More than 7 million Canadians cast their ballot during the four-day advance voting over the Easter long weekend, up 25 per cent from the 2021 federal election.
The Liberals and the NDP released their costed platforms during that period, while the Conservatives waited until Tuesday to reveal how much their campaign promises will cost.
Pierre Poilievre touted his plan, which includes tax cuts and new measures over the next four years, while Liberal Leader Mark Carney poked holes in the Conservative platform, saying it contains “phantom numbers.”
Meanwhile, Jagmeet Singh is still skeptical about Poilievre’s promise that he would keep pharmacare and dental care.
Here’s a recap of Day 31 of the 2025 federal election campaign. All times EDT.
5:26 p.m.: Singh can’t lead if NDP loses party status, Mulcair says
If the NDP loses official party status this election – which some polling suggests is a possibility – then Jagmeet Singh cannot continue as leader, Tom Mulcair said Tuesday.
Speaking on CTV Power Play, the former NDP leader argued Singh could not remain at the helm if the party fails to secure the 12 seats needed for official status in Parliament.
“I think that the party is going to go through a real difficult time if the result is the one that’s being predicted in the polls,” Mulcair told host Vassy Kapelos. “Especially if they do lose party status.”
Singh was asked this week whether he would resign under those circumstances, but answered that he is not currently “looking to after the election.”
Before dissolution, the NDP held 24 seats.
Stephanie Ha, CTV News Ottawa supervising producer
Election worker accused of partisan behaviour not returning Monday
Elections Canada has provided an update on the worker who allegedly encouraged advance voters at an Ontario polling station to cast their ballots for the local Conservative candidate over the weekend.
In a statement, the non-partisan agency assured voters the employee will “not be present at any EC office or polling place” during Monday’s election.
“The integrity of the electoral process, and the perception of its integrity, are our priority,” the statement said.
The incident was reported at a polling station at Teston Village Public School, in Vaughan’s Maple neighbourhood, on Friday.
Elections Canada said the matter has also been referred to the Commissioner of Canada Elections, which is responsible for enforcing election rules.
Joanna Lavoie, CP24.com journalist
3 p.m.: Poilievre addresses Assembly of First Nations
Pierre Poilievre is the latest federal party leader to address the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) during the 2025 election campaign.
In a virtual forum on Tuesday afternoon, the Conservative leader is pitching how his party would handle U.S.-Canada trade, policing, and ensuring communities have access to clean drinking water.
Green Party Co-Leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault spoke to the AFN earlier this month, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is scheduled to address the organization on Wednesday.
The Assembly of First Nations said a similar session with Liberal Leader Mark Carney is “still to be confirmed.”
The Canadian Press
1:38 p.m.: Singh explains ‘hold the line’ language
Pressed on Tuesday morning to elaborate on what he meant by “hold the line” during his rally speech last night, and how confident he is at the point that the NDP can return to Parliament with at least the same number of seats the party left with, this morning NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he’s confident “Canadians have seen the difference that we’ve made.”
“We want Canadians to know who’s really going to hold the line for you,” Singh said. “We’re saying if you want someone that’s going to hold the line on the things that you hold dear, the things that you believe in, the things that you care about… the only party that’s going to do that is New Democrats.”
Asked if he’d resign if the party loses official status, Singh said: “I’m not looking to after the election.”
Read more about the party’s push to secure votes in British Columbia, where half the party’s seats currently are, and where supporters are worried about losing ground.
Rachel Aiello, CTV News national correspondent
1:04 p.m.: Singh remains unconvinced Poilievre would keep dental care, pharmacare
Singh says he is not surprised by the contents of the Conservatives’ plan.
“That’s what they do. They cut health care, they cut services, and that’s what his plan is proposing again to have massive cut,” the NDP leader said.
Throughout the campaign, Singh has repeated that Poilievre will cut dental care and pharmacare, which the Conservative leader has continuously denied.
On their platform today, the Conservatives revealed that both programs will remain.
However, Singh is not convinced.
“Do Canadians honestly believe Pierre Poilievre will keep these programs? I mean, not to go back too far, he voted against dental care, he voted against pharmacare,” Singh said.
“He’s fought against them, he’s opposed them, and now we’re to believe that he’s somehow going to defend them?”
Bryann Aguilar, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist
12:52 p.m.: 7.3 million Canadians cast their ballot during 4-day advance voting
An estimated 7.3 million Canadians cast their ballot during the four-day advance polls, Elections Canada said on Tuesday.
It is a 25 per cent increase from the 2021 advance vote. Elections Canada noted that the number is an estimate as some polls may not have reported yet.
