2. Nadine Yousif
3. Reporting from Liberal headquarters in Ottawa
4. People are smiling from ear to ear here at the Liberal Party headquarters as CBC projects a win for the party.
5. Supporters cheered even louder when the big screen projected that Mark Carney was leading in his Ottawa riding of Nepean.
6. For 20-year-old Luka Jovic, who works for the Liberals, this result was unthinkable just four months ago.
7. “Four months ago it wasn’t cool to be a Liberal supporter,” Jovic says. Now, the party can claim “the biggest come-back of political history in this country.”
8. I asked him what changed. “Our leader,” he says. “Mark Carney has done a fantastic job.”
9. Jovic says that, to him, Carney is a leader who “embodies true Canadian spirit.” He notes that the former central banker had a comfortable job in the private sector before plunging into politics.
10. “He didn’t need to do this. But he stepped up at a time when Canada needed it, and that’s important.”
13. Nada Tawfik
14. Reporting from Conservative headquarters
15. The mood here has now plummeted as CBC projects a Liberal government.
16. There are rows of disappointed faces and the energy has shifted with little for them to cheer about.
17. Supporters tell me they are unsettled, very disheartened, and don’t understand the result.
18. They are still holding out hope that the Liberals won’t have a parliamentary majority.
21. Nadine Yousif
22. Reporting from Liberal Party headquarters in Ottawa
23. Image source, BBC / Nadine Yousif
24. Loud cheers have erupted at the Liberal Party headquarters after the CBC called a Liberal government.
25. It is still unclear whether it will be a majority or minority. But what seems certain is that Mark Carney will stay on as prime minister.
28. Mark Carney’s Liberal Party is expected to win enough seats in the House of Commons to form a government, Canada’s public broadcaster CBC News projects.
29. It is still too early to know whether they will win a majority of the 343 seats up for grabs, the CBC says.
32. Jenna Moon
33. Live editor
34. Image source, Getty Images
35. As Canadians face the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs and the president’s oft-repeated claim that he could turn Canada into the “51st state”, an election that just a few months ago appeared to be a sure thing for the Conservative Party has turned into a much tighter race.
36. That could be due to strategic voting in some areas – meaning that voters cast ballots not necessarily for the party they back, but specifically to prevent a candidate they dislike from winning. This time around, the Liberals appear to be siphoning off NDP voters who are concerned about Trump and wary of a possible Conservative government.
37. In the 2015 general election, which saw a Liberal sweep under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, grassroots organisations pushed strategic voting, external for the Liberals in an attempt to end a decade of Conservative rule.
38. Left-leaning Canadian voters will be familiar with calls to vote strategically. The country’s first-past-the-post electoral system means that it’s possible to win a tight race without a majority of the popular vote due to vote-splitting amongst left-wing parties.
39. In 2019, as many as a third of Canadians reported voting strategically.
40. It’s impossible to know just yet whether strategic voting will have a major impact on the election results this time around. Regardless of the outcome, Trump has riled up Canadians enough to potentially tip the scales.
43. Nadine Yousif
44. Reporting from Liberal headquarters in Ottawa
45. Canadian political scientist Laura Stephenson, chair of the political science department at Western University in London, Ontario, tells me the results we’ve seen so far are largely unsurprising – though she cautions it is still too early to infer how the night will go overall.
46. Support for the Liberals in Atlantic Canada is traditionally higher, she says, and that has held true.
47. Conservatives are leading in a few more seats than polls predicted, but Stephenson says it is a hallmark of the difficulty of doing surveys in that part of Canada, where the population is lower than the rest of the country.
48. What she – and much of the country – is watching for now is how votes in Quebec will shape up. Polls have just closed there.
49. “Pay attention and see what happens in Quebec,” she tells me. Specifically, she is keeping an eye on how many seats the Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party that only runs candidates in the French-speaking province, will pick up tonight.
50. The more seats they win, the more difficult it is for the Liberals or Conservatives to form a majority government.
53. The last of the polls in Canada’s federal election have now closed at 19:00 local time in Yukon and the remainder of British Columbia.
54. That means across all of Canada right now, vote counting is underway. Stay with us.
57. Nada Tawfik
58. Reporting from the Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa
59. 
60. Image caption,
61. Sharon Scharf and Eleanor Sparling say Canada cannot afford term under a Liberal government
62. Supporters have started filing in to the Conservative headquarters at the Rogers Convention Centre here in Ottawa.
63. The drinks are flowing from the bar and people are absolutely glued to the screens displaying the results as they pour in. Cheers and chants of “Take it home!” erupt as results are reported.
64. The populist sentiment is on full display.
65. I spoke to two women in Canada First shirts who told me they never believed the polls showing shrinking Conservative support, and were confident in a win tonight.
66. Indeed, early indications from Atlantic Canada have many buzzing, as many Conservatives had feared a Liberal landslide.
67. Sharon Scharf and Eleanor Sparling believe the country can’t afford to stay under Liberal leadership.
68. “I’m not a globalist, I’m more of a nationalist. Take care of us first and then if we got anything extra, we can help,” Eleanor says.
69. Mike Sammon doesn’t believe Mark Carney is any different from from previous Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
70. In fact, he doesn’t think Carney is a “true Canadian”. As far as he’s concerned, Sammon thinks Carney was more interested in globetrotting and now finds it convenient to come back and run the country.
72. 
73. Jessica Murphy
74. BBC News, Toronto
75. It’s still early in the night, but we are getting some hints about how Canadians are voting and what it might mean for the overall results.
76. We are seeing that both the Liberals and the Conservatives have increased their vote shares in the Atlantic region – at the expense of the NDP in particular, as well as the Greens (though neither party held seats in the region).
77. So we will be watching whether support continues to be siphoned off from those smaller parties to the front-runners.
78. We’re also seeing Conservatives are projected to hold on to a number of seats in the region – and even pick up one seat – suggesting it is still a tight race.
79. The shifts are illustrated below – but these changes in vote share are provisional and subject to change. They are based on around 90% of polls reporting in Newfoundland and Labrador, 70% in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and 60% in New Brunswick.
80. 
83. After some technical difficulties, the Elections Canada website – where election information and vote counts are posted online – seems to be mostly back up.
84. Some users were unable to access the website, which gives voters the ability to look for information about their riding, or constituency, by postal code.
85. A banner on the website says they are aware of the issue and that some of the site’s services are still unavailable.
87. 
88. Jessica Murphy
89. BBC News, Toronto
90. Polls have just closed across a significant part of the country, included in Ontario and Quebec, which together account for 200 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons
91. Now we’ll get a good idea of whether the rest of Canada will follow the trend seen in Atlantic Canada, where the Conservatives are projected to have managed to hold off a Liberal sweep of the region – even gain a seat – suggesting it could be a tight race.
92. As we bring you results from eastern Canada, here are a couple of things to watch for as they come in:

• Quebec is often a wildcard in Canadian elections. The Liberals have been polling ahead of the Bloc Québécois there, though the sovereigntist party has shown some late momentum. Can the Liberals hold on to their 33 seats or make gains in the province?
• In Ontario, one of the key battlegrounds is the so-called “905” region, a horseshoe of about 30 ridings around Toronto. Like any battleground, it can swing from election to election. The Liberals won all but four seats there in the last federal election in 2021. Conservatives need to make gains there to fend off the Liberals.

