Millions of Canadians lined up to vote in advance polls this long weekend, as the federal party leaders hit the campaign trail for the final days before a pivotal election.
A week remains for the leaders to persuade voters that their policies present the best roadmap for Canada during an exceptional time of global economic and political instability.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will use the final week to concentrate on his message of change, while Liberal Leader Mark Carney will keep his focus on U.S. President Donald Trump and Canada-U.S. trade tensions.
Elections Canada said that a record of nearly two million people cast ballots on Friday, the first day of advance voting – though those numbers are still preliminary. On Sunday, the agency said voter turnout continued to be strong over the weekend, but no additional numbers would be released until Tuesday. As well, Elections Canada said it had received 720,654 mailed-in ballots as of late Saturday night.
The high advance voter turnout reflects a close election race in which a change of government is in play, said Alex Marland, a professor of politics at Nova Scotia’s Acadia University. He said voters are paying attention because of a heightened sense of civic duty in the face of American expansionism.
Day 3 of advance polls finds Liberals in Ottawa, NDP, Conservatives in B.C.
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“We have witnessed declining civic interest in provincial and municipal elections, partly due to Canadians paying attention to U.S. and international politics where they cannot vote, and news deserts where there is so little journalism about local politics,” Prof. Marland said. “So it is refreshing to see so many Canadians care about their own election.”
He said Elections Canada is also making it easier to vote. “I voted today on Easter Sunday – who would have thought?”
This week marks a full-time return to the campaign trail for the federal leaders after the past week, when they spent most of their days in Montreal for the federal leaders’ debates, as well as high-profile interviews with Quebec media.
Mr. Poilievre will begin the final week with events in the Toronto area, including a rally on Tuesday night in Vaughan.
The vote-rich area in the Toronto suburbs is a particular target for the Conservatives. The Ontario Progressive Conservatives won most of the seats there in the recent provincial election, though Ontario PC Premier Doug Ford has been highly critical of the Poilievre campaign to date.
The federal Conservative rallies, such as the one being held in Vaughan, energize supporters and volunteers but also offer crucial data. People have to register to attend in advance, and then their contact information can be used by local ridings to suss out likely voters and make sure they’ll cast ballots.
Mr. Carney will start the week in Atlantic Canada before heading into priority areas where the Liberals feel they can win seats currently held by the Conservatives or NDP, including spots in Vancouver Island, Edmonton, Calgary and also in the Greater Toronto Area.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney greets supporters during his election campaign tour at the Lusitania Portuguese Club of Ottawa in Nepean, Ont., on April 20.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
Mr. Carney held an afternoon outdoor rally Sunday in the Ottawa-area suburban riding of Nepean, where he is running for a seat in Parliament. His riding is directly adjacent to the one represented by Mr. Poilievre since 2004.
Mr. Carney did not take questions from reporters Sunday. In his speech, he highlighted his main policy promises, including more housing, a personal income-tax cut, reversing an increase in capital-gains taxes and new spending to support ports and other infrastructure to diversify trade.
But his main message Sunday framed the campaign as a choice for Canadians as to who is the best person to take on Mr. Trump on the trade file.
“I think we are over, now, the shock of the betrayal,” he told the crowd in reference to the U.S. President’s tariffs on Canadian goods and annexation threats. “But we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves and we have to look out for each other.”
He ended his speech by urging Liberal volunteers to work hard during the final week to get supporters to the polls.
On Saturday, Mr. Carney released his party’s platform. Saying that Canada is “in the middle of the biggest crisis of our lifetimes,” he described the platform as “a plan that meets that moment” and an economic response to Mr. Trump.
But by laying out a fiscal plan that outlines nearly $130-billion in new spending over four years and shelves the Liberal government’s earlier pledge to keep the deficit below 1 per cent of GDP as of the 2026-27 fiscal year, Mr. Carney opened himself up to criticism that he is not the centrist blue Liberal that many had hoped for.
While Mr. Poilievre has yet to release his full platform package – he said on Saturday that 95 per cent of the policies were out already – he has jumped on Mr. Carney’s bottom-line figures to return to one of his earliest attacks against the Liberal Leader.
“Mark Carney is even more costly than Justin Trudeau, and you will have out-of-control inflation if the Liberals get a fourth term,” he said Sunday at a campaign event in Surrey, B.C.
“We need a change.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre at a campaign stop in a local produce store in Surrey, B.C., on April 20.Rich Lam/The Canadian Press
He promised Sunday to cut $10-billion in spending on government consultants, arguing that government spending drives up inflation and cost-of-living pressures. He also said his promise to speed up natural-resource development could generate $70-billion in revenue over time for the government.
The Liberals released their own costing of the Conservative promises Sunday, saying that since Mr. Poilievre has vowed to cut a dollar of government spending for each dollar he promises, he’ll have to cut $140-billion in spending.
“What will he cut to match those commitments, who will be left vulnerable, and how much will these cuts weaken Canada’s economy? It’s time Pierre Poilievre stopped hiding and came clean about his divisive cuts,” Liberal candidate François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement.
Mr. Carney still retains a comfortable lead when Canadians are asked for their choice for prime minister, said pollster Nik Nanos of Nanos Research, though the debates had a marginal negative impact on Mr. Carney’s brand.
“What is striking is the East-West divide, with Canadians in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada tilting Liberal and Canadians in Western Canada more likely to prefer the Conservatives. Regardless of the outcome of the election, whether a Liberal or Conservative win, it could result in stress within the federation because of regional disconnects,” he said.
The latest survey by Nanos Research shows that the Liberals have a six-point lead at 43-per-cent support, followed by the Conservatives at 37 per cent and the NDP at 11 per cent.
The results are based on a rolling survey of 1,200 Canadians (400 each day) conducted on April 16, 17 and 19. No surveys were conducted on Friday.
The margin of error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The current level of support for the NDP is down nearly eight percentage points from the 2021 election, with their voters largely swinging over to the Liberals.
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