Tom Mulcair started Wednesday in Nova Scotia, where at least one of his three NDP incumbents in the Halifax area is locked in a tough fight ahead of the October 19 vote.
The NDP leader was in Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, a riding won by Robert Chisholm in the last election.
Chisholm, a former provincial NDP leader, ousted Liberal Mike Savage by a narrow margin in 2011, but faces a battle for re-election.
Mulcair says he feels Chisholm will win and once again brushed aside the latest polls that suggest flagging support for his party and a possible Liberal victory.
Mulcair says Chisholm, deputy leader Megan Leslie and veteran MP Peter Stoffer are working hard to ensure they'll be part of the first NDP government in Canada.
The bedrock of the NDP's pitch to Canadians is that it is the shortest path to defeating Stephen Harper's Conservatives, a narrative that presupposes the party can hold on to its historic 2011 victories, like the one in Chisholm's riding.
After he departs Nova Scotia, Mulcair is scheduled to campaign in Quebec, a province that gave the New Democrats 59 seats in 2011 and helped elevate his party to official Opposition status for the first time.
