence for the French-speaking province of Quebec has assumed a disproportionate role in the politics of Canada, the country it would like to see broken up. The perennially strong electoral showing of the Bloc Quebecois in the province has made it all but impossible for rival parties to win a majority in the federal Parliament, allowing the separatist party to play the role of kingmaker.</p>
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Saskatchewan looks to protect roads from floods</p>
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WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Floods from melting snow could damage highways and bridges in Saskatchewan, the government of the Western Canada farm province said on Thursday. Record rains last year left the ground saturated in the autumn, followed by heavy snowfall this winter.</p>
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Canada healthcare needs tough medicine, Dodge says
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TORONTO (Reuters) - Whoever wins Canada's May 2 election faces an "enormous problem" in funding the country's public healthcare system and will have to make tough choices to keep it ticking, former Bank of Canada chief David Dodge said on Wednesday. Dodge, co-author of a study on the system published by the market-friendly C.D. Howe Institute, said Canadian healthcare spending will rise to 19 percent of gross domestic product in 2031 from 12 percent in 2009 if it keeps growing at its current pace.</p>
            