By Mike De Souza
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 16 (Reuters) - With media making light
of Major League Baseball throwing a curveball at the Canadian
electorate, many experts still see the match scheduled to start
about 90 minutes before most polls close as a potential
game-changer.
Game three of the American League Championship Series
between the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals starts at 8
p.m. ET (0000 GMT) on Oct. 19, and may keep voters at home as
the ruling right-leaning Conservatives face a tight battle with
the centrist Liberals and the left-leaning New Democrats.
Toronto's playoff run is the first taste of post-season
baseball in Canada since the Blue Jays last won the World Series
in 1993, coinciding with another general election in Canada that
saw the Liberals defeat a previous Conservative government.
"The sports people aren't worried about the election
crowding them out," said Dennis Pilon, a political science
professor from York University. "It's the other way around.
Politicians are really worried that anything that could deter
voters or distract them is bad."
Pilon said he got a taste of playoff fever when he was
scheduled to deliver a lecture about politics at a Toronto pub
on Wednesday during the decisive fifth game of the Blue Jays
division series. His talk was delayed until after the game.
Some 11.5 million Canadians tuned in for at least part of
that game, a sports network executive estimated, vastly more
than the roughly 3.6 million - out of 26.4 million eligible
voters - that Canada's election agency estimates have voted in
advance polls.
Pollster Darrell Bricker from Ipsos Public Affairs said that
the game may give Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper an
advantage on election night since Liberal leader Justin Trudeau
has significant support among younger Canadians who are already
less likely to vote. Anything that keeps them away from the
polls is likely to help the Conservatives, Bricker said.
"They (Liberals) are very enthusiastic about this particular
leader and this election, but they don't have a habit of
voting," Bricker said.
The agency overseeing the vote, Elections Canada, said it
would not stop voters from monitoring the game on smartphones
while waiting in line at the polls, provided they do so
peacefully.
"In other words, if someone is cheering wildly, or causing a
scene as they watch the game on their phone, they will be asked
to put their phones away," spokeswoman Leanne Nyirfa said.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)