Why have federal party leaders spent little time in Alberta this election?

Federal party leaders have nearly finished marching the campaign trail, but they have spent little time in Alberta along the way.

CBC News has tracked where the major party leaders held campaign events so far, ahead of election day on April 28.

While the Conservative, Liberal and NDP party leaders have visited Alberta, so far each leader has only visited one of the two biggest cities on the campaign trail.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney, for example, has only been in Calgary, though he did visit Edmonton a few days before he called the election.

"It boggles my mind how the Liberals would not send their leader into Edmonton," said Dennis Pilon, a politics professor at York University in Toronto. He described Edmonton as a "key battleground" for the three major parties, but especially the NDP and Liberals.

"That seems like a shot in the arm — particularly when the polls are looking Liberal-positive."

Pierre Poilievre is scheduled to be the first major party leader to visit the province's two largest cities, when he makes a campaign stop in Calgary Friday afternoon. 

Nationally, CBC's poll tracker suggests the Conservatives, led by Poilievre, are chipping into the Liberals' lead. The NDP, led by Jagmeet Singh, is trying to hold onto official party status.

Alberta, historically, mostly votes blue, and the poll tracker suggests the Conservatives are well ahead of the other parties in the province.

"You have a pretty good idea what's going to happen [in Alberta] before the starting gun's even fired," said Justin Archer, partner of Berlin Communications, an Edmonton ad and communications agency.

"It doesn't make a whole ton of sense for people to spend a lot of resources here trying to pick up seats." 

So far, major party leaders have combined for 11 visits to Alberta, a province with 37 seats. The four provinces in Atlantic Canada, which combine for 32 seats,  have had 23 party leader visits this campaign. 

Archer and Pilon said that parties have limited resources and, legally, can only spend so much during a campaign, so they have to be strategic about where to send their leaders.

Leaders tend to get sent where they can generate buzz — and, potentially, make inroads, they said.

Singh held five events in Edmonton, though four were in the Edmonton Centre riding. Poilievre held two events in Edmonton ridings, plus a rally just south of the city. He will visit Calgary for the first time on the campaign trail Friday afternoon. 

Carney, meanwhile, held three events in Calgary, but none in Edmonton. 

The Green Party co-leaders have not visited the province. The Bloc Québécois only campaigns within Quebec. People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier has made stops in Edmonton and Calgary, as well as in smaller centres like Red Deer.

While most of Alberta's seats will go blue, the Liberals and NDP will be competing in Edmonton for progressive seats, Pilon said. 

Pilon acknowledged Edmonton seems to be an important place this election, but said those races are unlikely to swing the election unless Monday turns into a tight contest.

The Conservatives dominate in Alberta, he said, but the Liberals tend to have an "efficient vote," winning seats across the country.

"Ultimately, the contest is won by how many seats you win, not by how many votes you get," he said.