3. Polls in Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and parts of British Columbia have just closed.
4. That means polls in most of Canada are now closed.
7. It’s still early in the night – but we can bring you some results as we see them so far.
8. According to the Canadian public broadcaster CBC, the Liberals are so far projected to win 19 seats. Conservatives are so far projected to win six seats.
9. As a reminder, there are 343 seats up for grabs in House of Commons, so there is still a long way to go before we know which party might be able to form government. Voters in the western part of the country are still casting their ballots, and millions of votes remain to be counted.
10. Stick with us, we’ll bring you all the results as we learn them.
13. Nadine Yousif
14. Reporting from Liberal headquarters in Ottawa
15. Image source, BBC/Nadine Yousif
16. I’m at the official Liberal Party headquarters here in Ottawa, and it’s been quiet so far tonight.
17. The party has rented out a sports venue in a central area of the city to host what will be either a jubilant celebration or a sombre affair. It is in this room that Mark Carney is expected to make his address later in the evening.
18. How the night will unfold is still anyone’s guess. Votes are still being counted in Atlantic Canada, and polls have yet to close in Quebec and Ontario, where the bulk of the country’s seats are.
19. Supporters have yet to trickle in to this party. But the backstage area is full of journalists from around the world, waiting patiently to see what will happen next.
20. CBC’s live election broadcast is being projected on the big screens to keep everyone in the loop, and there’s plenty of coffee and snacks to keep us up for as long as it takes.
23. Phil Leake
24. Data journalist, BBC Verify
25. Image source, Getty Images
26. Like the UK, Canada has a “first-past-the-post” electoral system.
27. The candidate who gets the most votes in each electoral district, or riding, wins that seat and becomes an MP. The share of votes doesn’t have to be a majority, it just has to be one more vote than the second-place candidate.
28. Under this system, a party can secure the most seats in the House of Commons without receiving the most votes across the whole country, which is exactly what happened in the last election.
29. In 2021, the Liberals finished as the largest party by winning 47% of seats, ahead of the Conservatives on 35%.
30. This was despite the Conservatives narrowly coming ahead in the popular vote, receiving 34% of all ballots cast in Canada, compared with the Liberals’ 33%.
31. First-past-the-post can also mean that smaller parties struggle to convert votes into seats, particularly when their support is spread evenly across the country.
32. For example, the New Democrats won 18% of Canada’s total votes four years ago, but only 7% of seats.
34. 
35. Jessica Murphy
36. BBC News, Toronto
37. Image source, Reuters
38. Image caption,
39. Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet (r) watches the election coverage on TV at his hotel in Montreal
40. We’ve been talking a lot tonight about the Liberal and Conservatives parties, but Canada doesn’t actually have a two-party system.
41. In the political ecosystem, smaller parties – the left-wing New Democrats (NDP), the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois, and the Green Party – all have a presence in the House of Commons.
42. Both the NDP and the Bloc have at some point in their history formed the Official Opposition.
43. That’s highly unlikely to happen in this election.
44. The smaller parties are struggling to gain traction as Canadians focus on the US and the country’s economic future.
45. The NDP, which had propped up the minority Liberals under Trudeau in the last parliament, are polling nationally at about 8.5% – significantly lower than the share of the popular vote they had in the last few elections and far from their high-water mark in 2011.
46. Suggestions from pre-election polling seems to suggest that the Bloc could run about 15 points behind the Liberals in Quebec, the only province where they run candidates. They won 32 seats in 2021. Last year, the party picked up a seat in Montreal in a special election – one they are now struggling to hold.
49. Image source, Reuters
50. Jagmeet Singh, 46, is leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), a left-leaning party that traditionally focuses on worker and labour issues.
51. He made history in 2017 when he became the first ethnic minority and practising Sikh to lead a major political party in Canada. In 2019, the former criminal defence lawyer was elected as an MP in the western province of British Columbia.
52. The NDP helped the Trudeau Liberal government keep its hold on power beginning in 2021, providing needed votes in Parliament in exchange for support on progressive legislation like dental benefits for lower-income families and a national pharmacare programme covering birth control and insulin.
53. But in late 2024, Singh tore up that “supply and confidence” agreement, after Trudeau’s cabinet directed its industrial relations board to impose binding arbitration to end a work stoppage at Canada’s two largest railways.
54. At the time, Singh had said that the Liberals “let people down” and didn’t “deserve another chance from Canadians”.
57. The Conservatives are projected to have gained the Long Range Mountains seat from the Liberals in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, according to Canadian public broadcaster CBC News.
58. The announcement in the first projected flip of the night.
59. The party’s first projected win was in the riding of Central Newfoundland, according to CBC News.
60. The Liberals swept all 32 ridings across the four Atlantic Canada provinces in 2015, but the Conservatives won eight seats in 2021.
63. Canadians across the country shared with the BBC their experiences of voting in today’s federal election.
64. One voter – without naming who she backed – said her choice was the best option to deal with Donald Trump: “We need a strong person so that we can stand strong”.
65. Media caption,
66. ‘I think I did the right thing’ – Canada voters head to the polls
69. Ali Abbas Ahmadi
70. Live reporter
71. 
72. Voters in Canada share what convinced them to vote for their preferred candidate with the BBC.
73. Adam Sandell, 52, is a British-Canadian doctor working at a hospital on a remote Indigenous reserve in British Columbia.
74. The NDP is offering more to Indigenous people, and that’s a big reason why I’ll be voting NDP.
75. Indigenous voices and needs are getting lost in this election. So I’m most concerned about what Canada’s next government is going to do about, for example, the scandal that there are reserves in one of the richest countries in the world where people still don’t have clean running water. I judge a country by how it treats its neediest.
76. Stacey Jyrkkanen, 56, from Kamloops, British Columbia, is so frustrated with the Liberal government that she is voting Conservative for the first time in her life.
77. I have been a lifelong federal Liberal Party voter and Liberal Party member. This year I voted Conservative, and I also got my Conservative membership.
78. The last 14 years of the Liberals hasn’t done anything. There’s been a lot of things that they did that have disaffected people.
79. You can hear from more Canadian voters here.

