Harper campaign will begin without ministers David Emerson, Loyola Hearn and Monte Solberg, who each announce retirement

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OTTAWA - Stephen Harper's quest for a majority government begins Sunday when the prime minister heads to Rideau Hall to seek the dissolution of Parliament and a federal election, sources say.

He will have to seek that mandate without three cabinet ministers who announced Thursday that they will not run again.

There was no surprise in the confirmation that Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson and Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn had run their last campaigns. The withdrawal of Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg - one of the original Reform MPs from Alberta - was unexpected.

Harper has repeatedly downplayed the prospect of a big win and publicly declared that the next election - to be held Oct. 14 - will likely result in another minority government.

But with a lead in the latest surveys, a huge advantage in polls that compare the party bosses, and hopes of big seat gains outside Quebec and Ontario's metropolitan centres, the Tories are privately optimistic.

They say their campaign is designed to win over specific voters in key ridings, and if they peel enough of these voters away, they can scrape together the three-dozen seats they need for a majority.

The Tories have actively courted middle-class families, sprinkling the federal budget with targeted tax breaks to appeal to the suburban soccer moms and tradesmen who could hold the keys to a majority.

But the Liberals point out that the hodge-podge of tax changes - reviled by economists who prefer simple, across-the-board tax cuts - have pushed the federal treasury dangerously close to deficit.

They will campaign on at least three key ideas: Liberals are better managers of the public purse; the prime minister is secretive, has often broken his word, and subsequently can't be trusted; and that the Liberal carbon-tax plan would benefit both the environment and the economy.