On the first day of the advance vote, nearly two million voted, setting a record and prompting Elections Canada to make adjustments due to the huge turnout.
This year’s advance was scheduled on the Easter long weekend, a week before the general election date of April 28.
Bryann Aguilar, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist. With files from The Canadian Press
12:45 p.m.: Poilievre warns Canada could look like ‘The Last of Us’ without change
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Canada could be on track to a scenario where people are so desperate that they are hunting and foraging for food in the woods.
Citing a report from January, which laid out a plausible future where inequality has widened even further, he compared the analysis to the post-apocalyptic world of the television show “The Last of Us.”
“This is where the country is headed if we continue down the Liberal track,” Poilievre warned during a campaign stop in Vaughan, Ont. where he released his full platform.
“It sounds incredible – something from the post-apocalyptic TV show, like “Fallout” or “The Last of Us,” but this is the forecast from Prime Minister Carney’s own government department.”
The report, titled “Future Lives: Social mobility in question,” was released in January by Policy Horizons Canada, a government think tank which tries to identify emerging trends and challenges for the country.
While the report itself does not make mention of the HBO show about a zombie-driven apocalypse, it does highlight growing inequality in Canada and lays out a “plausible” future 15 years down the line in which “hardly anyone believes that they can build a better life for themselves, or their children, through their own efforts.”
The report says that future could include people foraging to meet their basic needs, bartering with one another in order to avoid taxes and seeing the federal government as “irrelevant” in a world where home ownership and upward social mobility is almost impossible.
“I think somebody has to ask Mark Carney; has he seen this report? His department wrote it, and what they are anticipating on the current trajectory is a total meltdown, a societal breakdown in Canada, if we stay on the current track,” Poilievre said.
While the report lays out a grim possible future that the authors call “plausible,” they caution that “upward social mobility may never be as difficult or rare as suggested in this scenario.”
Joshua Freeman, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist
12:35 p.m.: Singh evokes Carney’s Brookfield job to contrast health plan
Jagmeet Singh is honing in on frontrunner Mark Carney, demanding the Liberal leader commit to strengthening the federal law for publicly funded health care insurance.
During a campaign stop in Vancouver, B.C., Singh brought up the Liberal leader’s previous job at Brookfield Asset Management, which owns Healthscope, one of Australia’s largest private hospital operators. Citing a 2025 independent audit, Healthscope allegedly failed basic safety standards under a public-private partnership deal.
Carney was chair of Brookfield from 2022 until mid-January of this year, when he resigned to run for the Liberal leadership.
“Mark Carney’s firm cut corners, underpaid staff, and made a fortune while care declined,” Singh said. “Now he won’t even commit to enforcing the Canada Health Act. Canadians deserve to know—does he plan to cut $28 billion from health care the same way Brookfield did overseas?”
Singh was referring to Carney’s answer during a campaign stop in Calgary earlier this month when he was asked how he would enforce the Canada Health Act when the Alberta government had been promoting and funding more private health options.
Carney did not respond directly and said he believes in working with provinces.
The Act establishes criteria and conditions related to insured health services and extended health care services that provinces must fulfill to receive the federal cash contribution under the Canada Health Transfer.
“The man who chaired a global privatization machine won’t say if he’ll stop it here,” said Singh. “Canadians shouldn’t have to guess where their prime minister stands on public health care.”
Singh went on to reiterate the New Democrats’ health care promises, which include enforcing the Act and penalizing provinces that violate it.
“You can trust New Democrats. We got your back. We’re in it for you. We’re going to fight to defend it,” Singh said.
Bryann Aguilar, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist
12:25 p.m.: Poilievre’s plan ‘a joke,’ Carney says
Liberal Mark Carney says the numbers in Conservative Pierre Poilievre’s costed plan “are a joke.”
He also slammed the platform as having “phantom numbers” and “phantom growth that comes from the sky.”
“We aren’t in a joke. We are in the worst crisis in our lives,” Carney said during a campaign stop in Trois-Rivières, Que.
He noted that Poilievre does not have a plan to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump.
When a reporter brought up a remark from Canadian economist Trevor Tombe, who said the Liberals’ plan is unsustainable, Carney, responding in French, said he has a lot of experience as an economist and an economy manager.
He then defended his plan, saying it would accelerate growth in Canada.
“Obviously,” Carney said when asked if Tombe was wrong.
“I have more experience than he does, I have to say,” he added in French.
Later, Carney asked voters to choose who will manage the finances of Canada: “Is it going to be Francois-Philippe Champagne and myself and our team? Or is it going to be a group that made it up on a napkin, released it a couple of days before the election, and has never taken responsibility for these types of decisions in the past?”
