TORONTO — It's transparent, manipulative and opportunistic, and often runs the risk of backfiring horribly.

And yet the flurry of government largesse that's been apparent to voters on the eve of this week's all-but-certain election call has become a pre-campaign tradition in Canada.

Brazen though it may be, loosening the purse strings is a time-honoured tactic that can throw a tight race one way or another, political observers said following a week of big-ticket commitments to the country's immigrants, investors, farmers and aboriginals, among others.

With the minority Liberal government on the edge of collapse, the latest torrent of good-news announcements hits home with the most unlikely of voters - those who don't care, said political pundit Michael Nolan.

"The group that doesn't think too much about politics on a regular basis, they could be impressed with this," said Nolan, professor emeritus of the University of Western Ontario.

"These voters tend to go with some issue, or with some leader who pushes their hot button and it tends to be almost an emotional thing. You want those voters on your side."

With pollsters predicting another close race, every bit of momentum helps.

But when it comes to the majority of voters, who are either committed to their party of choice through thick and thin or suspicious and cynical about all of them, the government's newfound generosity doesn't cut much ice.

Paul Nesbitt-Larking, chair of political science at Western's Huron University College, said the effect of most pre-election promises tends to be much more diffuse.

"There is a large group in the middle who are not moved so much by the specifics but are more convinced perhaps by the general approach of the government in power," Nesbitt-Larking said.

"It sort of goes in the positive bank account of goodwill that people have in their minds for the Liberal party."

By targeting aboriginal issues, for instance, the Liberals create the impression of the kind of socially moderate, progressive policies they want Canadians to expect in exchange for their votes - and drive a wedge between themselves and their political rivals.

"The Conservatives, of course, are very weak on the aboriginal file," Nesbitt-Larking adds. "The underlying assumption is that the party is fairly hostile to aspirations for aboriginal self-government."

Underpinning all of this is the ever-present danger that the spending spree could backfire.

"There's a huge amount of cynicism across the country and there comes a point where even those who have supported the government will blanch when they see a torrent of things coming down," says John Wright, senior vice-president of pollsters Ipsos Reid.

"It's when it's seen as excessive that it then becomes an opportunity for the opposition to seize on it."

Whether that's the case with the Liberals remains to be seen.

Nolan admits "there's an element of desperation" to the latest barrage of announcements, which has included:

• Up to $5 billion for new military transport aircraft;
• $2 billion in compensation for victims of abuse at aboriginal residential schools;
• Changes to income-trust guidelines that include lower taxes for individual investors;
• $755 million for hard-pressed grain and oilseed farmers;
• A multimillion-dollar investment in labour-market training for Ontario;
• $700 million to improve the immigration system.

"The problem this time has been that the Liberals are suffering a credibility problem with that terrible scandal that's hanging over them," Nolan said, referring to the sponsorship scandal that has come to represent the essence of government corruption.

"Anything they do tends to be seen through that prism."

Bruce Anderson of the polling firm Decima Research said he suspects few people pay close attention to pre-campaign manoeuvres at all.

"Many of them will be missed by many many people," said Anderson, noting that a lot of people decried the very idea of a holiday campaign.

In part, he said the reluctance to return to the polls appears to be because many are waiting for the outstanding Gomery report, which is expected to land Feb. 1. But Anderson said it was also because the public hasn't appeared enthusiastic about any of the political choices.

Whatever sway is held by pre-election spending will more than likely dissolve with the collapse of the government, said Nolan.

"You come out of the starting blocks almost even. Up until now, there's no question the government has the agenda, but that changes suddenly."