"I would like to see more people ask politicians who use the term 'middle class' who they are talking about specifically," says David Hulchanski, who researches urban issues at the University of Toronto.

Hulchanski says that's because many of the promises politicians make won't actually benefit the true middle class, even if politicians say that's who the pledges are aimed at.

For example, the Conservative campaign proposal of family income splitting would most benefit households who earn more than $70,000, according to most experts.

And yet Statistics Canada's latest Survey of Household Spending shows the median pre-tax household income is $58,500.

And if middle class were defined by a middle income range, that same survey puts it at between about $47,000 and $71,000 dollars per household.