Middle-class votes sought for 1 big reason

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau can't stop talking about the middle class. In ads, speeches and in question period, the two party leaders refer repeatedly to middle-class families.

The idea of the middle class is also a major theme in the byelection race in Toronto Centre, one of four ridings seeing voters go to the polls Monday. Bourassa, in Montreal, and Manitoba's Provencher and Brandon-Sourisare also seeing hard-fought races.

In a recent ad, Trudeau refers to the middle classas his priority.

"Because my priority is the Canadians who built this country:the middle class, not the political class," he said.

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Mulcair also referred to the middle class in his speech to caucus at last spring's policy convention.

"Today, our country faces levels of income inequality not seen since the Great Depression, and the middle class is struggling like never before," he said in April.

"Middle-class wages are consistently on the decline. Yet the Conservative solution is to demand even more from you and to leave even less to our children and our grandchildren."

Despite that, it isn't all that easy getting politicians to define what they mean by the term.

"I think that the key thing to consider when we're talking about the middle class is the self-definition and our expectations around being in the middle class," saidChrystiaFreeland, the Liberal candidate in the Toronto Centre byelection and author of Plutocrats.

"I think that that sort of combination of working hard, expecting thatyour own hard work will translate into a comfortable and secure lifestyle for you, andthen a belief that if your children work hard and get a good education" they'll do well, she said.

93% say they're middle class

NathanRotman,national director of theNDP, said the middle class isn't easily definable.

"Certainly I thinkit's people who are struggling to make ends meet today," he said.

"People are saying well I hear that the economy is doing well, but I don'tfeel that it's working for me. I don't see the fruits of that strong economy in myday-to-day life...Certainly [people who are] not in the top one per cent and certainly not in the bottom five."

In fact, aspecific definition of the middle class might bethe 60 per cent of Canadians who make more than the bottom 20 per cent (more than about $10,000 individual income) and less than the top 20 per cent (less than about $60,000),

Average annual individual income in Canada in 2011 was$39,300, with $29,000 clocking in as median income, the income around which half of households earn more and half of households earn less.

Average family income in Canada in 2011 was $66,200 and median family income was $48,300.

But the vast majority of Canadians identify as middle class, despite there beingspecific numbers to help people figure out where they fall.

That'san enormouspool of voters to try to attract.

"Between lower middle class, middle class and upper middle class, you have 93 per centof Canadians self-identifying," saidTonyCoulson, group vice-president of corporate and public affairs at Environics Research.

Parties direct policies to attract middle class

It's no wonder the Liberals andNDPwant those middle-class votes. When politicians directly address the middle class, they're addressingalmost everyone.

Coulson says people may feel they're being reached out to when a politician says they're speaking to the middle class.

"When they hear, you know, I'm working for the middle class, I'm concerned about themiddle class, those kinds of statements, they likely will feel some, some affinitytoward that," he said.

The NDP and Liberals have both focused policies on appealing to the middle class, including the New Democrats' emphasis onhousehold debt and lowering credit card fees, and the Liberals' references to making ends meet and affordable education.

One Conservative strategist says it's not only the opposition that's trying to appeal to those voters it's just that the government does it more subtly.

"It strikes me that it might detract from your credibility a little bit if you put it out there publicly that you are targeting a major demographic group like the middle class. It sounds tactical and it sounds kind of manipulative," saidYaroslavBaran,a principal atEarnscliffeStrategies.

"You'll see the Conservatives talking about families, families with children, consumers, taxpayers, seniors, seniors on fixed income, our brave men and women in uniform, etc. These are groups that it's easier for people to identify with or identify themselves as being a part of. They're more specific communities."

Coulsonagrees that the strategy may not be targeted enough, since there are so many sub-types within the group of Canadians who call themselves middle class.

"Youngurbanites, multicultural suburban households, aging folks in the inner suburbs and older people in small towns and rural areas," are all included, he said.

"So it's really a diverse group that falls within middle-class definitions and as a result the tactical outreach might need to be more tailored to those groups."

Byelectionsa rehearsal for 2015

NDP candidate LindaMcQuaighas written severalbooks about income inequality, including last year'sThe Trouble with Billionaires. Because so many people identify as middle class, she says it's better to look at income inequality as a measure.

"In the last 30 years, virtually all the income gains have gone to the top. Particularly to the top 10 per cent, particularly the top oneper cent. And when you get below that, what you find is incomes have actually stagnated or even declined,"McQuaigsaid.

The four byelectionson Monday allow the parties to rehearse their general election campaign messages.

Toronto Centre is particularly interesting with Freeland and McQuaig, two middle-class champion heavyweights, facing off.

It's so far ledto fights over which candidate bought a more expensive home and hasworked harder to keep professional jobs in Canada.

As Canada's politicians refine their messaging in the two years leading up to the next federal election, the focus on "middle-class priorities" is bound to get sharper.

"I think the middle class is one that encompasses most people and certainlyis around, that talks to, to both the struggles that people have and how they seethemselves, and I think that's an important way of reaching out and engaging voters,"Rotmansaid.