Election day is here as Canadians cast ballots after record advance turnout
After a campaign that lasted 35 days, Canadians head to the polls Monday in a federal election punctuated by record-breaking early voter turnout, U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and his repeated attacks on the country’s sovereignty with calls to make Canada the 51st state.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault spent the past month traversing the country vying for votes.
The Liberal party holds a four-point lead heading into Monday, according an Ipsos poll done exclusively for Global News that was released Sunday.
Preliminary early voting turnout figures from Elections Canada estimate that 7.3 million Canadians voted early, a 25 per cent increase from the 5.8 million voters who cast their ballots early in the 2021 general election.
Throughout the five-week campaign, Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, has pitched himself as offering a steady economic hand amid the threats posed by Trump’s tariffs. Poilievre, a career politician, honed in on crime and the high cost of living as key focuses, while Singh pushed to uphold government-funded social safety nets he says are under threat.
Trump’s tariffs — part of his larger global trade war — and his calls for Canada to become a U.S. state weighed heavily on the campaign, to such an extent that Carney took several detours off the trail to act in his capacity as caretaker prime minister.
On the final full day of the campaign, a deadly vehicle attack at a Filipino festival in Vancouver led all major party leaders to hit pause and offer condolences.
At least 11 attendees were killed, and many others were wounded in the incident.
On election day, Carney will be in Ottawa, as will Poilievre, with both expected to cast their ballots Monday. The Conservative leader will remain in the region close to his Carleton riding, a seat he has held since 2004, but that has come under threat in this election.
Singh will hold a campaign event in Port Moody, B.C., and will then attend an event to mark the Day of Mourning in Burnaby.
Global News’ network-wide election night broadcast will air live on April 28 across the country at 7 p.m. eastern/4 p.m. Pacific. The special will be hosted by Dawna Friesen alongside senior national affairs correspondent Eric Sorensen and chief political correspondent David Akin, who will bring viewers up-to-date information throughout the evening and results across Canada’s key ridings.
Joining the election night team is host of Canada’s No. 1 political show, The West Block, Mercedes Stephenson, as well political panelists including former federal labour minister Seamus O’Regan, former federal transport minister Lisa Raitt, former federal NDP finance critic Nathan Cullen, former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and more.
Covering the campaign headquarters on election night are Global News journalists Mackenzie Gray, Touria Izri, Neetu Garcha and Mike Armstrong.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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