Page 2

2. The first projection of the evening from Canada’s public broadcaster CBC has gone to the Liberals.
3. Philip Earle is projected to hold his riding in Labrador.
4. Of course, there are still 342 seats left to tabulate, so stick with us.
7. Image source, Reuters
8. Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, hails from Calgary, Alberta.
9. He was born to a 16-year-old mother before he was adopted by two school teachers who raised him in suburban Calgary.
10. The 45-year-old has been in politics for almost two decades and was first elected to the House of Commons at age 25. This made him the youngest MP at the time.
11. His big win came in 2022, when he secured a landslide victory in a race to become the leader of the Conservative party. The position was secured with 70.7% of the vote share. He has consistently advocated for a low-tax, small government in Canada.
12. He is known for his confrontational style of politics. In recent years, Poilievre has tirelessly attacked the Liberals and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying that their “disastrous” and “woke” policies have worsened the quality of life in Canada, while promising a return to “common sense politics” if his party were to form government.
15. Image source, Reuters
16. Mark Carney, 60, is the incumbent prime minister of Canada – but he has only been in the job for a month.
17. He replaced Justin Trudeau after the former prime minister resigned in January. Carney won more than 85% of Liberal Party members’ vote to assume the role.
18. For many in Canada and the UK, Carney will be a familiar face. He was previously the governor of both the Banks of Canada and England, serving at the former during the 2008 financial crash and the latter during Brexit.
19. He is the first prime minister from the north, hailing from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He attended Harvard University and then Oxford, where he studied economics.
20. Carney is hailed for his financial expertise. He has also taken a defiant stance against US President Donald Trump, vowing that Canada will never become the 51st US state.
21. But Carney is politically untested. He has never been elected to public office in Canada, and this general election will be his very first.
22. Additionally, his French skills are weak, which could be a liability among voters who feel strongly about preserving Canada’s French-speaking heritage.
25. 
26. Here are the ridings in which the party leaders are standing for election.
27. Mark Carney (Liberal) – Nepean, Ontario
28. Pierre Poilievre(Conservative) – Carleton, Ontario
29. Jagmeet Singh (NDP) – Burnaby Central, British Columbia
30. Yves-François Blanchet(Bloc Québécois) – Beloeil-Chambly, Québec
31. Jonathan Pedneault (Green co-leader) – Outremont, Québec
32. Elizabeth May (Green co-leader) – Saanich-Gulf Islands, British Columbia
35. The website for Elections Canada, the federal body which administers elections and counts votes in the country, seems to be experiencing trouble, with some users unable to access the site.
36. It’s unclear exactly what caused the website to go down.
37. The BBC has contacted Elections Canada for information about the outage.
40. Ali Abbas Ahmadi
41. Live reporter
42. Image source, Kathy Kettler
43. Image caption,
44. Kathy Kettler (R) is the campaign manager for local liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona
45. Nunavut is Canada’s largest federal district. The entire territory – all 1.8 million sq km (695,000 sq miles) and its 40,000 people – will be represented by one person in parliament.
46. “Nunavut is at least three times the size of France. If it was its own country, it would be the 13th largest behind Greenland,” Kathy Kettler, the campaign manager for local Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona, told the BBC.
47. Located in the Arctic, where average temperatures in the capital city Iqaluit are below freezing for eight months of the year, it is so vast and inaccessible that the only way to travel between its 25 communities is by air.
48. “There are not very many people who understand the reality of the North,” Kettler said, describing the challenges of running a campaign where so much is different from southern Canada.
49. In Nunavut, one of Canada’s three northern territories, most of the population is Inuit.
50. “The national campaign is really focused on Arctic security and sovereignty, whereas our campaign here is focused on food security and people being able to survive,” Kettler said.
51. Food can be prohibitively expensive and there are infrastructure challenges to accessing clean water for a number of Indigenous and northern communities.
52. Read the entire piece about the challenge of conducting an election in Nunavut.
55. Media caption,
56. Canadians united at the polls, says Newfoundland and Labrador premier
57. After the first polls closed in Newfoundland and Labrador just over 30 minutes ago, the province’s premier has told the BBC that he’s never seen voters so energized.
58. Andrew Furey, a Liberal, says lines were long and people were voting with a common interest in mind: Canada’s sovereignty.
59. “Who is best positioned to stand up to the president of the United States,” he told the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet.
60. Furey said his constituents came to the polls with concerns about the looming threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs and his stated desires to turn Canada into the “51st state”.
61. “People understand the significance” of this election, he said. “It’s an existential election with respect to the future of our country.”
64. Polls in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the rest of Labrador are next to close.
65. It’s 20:30 local time there now, and voting places are now shuttered.
66. We may be getting the first early indications of the election result soon, so stay with us.
69. Alison Benjamin
70. Data scientist, BBC Verify, reporting from Toronto
71. As we wait to see which MPs Canadians have chosen to form their next government, we’ll be monitoring and analysing the votes that make up those results.
72. The BBC will take results data from Elections Canada, the independent agency which organises elections.
73. Canada is vast country, spanning six time zones. This means polls close at different times across the country, but once they do Elections Canada will start posting the initial results on its website.
74. There are 343 seats – or ridings – in the Canadian House of Commons, and we’ll be reporting on and visualising the results as they come in.
75. We’re expecting the first results to come from Newfoundland and Labrador on the East Coast, where polls have just closed at 20:30 local time (00:00 BST), and the last results from British Columbia on the West Coast where the last polls will close three hours later.
76. The BBC will refer to results we get from Elections Canada as “leading” – meaning they are preliminary figures.
77. These results will include all seats where counting is under way, but they make no distinction between seats where a party is leading and where a party is projected to win.
78. Where the BBC reports on seat calls from other media outlets, we’ll use the term “projected” – and we will provide an attribution for the source of that information.
79. In the days following the election, Elections Canada will publish validated results to its website.
80. We’ll be bringing you all the data as we get it, so stick with us.
82. 
83. Jessica Murphy
84. BBC News, Toronto
85. Image source, Getty Images
86. Image caption,
87. Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders since he took office
88. Canada’s approach to Donald Trump to their south been a mix of carrot (offers to negotiate a new trade deal) and stick (counter tariffs).
89. Canada has already imposed roughly C$65bn worth in response to current American levies.
90. The US has so far partially imposed 25% blanket tariffs on Canadian goods – with some exemption in place. Canada is also hit with global US tariffs on steel and aluminium and imported cars.
91. The Conservatives and the Liberals agree on maintaining some form of retaliatory tariffs. While the details differ, they agree many funds from those levies will go to helping affected industries.
92. Mark Carney says Liberals will shift to targeted tariffs designed to maximise pain on the US while limiting harm on Canada.
