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Though the NDP has been trailing far behind the PCs in all polls during the campaign, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger says not to count him out.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press

The licence plate may say Friendly Manitoba but the province's election campaign has been anything but, with the NDP's Greg Selinger and Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister agreeing in the final day of the campaign that the contest was one of the nastiest and most divisive in recent memory.

Manitobans are expected to boot the province's New Democrats from power on Tuesday, ending nearly 17 years of unbroken NDP rule. Mr. Selinger blames his opponent's vague policies for the poor level of debate. The Tories say the NDP is engaging in class warfare.

For Mr. Selinger, the tough campaign comes just more than a year after he fought off a bitter caucus revolt that threatened to split his own party. That revolt rose out of his decision in April, 2013, to renege on a campaign promise and increase the provincial sales tax by one percentage point.

The Tory Leader was not available to speak with The Globe and Mail on Monday, but former party president and current spokesman Mike Richards called the NDP's campaign a symptom of Mr. Selinger's desperation.

"There's been a regrettable but clear effort to engage in class warfare in their approach to taxation and the attack on Mr. Pallister's personal success story," he said. "The NDP has pursued a desperate campaign of fear-mongering and distortion."

Sitting down with The Globe, the NDP Leader was still throwing jabs and said not to count him out. "I've run in a lot of elections where people have said that I won't win, there's only one way to know for sure," he said.

The party has been trailing far behind the PCs in all polls during the campaign.

The contest between the NDP and the Tories has been intensely personal. Mr. Selinger was served with a lawsuit in the final days of the campaign over a proposed railroad sale. He also called the Tory Leader "homophobic" and questioned his financial holdings. For his part, Mr. Pallister has faced questions about the amount of time he spent at his vacation home in Costa Rica – nearly one in five days since he was elected to lead the party.

The provincial Liberals were expected to make inroads in the election, but support collapsed after a number of gaffes from candidates and Leader Rana Bokhari.

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