Federal election campaign to officially kick off Wednesday

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will officially kick off the federal election campaign with a visit to Rideau Hall at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, Liberal sources have told CBC News.

Trudeau will formally ask Gov. Gen. Julie Payette to dissolveParliament, setting the stage for Canada's 43rdgeneralelection on Oct. 21.

CBC News will have extensive live coverage on CBCNews.ca,CBC News Network and CBC TV beginning at9 a.m. ET. The radio special will start at10 a.m. ET.

The various party leaders have been holding campaign-style events for several weeks, but the official start means strict rules around spending and advertising kick in.

The Liberals are seeking a second four-year mandate, citing the party's accomplishments on child poverty, job creation and Indigenous relations while beating back criticism over the SNC-Lavalin ethics breach.

Conservative Leader AndrewScheerwill be fighting his first campaign as party leaderand will continue to tear into Trudeau over his ethics record and performance on the world stage.

TheNDP'sJagmeetSingh is also fighting his first campaign as leader. He's strugglingto retain his party's third-place status as Green Party Elizabeth May works tomake a breakthrough and build on the party's two seats in the House of Commons.

The fledgling People's Party of Canada (PPC) under leaderMaximeBernieris also hoping to make a breakthrough by holding on to his own seat while bringing newMPsto Parliament under his party's banner.

The CBC's latest Poll Tracker, which aggregates all publicly available polling data, shows the Liberals and Conservatives neck-and-neck at just under 34 per cent support.

The Poll Tracker finds the Liberals are favoured to win the most seats, but it's not yet clear whether anyparty can secure a majority.

The NDPhas just under 13 per cent supportand appears to be on track to lose many seats. The Greens are just shy of 11 per cent and their support islevelling off after hitting new highs across the country.

The Bloc Quebecois is now sitting at 4.4 per cent, while the PPCnow has 3.3 per cent support.