93. The parties are also looking to help the economy to handle any turbulence.
94. The Liberals and Conservatives are keen to seek trade partners outside the US – by far Canada’s largest trade partner.
95. The Conservatives want to pursue a trade agreement with the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and the Liberals have said they will spend C$5bn on measures to diversify trade internationally, among other measures.
98. Image source, Getty Images
99. It is now 20:30 local time in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador, which means the first polls to open today are now closed.
100. The count begins immediately.
101. When the Canada’s Parliament was dissolved last month after the election call, the Liberals had 152 seats and the Conservatives had 120. The rest of the seats were held by the Bloc Québécois (33) and the New Democrat Party (24), and the Green Party (2).
102. It will likely be a few hours before we get the full tally, but stick with us and we’ll bring you the latest.
105. Neal Razzell
106. Reporting from Vancouver
107. The riding of Vancouver-Granville saw one of Canada’s tightest races in the last federal election. The Liberals won the seat here by fewer than 500 votes.
108. This election is different, many voters coming out of a polling station told me.
109. “This is the first one I’ve cared about,” said a man who’d just had a sauna and gave his name as Shane. “I see stuff happening in the States and it was the first time in my life when I saw politics infringing on my life.”
110. But it’s not a one-issue election, at least with the voters I met. There was talk of crime, the economy and unlocking Canada’s natural resources.
111. Danielle Clarke brought her six-year-old to watch her vote. The main issue on her mind?
112. “Definitely affordable housing in Vancouver. It’s not a cheap city! Especially with two kids, wanting to keep them where I grew up.”
115. Daniel Wainwright
116. BBC Verify data journalist
117. The political map in Canada has been re-drawn ahead of this election, with the House of Commons increasing from 338 MPs to 343. And after Monday’s election, a party will need 172 seats for a majority instead of 170.
118. Boundary changes happen every 10 years to reflect changes in population.
119. Elections Canada, the agency that administers the election, re-calculated the 2021 poll, external as if it had been fought on the new boundaries.
120. The Liberal party won 160 seats at the last election. On new boundaries, it is estimated they would have won 157.
121. Since 2021, the Liberals lost three by-elections – two to the Conservatives and one to Bloc Québécois. That means they are defending a notional 154 seats and need 18 gains for the majority that eluded them in 2019 and 2021.
122. The Conservatives got 119 seats last time but, following the boundary changes and by-elections, they go into election night as though they are defending 128.
123. 
126. Canadians now only have a few hours left to vote – depending on what area of the country they live in.
127. The 2021 election saw a lower number of voters than the previous two elections.
128. This election though is pivotal, as threats by US President Donald Trump loom over Canadians.
129. A record number of people – more than 7 million – have already cast their ballots in advance.
130. We’ll have to wait to see the turnout for this year, but queues have been forming at several polling places.
131. 
134. Regan Morris
135. Reporting from Vancouver
136. Image source, Regan Morris / BBC
137. Marichu Jaro cast her ballot and then came to pay her respects to the dead and wounded at a memorial near the site of the weekend attack.
138. As a Filipina Canadian, Maricho says she is grateful that she wasn’t at the festival with her infant on Saturday when a car ploughed through the crowds, killing 11 people including a 5-year-old child.
139. Maricho said the attack would likely have an impact on the polls as people decide which candidate would take mental health treatment most seriously.
140. “I think this is a big eye opener for all the candidates,” she said, welling up with tears. “Maybe casting our votes, maybe we can change what needs to be changed.”
141. The memorial site was crowded with mourners despite the rain on election day. Candles were extinguished, but people kept coming to lay flowers and quietly pray in the rain. Maricho says she felt compelled to vote more than ever.
142. “We have to give this to the victims,” she said of showing up to vote.
144. 
145. Lyse Doucet
146. Chief international correspondent, reporting from Ottawa
147. As if on cue, a Canadian election overshadowed by President Trump’s threats to take over his neighbour began with a taunt from across the border.
148. “No more artificially drawn line from many years ago. Look how beautiful this land mass would be,” he wrote on this Truth Social platform.
149. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, accused by his critics of a Trump-like policies and style, was the first political leader to respond.
150. “Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state,” he declared in his social media post.
151. “Every time Trump inserts himself in this election it has an impact for Poilievre,” pollster David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data told BBC News.
152. In a poll viewed as one of the most consequential in Canada’s history, Poilievre is fighting to close the gap with banker turned novice politician Mark Carney – who heads the Liberals.
153. In his last days of campaigning, Carney made President Trump not Poilievre his main target of attack.
154. Taking on Trump is the one issue political leaders all agree on, but they also know it’s not an equal fight; the US economy is 10 times the size of Canada’s.
157. Media caption,
158. Party leaders Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney cast their votes
159. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal leader Mark Carney have both cast their ballots in the Canadian election.
160. Polls have not yet closed, but some counting of ballots has started.
161. Canadians could potentially know who their prime minister is by late Monday night or early Tuesday morning (local time).
162. Polls start to close at 19:00 EDT (00:00 BST) in Newfoundland and Labrador and the last polls in British Columbia close at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST).
163. Stick with us as we bring you voices from voters across Canada, expert opinions and the most recent election day updates.
166. Neal Razzell
167. Reporting from Vancouver
168. Image source, Reuters
169. Image caption,
170. People visit a memorial site two days after a vehicle was driven into a crowd at a Filipino community Lapu Lapu Day block party, in Vancouver
171. A polling station backs onto the street where a driver killed 11 people at Saturday’s Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver.
172. People are still laying flowers as others walk through the perfumed air to vote.
173. Many victims of Saturday’s deadly incident remain in hospital.
174. Kay and Ross Howard-Jones stopped to talk.
175. “This is our neighbourhood, so we’ve been affected by it,” Kay said. “It’s absolutely devastating.”
176. But she’s heartened by the huge community response.
177. “Everybody is banding together. My son’s school is having a moment this afternoon, and we’re going from here, to exercise our right to vote, then to go donate blood.”
178. Other voters here said health care and security were their top issues.
179. Ross Howard-Jones said he “just wants to keep Canada Canada”.
182. Canada has six different time zones, so opening and closing times at polls vary according to their location.
183. The graphic below shows the closing time at polling locations according to these time zones, with the final polls closing at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST).
184. 
187. Polls have not closed but counting has already begun for mail-in ballots from Canadians who voted from abroad, according to an update from Elections Canada.
188. Those “special ballots” are being counted at a distribution centre in Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
189. Even though they are being counted now, results will not be released until after the polls have closed.
190. Party representatives are witnessing the count, and journalists have also been invited to observe, Elections Canada said.

