A steady stream of people made their way through the doors to cast a ballot at the Croatian Cultural Centre in East Vancouver over the holiday weekend.
“I’ve never missed a vote since I’ve been voting age,” said Erland Kirste as he exited after voting in advance polls on Monday.
The four-day tally is not yet known, but according to Elections Canada nearly two million people cast ballots across the country on Good Friday – a single day advance poll record.
“The other wild issue is the turnout. You know we haven’t had three out of four eligible voters cast a ballot since 1988,” said Research Co. pollster Mario Canseco. “Oddly enough, another election where our relationship with the United States was on the ballot.”
Many of the people who spoke to CTV News say there is a very clearly defined ballot-box question in this election – which party and leader are best-equipped to handle the bluster and threats of tariffs and annexation from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I think it’s been a chaotic last few months. I think a lot of Canadians are watching the events that our American neighbours are going through with a large amount of trepidation,” said voter Eva Schubert. “And I think there is a considerable concern about seeing anything similar happen in Canada.”
High voter turnout is often a sign of an electorate anxious for change, usually at the expense of the incumbent party.
But this is not a typical Canadian election and new Liberal Party of Canada leader Mark Carney has had his party riding high in the polls since the writ dropped in late March.
However, Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives have tightened the gap in recent days, and it remains to be seen which party benefits from the surge in advance voting.
“If the same voting patterns that we’ve seen before continue, then this could be a massive win for the Liberals,” said Canseco. “But, if the Conservatives get their act together and the 18 to 34 year olds vote en masse, we could be in for a close election.”