Bryann Aguilar, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist
11:50 a.m.: Carney promotes Quebec promises
Liberal Leader Mark Carney is campaigning in Quebec today, and during a campaign stop in Trois-Rivières, he promoted his promises to protect the province’s identity and economy.
Among them is ensuring that the French language will never be on the negotiating table. A U.S. report published last month pointed out Quebec legislation respecting French as the province’s official and common language as a hindrance that could impact trade between the U.S. and Canada.
Carney also reiterated that supply management—a system that protects Canadian farmers and has drawn the ire of Trump, who says it’s unfair to U.S. workers—would also not be on the negotiating table.
He also vowed to establish Canadian-made standards for federal infrastructure funding, including requirements to maximize the use of Canadian and Quebec steel, aluminum and forestry products.
Bryann Aguilar, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist
On the trail: Singh tells B.C. voters to ‘Hold the line’
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been campaigning in British Columbia – the province home to half of the party’s seats – since Friday.
Asked repeatedly over the long weekend about spending some of the final days of the 2025 federal election in potentially at-risk ridings the party currently holds, Singh would respond by stating who wouldn’t want to be enjoying the West Coast’s early spring.
“We want to spend our time in beautiful parts of our country where we can let Canadians know that they’ve got someone on their side,” Singh said Sunday.
But, on Monday night – at his first and so far, only rally of the campaign – Singh had a new message for B.C. voters.
“In this election, British Columbians will decide what happens next, whether Mark Carney gets a supermajority, or whether there are enough New Democrats in Parliament to hold the line,” Singh said. “To fight for public health care… to make sure working and middle-class people don’t get pushed out while millionaires and billionaires cash in.”
Rachel Aiello, CTV News national correspondent
11:06 a.m.: Liberals respond to Poilievre’s plan
Liberal candidate François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement that Poilievre’s plan fails to “respond to the moment” as Canada faces threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“At a time when President Trump is fundamentally reshaping the international trading system, and threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty, Pierre Poilievre put forward the same tired ideas he’s been peddling for years: more cuts, more division, more chaos. That’s not change,” Champagne said.
He then accused the Tory leader of hiding “dangerous cuts” to health care, child care and housing investments in his plan.
“Pierre Poilievre’s platform is just another way he’s following President Trump’s playbook,” Champagne said.
Bryann Aguilar, CTVNews.ca federal election journalist
10:40 a.m.: Conservatives unveil cost of platform
The Conservatives have released their fully costed platform with more than $31 billion in deficits this year.
The measures include a 15 per cent income tax cut for Canadians making an annual salary of $57,000 a year.
The new promises would result in a deficit of $31.4 billion in 2025-2026; $31.5 billion in 2026-2027; $23.6 billion in 2027-2028; and $14.2 billion in 2028-2029.
The platform also adds projected revenue gain from scrapping programs such as clean electricity regulations and the carbon tax on industry and residents as guaranteed revenue.
Poilievre claimed that his plan will cut the “Liberal deficit by 70 per cent” by cutting back on “bureaucracy, consultants, foreign aid to dictators and terrorists.” He says he will slash money for special interests and unleash “half a trillion dollars of extra economic growth by unlocking the power of resources in home building.”
The platform, called “Change,” promises to cut the lowest personal income tax rate by 15 per cent -- from 15 per cent to 12.75 per cent -- meaning the average Canadian worker earning $57,000, for example, will save $900, with dual-income families saving $1,800 a year.
Read the full costed platform here.
Judy Trinh, CTV News national correspondent
Liberals ahead six points, with two key groups ‘absolute toss-ups’
The Liberals have a six-point advantage over the Conservatives on Day 31 of the 36-day federal election campaign.
A three-day rolling sample by Nanos Research conducted on April 19-21 has the Liberals at 43 per cent over the Conservatives, who are at 37 per cent nationally.
“There are two key groups that are absolute toss-ups in the latest nightly tracking,“ said Nik Nanos, official pollster for CTV News and the Globe and Mail, “middle aged voters and voters in British Columbia.”
Regionally, Liberals are ahead in the Atlantic, Ontario and Quebec, while Conservatives remain dominant in the Prairies. B.C. is a dead heat.
When it comes to whom Canadians prefer as prime minister, Liberal Leader Mark Carney has a 13-point advantage, with 47 per cent choosing him over Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who sits at 35 per cent. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh remains a distant third at six per cent.
Read the full story here.
Phil Hahn, CTVNews.ca election editor-in-chief