Page 3

2. Nada Tawfik
3. Reporting from Ottawa
4. Media caption,
5. Watch: Same family, same company, different politics
6. We visited the family-owned Ottawa steel company, Ideal Roofing, which has suffered under US tariffs and whose owners fear further pain after the 90 day tariff pause ends.
7. Father and son, Claude and Philippe Laplante, work side by side, but are divided politically.
8. Claude was considering Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, but he’s decided Mark Carney has more business experience and is better qualified to negotiate with the US president and deal with a potential recession.
9. Claude’s son Philippe, though, says they’ve had a failed Liberal government for years and they can’t keep doing the same thing, hoping for better.
10. He tells me, Trump is “putting Americans first and we need someone to put Canada first”.
11. Both stress how important it is for the next leader to keep good relations with the United States, their largest trading partner.
12. While trade deals with others would be potentially beneficial to other industries, Claude says it’s not feasible for them to ship their products across the Atlantic. The geography of the US makes it irreplaceable.
15. Image source, Reuters
16. Mark Carney has just turned up and cast his vote in the Canadian federal election.
17. He went to a polling place in Ottawa, Ontario, as his opponent Pierre Poilievre did earlier in the day.
18. Carney appeared in good spirits and was accompanied by his wife Diana as he shook hands with other people at the location.
21. Robin Levinson King
22. Reporting from Toronto
23. 
24. As a long-time Liberal voter, Denise Mitsche was disappointed – but not surprised – when her riding of St Paul’s in Toronto flipped from the Liberal Party to the Conservatives in 2024.
25. “It sounds like people were ready for a change,” she tells the BBC.
26. The riding had been under Liberal control for more than 30 years but flipped during last summer’s by-election in what many saw as a sign of growing discontent with the party in power.
27. Now, Liberals hope to get their territory back, as the party has surged in the polls in what would be a remarkable comeback.
28. For many, their support for Liberal leader Mark Carney has been fuelled by Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric about making Canada the 51st US state.
29. “I feel like he’s the right person for what we need right now and what we need right now is to protect Canadas sovereignty and stand up to Trump,” Mitsche says of Carney.
30. “He seems calm, he wants to do the right thing.”
33. Nadine Yousif
34. Reporting from Ottawa
35. The main theme of the campaign has been how Canada’s next prime minister will tackle a trade war with its closest economic ally and neighbour, after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened its sovereignty.
36. Most of the leading federal parties agree on some form of retaliatory tariffs in response to those put in place by the US, though they have different ideas on how the money raised by these levies would be used.
37. The Conservatives promised to put it towards tax relief, especially for workers affected by tariffs. The Liberals have also said they would use money raised by counter-tariffs to help workers and businesses and the NDP vowed to put “every dollar” collected towards supporting those affected.
38. The Conservatives are also vowing to remove trade barriers between provinces, and have promised to call a meeting with premiers within a month of taking office.
39. Additionally, the Liberals have said they will spend C$5bn on measures to diversify trade internationally and within Canada and invest in infrastructure like ports and railroads. They have also vowed to spend C$2bn to protect Canada’s auto industry.
40. The Bloc Québécois has called for pandemic-style support for affected workers and are pushing for more support for Quebec’s aluminium industry, which has suffered under Trump’s metals levies.
41. The NDP have proposed a 100% levy on all Tesla products if Trump moves ahead with his tariffs on all Canadian goods, and to bar the president from the upcoming G7 summit in Alberta in June.
44. Jessica Murphy
45. BBC News, Toronto
46. Image source, EPA
47. Canadians know their next PM will have no choice but to deal with Donald Trump. So the question on many voters’ minds is: who can most capably handle the unpredictable US president?
48. The contest essentially boils down to the new Liberal leader Mark Carney and the Conservative’s Pierre Poilievre, who has led the Conservatives since 2022.
49. Carney, 60, brings experience on the world stage – he governed the Bank of England from 2013-2020 – but lacks time spent in the cut and thrust of political campaigning, and will get his first real test in this general election.
50. At 45, Poilievre may be significantly younger, but he is a political veteran. First elected to the House of Commons at age 25, he has two decades of experience in federal politics, including time in cabinet, and is known for his political acumen.
51. Canada and the US share deeply integrated economies, a long-standing security partnership and the longest “undefended” border in the world.
52. So when Trump says he wants to use “economic force” against America’s northern neighbour, calls the border an “artificially drawn line” and imposes steep tariffs, it marks a profound shift in the relationship between the two allies.
53. Trump’s interventions have already helped transform what seemed like a certain Conservative victory into a too-close-to-call battle with the Liberals.
54. And as campaigning began, all the party leaders focused their launch messages heavily on the US threats.
55. Trump has made his views on the election known, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham on 18 March that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is “stupidly, no friend of mine” and that it may be “easier to deal actually with a Liberal”.
56. Ultimately, he added, who wins “doesn’t matter to me at all”.
59. Media caption,
60. What Canadians really care about – beyond the noise of Trump
61. This election cycle has been dominated by the US-Canada relationship, including repeated remarks by the US president about making Canada the 51st state.
62. The BBC has asked voters across the country what it means to be Canadian – and what makes the country different from the US.
63. “We aren’t American,” says Edward, a British Columbia resident.
64. Many voters emphasise diversity, kindness and safety as reasons they love their country.
65. Some also criticise Canada. One voter calls it a “communist state”, another dubs it “broken”.
66. When asked whether they could ever see themselves being American, most voters the BBC spoke to responded with a resounding “no”. But some did say yes, or that they could see both the pros and cons.
69. Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
70. Live reporter
71. Image source, Getty Images
72. Image caption,
73. Governor General Mary Simon delivering the Throne Speech in Ottawa’s Senate of Canada, in 2021
74. One man who has a lot to do with the election but is legally not allowed to vote is Stéphane Perrault, who is the head of Elections Canada – the independent agency that administers the polls.
75. As the Chief Electoral Officer, Perrault cannot vote during his 10-year tenure, which began in 2018. After the end of his term, he is eligible to vote.
76. Perrault is not the only high-profile government official not voting today. Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon will also not be voting.
77. Simon is King Charles’s ceremonial representative in Canada and while she is not legally barred from voting, governor generals have traditionally abstained from the polls to maintain their political neutrality.
80. Image source, Getty Images
81. Even before the polls opened, a record number of people – more than 7 million – had already cast their ballots in advance.
82. Here’s how election day is unfolding:

• The first polls opened at 07:00 EDT (12:00 BST) in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador earlier today. They will close at 19:00 EDT (00:00 BST)
• The next to follow were the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the rest of Labrador. Polls here will close at 19:30 EDT (00:30 BST)
• Polls in Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and bits of British Columbia opened at 09:30 EDT (14:30 BST). Voters can cast their ballot until 21:30 EDT (02:30 BST)
• And finally, the rest of British Columbia and Yukon opened at 10:00 EDT (15:00 BST) for voting. These polls will close at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST)
• Preliminary results will likely come in late on Monday night or early on Tuesday morning, local time
• The biggest sweep of polls close at 21:30 EDT, including in Ontario and Quebec. If the Conservatives or Liberals win big in the eastern part of the country, it is possible the election can be called earlier in the night

3. Robin Levinson King
4. Reporting from Toronto
5. 
6. During last year’s by-election in St Paul’s, Shirley Grossi and her husband Giancarlo Grossi were divided on who to vote for – the Liberals, who had ruled the riding for over 30 years, or the Conservatives.
7. To the surprise of many, Conservative Don Stewart won the by-election. Now the couple want him to stay in parliament, and hope to see the Tories form the next government.
8. For Giancarlo, his support comes down to concerns about how the Liberals have handled immigration.
9. “I just want change,” he says.
10. “We say we’re doing better but our services have diminished. If you’re going to allow a lot of people in the country, you have to be ready for it.”
11. His wife Shirley says she’s worried about crime.
12. “I have this neighbourhood app and everyone’s complaining. They capture someone and the next day they’re out,” she says. “If you don’t implement tougher measures they’re just going to commit crimes.”
13. Crime, immigration, the economy – these are standard issues in any election. But this election, many Canadians say there is one big issue that has trumped them all – US President Donald Trump and his threats and tariffs against Canada.
14. Giancarlo says Canadians should focus on what’s happening at home, not south of the border.
15. “I think it (tensions with US) will pass,” he says.
16. And even if not: “Regardless of who’s in power, if Donald Trump doesn’t want to listen to you, he won’t. There’s no logic.”
19. Nada Tawfik
20. Reporting from Ottawa
21. 
22. Polls suggest Liberals are doing far better than expected in large part because anxious Canadians are shifting to the larger parties, fearing their vote might be wasted otherwise.
23. It’s certainly something we’ve been hearing in our conversations with voters.
24. Ian Wells, a 23-year-old student who plans to go into teaching, decided against voting for the smaller left leaning New Democratic Party. He says his priority now is “how best to stave off the conservatives”.
25. What’s happening in the US with the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump “horrifies him”, he says, referring to the judge who was arrested, and the way the administration has handled deportations and revoked foreign students’ visas.
26. He says he doesn’t want Canada going in that direction. “I don’t necessarily know for sure if Pierre Poilievre is that here, but he’s close enough to it that I don’t want to risk anything like that,” he explains.
29. Image source, Getty Images
30. As we’ve been reporting, today’s snap election in Canada is considered to be a referendum on almost 10 years of Liberal rule.
31. US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats to the nation’s sovereignty have also cast a long shadow over Canadian politics over the last few months.
32. As voters head to the polls to choose their new leader, here is some BBC content to help you take a step back and look at the wider context and key issues that have come up in this election:
35. Ali Abbas Ahmadi
36. Reporting from Toronto
37. 
38. Outside a Toronto polling place, 50-year-old Noel D’Souza tells me about his chief concerns going into this election.
39. “Crime is something that’s been on a lot of people’s minds,” he says.
40. Car thefts appear to be on the rise in the Greater Toronto Area, and D’Souza “doesn’t want it to become a big problem [in his neighbourhood]”.
41. He adds that it is important to “make sure we make the most of our economy”, and that the rising cost of living is making life difficult for many Canadians.
42. I thank him for speaking to me, and he smiles and replies: “Good luck to us all!”
45. Nada Tawfik
46. Reporting from Ottawa
47. 
48. At the riding in Ottawa South, we also spoke to those voting Conservative, including two elderly couples.
49. George Pires used to be a fan of Donald Trump, but no longer, and says he doesn’t take his threats seriously.
50. “That’s not going nowhere, Canada’s stronger than that,” he insists.
51. Repeating Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s signature line, he says the country needs “change” after three terms of Liberal rule.
52. Another man agrees. “The last elections, it’s been liberal, and the country’s gone downhill,” he tells me after casting his vote.
55. It’s been a few hours now since the final polling stations opened in British Columbia and Yukon, meaning that voting is now in full-swing across Canada.
56. Here’s a quick look at the voting process has been playing out across the country.
57. Image source, Getty Images
58. Image caption,
59. In the capital Ottawa, we are seeing long queues as people wait to cast their vote
60. Image source, Getty Images
61. Image source, Getty Images
62. Image caption,
63. There are 122 seats up for grabs in the province of Ontario – including the opposition leader Pierre Poilievre’s seat in Carleton
66. Eloise Alanna
67. Reporting from Montreal
68. 
69. A young woman in Montreal, who identifies as “fiscally conservative and socially liberal,” has voted for the Conservatives despite long-standing support for the Liberals.
70. She says if her peers knew how she voted, she would be seen as “harsh and selfish” and fears facing repercussions.
71. Sitting on a park bench in the sunshine, she explains that her views have shifted because she believes the country needs to “correct course” to better protect women’s rights.
72. “I’m pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ, and pro-immigration,” she says, “but some of the views being imported into Canada are very anti-woman.”
73. As a woman, she explains that she sees a “distain towards women which is chilling to the bone,” adding: “I don’t have hatred towards that, I have fear.”
74. She argues the current government is not doing enough to uphold Canadian values, particularly on women’s rights, and says she is tired of the Liberal’s “smoke and mirrors, with nothing behind it.”
75. She also voices concern about the economic struggles faced by immigrants, saying many are unable to send money home or access healthcare. “I want people to live the Canadian dream,” she says, “but we need immigrants with compatible views.”
76. Ultimately, she says her decision is about cutting back on immigration and foreign aid. “The Conservatives may not fix things overnight,” she says, “but they are the only ones who can give us hope.”
79. Image source, Reuters
80. In Chambly, Quebec, Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet has cast his vote in today’s election.
81. He heads the Quebec-sovereigntist party that only runs candidates in the French-speaking province.
82. The 60-year-old became leader of the Bloc in 2019, but first got involved in politics in the 1980s as a member of the youth committee of the provincial Parti Québécois.
83. Image source, Reuters
86. Nada Tawfik
87. Reporting from Ottawa
88. 
89. We’ve been speaking to a few voters who turned up shortly after polls opened in the Ottawa South riding. Several issues came up from healthcare and housing to the economy more broadly.
90. But among liberal voters, one overarching theme was the threats from US President Donald Trump.
91. It’s the first time Vency Okoye is voting, and she said the last few months had decided her vote.
92. She describes Prime Minister Mark Carney as strong, confident and fiscally responsible. “He has a PhD in economics and the man actually knows what he’s doing,” she tells me.
93. Friends Michelle and Claudia say it felt like Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was really in Trump’s corner until it became a political liability.
94. “It definitely felt very wishy washy and didn’t ring true for me,” Michelle says.
95. Another woman told me that it took the conservative leader “so long to say something against the country downstairs” that she felt it showed weakness.
98. Ali Abbas Ahmadi
99. Reporting from Toronto
100. Image source, BBC / Ali Abbas Ahmadi
101. I’m speaking to voters in the Scarborough-Agincourt riding on the outskirts of Toronto.
102. Zhu Zhang, an engineer who has just cast his vote, tells me that the “deal with the United States” and immigration were his biggest concerns.
103. “If the Conservatives win, they will bring some change – especially with criminals”, he says, emphasising that crime is a big problem in the Greater Toronto Area.
106. Image source, Getty Images
107. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre just voted in Ottawa where he is MP for Carleton, where 91 candidates are on the ballot.
108. Poilievre has represented the riding since 2004.
109. He was accompanied to the polling station by his wife Anaida.
112. Asya Robins
113. Live reporter
114. Image source, Getty Images
115. The snap election Canadians are voting in today was called by Prime Minister Mark Carney after he took control of the Liberal Party, replacing his colleague, Justin Trudeau.
116. Here’s a quick look at what has happened so far today, following an electoral campaign dominated by US President Donald Trump’s claims of Canada becoming a 51st US state, and tariffs on Canadian exports south of its border.

• Polls have now opened across all of Canada. Voting will continue throughout the day with the last polls scheduled to close at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST)
• Roughly 7.3 million people – about a quarter of all eligible voters in the country – have already voted in advance polls, according to Elections Canada
• Earlier, US President Donald Trump urged Canadians to vote towards becoming “the cherished 51st State of the United States of America”, in a post on his Truth Social account
• In response, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poillievre told Trump to “stay out of our election”, adding that Canada “will NEVER be the 51st state”
• And in an apparent reference to Trump, Liberal leader Mark Carney told Canadians that Canada decides “what happens here”

1. We’ll continue to bring you the latest developments throughout the day, so stick with us.

Page 4

2. Polls in all Canadian provinces are open and we’re seeing images coming through of people waiting in queues to cast their votes.
3. Image source, Reuters
4. Image caption,
5. Voters in Toronto have been heading to their local polling stations to cast their votes
6. Image source, Reuters
7. Image caption,
8. Canada has six different time zones, so polling stations will close at different times in different provinces, with the last closing at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST)
9. Image source, Reuters
10. Image caption,
11. Newfoundland was the first province to open polls this morning, along with parts of Labrador. The last places voting opened was in Yukon and some areas of British Columbia
14. Image source, Getty Images
15. Liberal leader Mark Carney tells Canadians that Canada decides “what happens here”, in what appears to be a reference to President Trump, who repeated his calls for Canada to become the 51st US state in a post on Truth Social earlier today.
16. In a video posted on X, external, Carney tells the public to choose to be “united and strong” against the “crisis in the United States,” which he says doesn’t stop at Canadian borders.
17. He says the US can “become divided and weak, but this is Canada”.
18. Earlier, Carney’s opponent Pierre Poilievre also responded to Trump, which you can read in our previous post.
21. Image source, Getty Images
22. As we have just reported, US President Donald Trump has posted on social media, reiterating claims that he wants to make Canada the 51st state of America.
23. In response, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has told Trump to “stay out of our election”.
24. Posting on X, external, Poilievre says the only people “who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box.
25. “Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state.”
26. He adds that Canadians can vote for change so they can “stand up to America”.
27. Poilievre was the first leader to respond to President Trump’s post- we will bring you the reaction from other party leaders if we get them.
30. Image source, Getty Images
31. US President Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social account, external urging Canadians to vote towards becoming “the cherished 51st State of the United States of America”.
32. “Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES,” he writes.
33. The US president calls to end an “artificially drawn line from many years ago”, adding: “Look how beautiful this land mass would be.”
34. He also says America “can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past” unless it is a US state.
37. Eloise Alanna
38. Reporting from Montreal
39. Image source, BBC / Eloise Alanna
40. Bob Croskey was first in line this morning at La Maisonnette des Parents, a community centre in Montreal’s Little Italy currently serving as a polling station.
41. A retired historian originally from the United States, Bob is voting for the first time as a Canadian citizen.
42. Though he says he remains “fundamentally American,” with family roots there stretching back over 200 years, he tells us he feels “deeply ashamed” of the United States today.
43. “It’s deeply depressing that we have a criminal elected president of the US,” he says.
44. Living in Canada, Bob says he feels “protected” and is “very glad and grateful” to the country for “taking me in.”
47. Polls are now open in the rest of British Columbia, which will elect 43 MPs today and Yukon – one of Canada’s three northern territories – which has just one seat up for grabs.
48. That means across all of Canada right now, the country’s political future is now being decided.
49. We will continue to bring you the latest, stay with us.
52. Image source, Getty Images
53. Image caption,
54. Parliament Hill in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, which is in Ontario province
55. There are six different time zones in Canada, and this means that polling stations across the country open at different times.
56. Polls have just opened in a third group of areas, spanning several provinces across three of those time zones.
57. Ontario – in Canada’s most southern province, there are 122 seats up for grabs.
58. Quebec – in the largely French-speaking province, there are 78 seats in the running.
59. Manitoba – 14 seats are up for grabs in the central Canadian province.
60. Saskatchewan – there are 14 constituencies in this province, also in the centre of Canada.
61. British Columbia – in the western-most province of Canada, there are 43 seats available/
62. Nunavut – voting is taking place for one person to represent the territory that has a population of about 40,000 people.
65. Voters in three more Canadian time zones are now able to have their say in polling stations.
66. Polls are now open in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, parts of British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories and Nunavut territory.
69. Image source, Getty Images
70. Unlike its southern neighbour, Canada’s ballots are hand counted by paid election workers in front of witnesses.
71. Political parties can appoint members who will witness the vote count.
72. Voting machines are not used for counting in Canada and the count begins when the polls close.
73. The results available on election night are preliminary and are validated in the days following the election, then published online.
76. Media caption,
77. Watch: Key moments from Canada’s general election debate
78. Just under two weeks before the election, leaders of Canada’s four major parties took to the stage to take place in a televised debate.
79. It was a chance for the prime ministerial hopefuls to directly challenge their oppositions, and try to rally more support.
80. Taking part in the debate were Liberal leader, and current Prime Minister, Mark Carney, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet.
81. Carney took a lot of the heat on the night, as the leaders focused on his predecessor Justin Trudeau’s policies.
82. Media caption,
83. Watch: The BBC’s Lyse Doucet unpacked the impact that the debate would likely have on Canada’s election
84. But it was someone off stage who stole much of the spotlight – US President Donald Trump.
85. A big question heading into the two-hour forum was whether Liberal leader Mark Carney, who has been leading in the polls, would stumble.
86. Each leader was also asked about the US tariffs, and they appeared to concede that it is ultimately not an equal fight.
87. Despite the frequent cross-talk, the tone overall was rather cordial.
88. The general sense of decorum was apparent when the leaders were discussing the housing crisis. In a rebuttal to Poilievre, Carney appeared to stop himself before laying into his opponent.
91. 
92. Image caption,
93. From left to right: NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, Liberal leader Mark Carney, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre
94. In Canadian elections, voters don’t directly vote for a prime minister but they choose between political parties.
95. Here’s a quick summary of the main parties:
96. Liberals – a centre-left party that has been in power for much of Canada’s recent history. It is progressive on some social issues, like abortion and LGBT rights, but is also supportive of free markets.
97. Conservatives – the other major player in Canadian politics is led by Pierre Poilievre. They stand for low taxes and government regulation in the economy.
98. This cycle, their stance has mirrored other right-wing parties around the world, speaking against “woke” agendas and calling for reduced immigration.
99. New Democratic Party – sits a little to the left of the Liberals and champions a social democratic society with some government regulation of the economy.
100. The party takes progressive stances on social issues, such as immigration and the environment.
101. Bloc Québécois – a Quebec-sovereigntist party that only runs candidates in the French-speaking province.
102. Green Party – holds the fifth-largest amount of seats in the House of Common. They focus on championing a fairer future for all and protecting the climate.
105. Image source, Getty Images
106. Early voting for this election has shattered records with about 7.3 million people already casting their ballots nationwide, according to Elections Canada – the independent agency that administers the polls.
107. That is about a quarter of all eligible voters.
108. In the 2021 federal election, 5.8 million Canadians voted early.
109. Advance voting began 18 April and ended 22 April.
110. Those who didn’t vote will have the chance to do so today. Early votes are counted after polls close, but election workers can request to start counting one hour before polls close, if the volume is high.
113. Image source, Reuters
114. Image caption,
115. Although most of the country will vote today, many have cast their votes early in advance polls.
116. It’s pretty simple. To vote in a Canadian election you must:

• be a Canadian citizen
• be at least 18-years-old, and
• have proof of your identity and address

3. Image source, Getty Images
4. Image caption,
5. Sunrise over Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia
6. In Prince Edward Island, there are four seats up for grabs. New Brunswick has 10, and in Nova Scotia, there are 11 seats.
7. As we mentioned earlier, there are seven seats in Newfoundland and Labrador, which is where the first polls in Canada opened today.
8. The next set of polling stations will open in just under two hours, with people in Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut and others stretching all the way to British Columbia getting ready to vote.
11. The provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the rest of Labrador are next to join in as polling stations continue to open across Canada.
12. It’s 08:30 local time there now, and people are beginning to make their way to cast their votes.
15. Image source, Getty Images
16. As we’ve just reported, the first polls to open in Canada were in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador.
17. There are seven ridings in the country’s most eastern province, with each corresponding to a seat in the House of Commons.
18. They are: Avalon, Cape Spear, Central Newfoundland, Labrador, Long Range Mountains, St John’s East, and Terra Nova – The Peninsulas.
19. In January 2025, the provincial government recorded a population count of 545,579.
20. As that population – of voting age – cast their ballots, stay with us to follow the polls opening across the country.
23. It’s now 08:30 in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador, which means the first polls in Canada are now opening.
24. Of course, some have already opted to vote via post or through advance polling stations.
25. But the majority of Canadians will be voting today.
26. Image source, Getty Images
27. Image caption,
28. Residents of St John’s, Newfoundland, are now able to head to polling stations
31. Matt McGrath
32. Environment correspondent
33. As the threat posed by US President Donald Trump tops Canada’s federal election agenda, the issue of the country’s contribution to global warming has been largely overshadowed.
34. The two main contenders are pushing plans for new energy infrastructure as the country seeks to pivot away from its reliance on the United States.
35. Carney’s Liberals are promising to make Canada a global superpower in both conventional and green energy. The Conservatives under Poilievre want to invigorate the oil and gas sector and scrap the industrial carbon tax.
36. It’s a big shift from the 2021 election, when the environment topped the list of voter concerns.
37. Carney, who became prime minister in early March, has a long track record as an international champion of climate change.
38. However, his first action as prime minister was to repeal the consumer carbon levy.
39. Poilievre is running on cost-of-living issues, and advocating for tougher policies on law and order and what he considers “woke” cultural issues.

• Canada’s top candidates talk up fossil fuels as climate slips down agenda

3. Jessica Murphy
4. Reporting from Montreal
5. Media caption,
6. ‘I’m through and through independent’, says one Quebec resident
7. In Quebec, the issue of independence from Canada has long simmered. But faced with US tariffs and President Donald Trump’s comments about making Canada the 51st US state, many voters are now seeking unity.
8. The Bloc Québécois is a federal party that supports independence and only runs candidates in the predominantly French-speaking province.
9. “Canadian patriotism is on the rise in Quebec”, says Émilie Foster, an adjunct professor in politics at Carleton University. “We prefer to be part of Canada instead of being part of the United States, if we have to choose.”
10. Quebec can be a wildcard in general elections, and winning the province – which holds 78 seats of the 343 in the House of Commons – can propel a party to power.
11. Trump’s tariffs are expected to hit Quebec especially hard. The province is one of the biggest suppliers to the US of aluminium, a sector hit by Trump’s 25% tariffs. Its significant forestry and dairy industries are also in the president’s sights.
12. Quebec also fiercely protects its identity and its culture as a distinct society, and has twice held referendums on whether to seek independence from the rest of Canada. That’s why the US president’s repeated digs at Canada’s sovereignty has sparked such disquiet here.
15. Image source, Getty Images
16. Eleven people were killed on Saturday – only days before the election – when a car ramming attack took place in Vancouver on Canada’s west coast.
17. A 30-year-old male, identified as Kai-Ji Adam Lo is in custody and faces several murder charges after a single vehicle drove through an event marking Lapu Lapu Day at 20:14 local time (04:14 BST).
18. Little is known about the identity of those killed and wounded, but acting Vancouver police chief Steve Rai told reporters that the victims’ ages range from five to 65 years old.
19. Thousands – largely from the city’s Filipino community – had gathered for the festivities, which takes place annually to celebrate Lapu Lapu, a national hero who resisted Spanish colonisation in the 1500s.
20. While we continue to bring you coverage of today’s national election, we’ll also be keeping our news story updated with any developing details on the events in Vancouver.

Page 5

Live page editor (and Canadian)

It’s election day in Canada – and the first federal campaign in a decade that I haven’t followed from my hometown of Toronto.

In fact, I’m technically on holiday today, so I’ll be watching the day unfold alongside other BBC readers through our digital and television coverage.

Luckily, my colleagues are stationed around the country – from Montreal to Ottawa to Vancouver Island – to bring us the latest news and analysis all day.

This is a uniquely compelling election. Six months ago, I’d have told you with near certainty that Ottawa would be welcoming a Conservative government helmed by Pierre Poilievre after years of worsening public sentiment towards former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

But then US President Donald Trump took office and the reality of what his second term might mean for Canada set in. Now, tariffs are biting Canadian industries, especially automakers and steel producers.

The threat of annexation or becoming the “51st state”, meanwhile, is impossible for Canadians to ignore. They’re ditching US-made goods in droves and are cancelling trips south of the border.

An election expected to be a referendum on almost 10 years of Liberal governance is now firmly centred on who can best stand up to Trump.

Voting also comes after the attack in Vancouver at the weekend where a car was driven into a street festival , killing at least 11 people, including a five-year-old girl.

Polling shows that Poilievre’s Conservatives are in a dead heat with the Liberals – now headed by Mark Carney following Trudeau’s resignation in January.

How Canada votes will shape the country’s newly strained relationship with its closest neighbour and ally. I’ll be following closely. I hope you join us.