It's Election Day: Here's What You Need To Know

What you need to know about voting: On the Elections Canada homepage, you can enter your postal code to find out which riding you live in, where you can vote and who your local candidates are.

Information about health and safety measures in place to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 at polling stations can be found here, and information about options for proving your identity and address while voting can be found here.

On election day, the only way to vote is at your local polling station, which will be open for 12 hours. The exact hours vary by timezone. More information about your local polling station can be found on your voter information card, or you can look it up here.

Information for voters with disabilities can be found here; information for voters at seniors’ residences or long-term care facilities can be found here; and information for students can be found here.

The Key Issues

Below are some resources examining the key issues that emerged during the election campaign.

Healthcare and the pandemic:

• From The Maple: What You Need To Know About Erin O’Toole’s Recent Comments On Private Health Care.
• From The Maple: ‘A Dumpster Fire’: Here’s Why Jason Kenney's Conservative Government Keeps Failing To Get A Grip On Alberta’s COVID-19 Crisis.
• From The Toronto Star: Parties offer competing visions for vaccination passports.
• From Global News: Canada election: Complete list of health care promises made during the 2021 campaign.

Seniors

• From The Maple: Explainer: Where The Major Parties Stand On Fighting Poverty Among Seniors.

The climate emergency:

• From The Maple: Climate Justice Advocates Point To Shortcomings In Liberal Platform, Question Conclusions Of Analysts Who Endorsed It.
• From The Maple: Justin Trudeau’s Pledge to Train More Firefighters Panned Amid Liberals’ Poor Climate Record.
• From The Maple: A Guide To Erin O'Toole's Comments About Racism, Abortion and Climate Science.
• From The Narwhal: Fossil fuel subsidies are one of Canada’s biggest climate conundrums: where do the parties stand?
• From Ricochet: None of the major parties will cancel TMX, despite heated opposition in B.C.
• From Ricochet: Conservative climate rewards program, carbon tariffs don’t stand up to scrutiny.
• From The Toronto Star: A longtime critic of Trans Mountain, Jagmeet Singh won’t rule out keeping the pipeline if elected prime minister.

Housing:

• From The Maple: Liberal Party’s Home Savings Proposal Likely Just A Tax Shelter For High-Income Canadians, Economist Says.
• From The Tyee: Where They Stand: The Parties on Housing.
• From The Maple: Does The NDP's Housing Plan Go Far Enough? (Interview with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh).

Justice for Indigenous peoples:

• From APTN: What are the major parties promising Indigenous people this election? Here’s a look at the platforms.
• From The Maple: Indigenous Leaders Did Not Ask For an Early Election, But Many Are Looking For Action From Federal Parties.
• From The Maple: Election Candidates Condemn Police Violence At Fairy Creek As NDP, Liberals Come Under Fire From Green MP.
• From The Tyee: Where They Stand: The Parties on Indigenous Child Welfare.

Disability justice:

• From The Maple: Disability Justice Lens Missing From Party Platforms, Advocates Warn.
• From CTV News: Canadians with disabilities say they're missing from the election discussion.

Child care:

• From The Maple: Erin O’Toole’s Child Care Plan Gets Failing Grade From Advocate.
• From The Tyee: Where They Stand: The Parties on Child Care.

Workers’ rights:

• From The Maple: Gig-Worker Organizer Reflects On Victories, Calls For Commitments From Federal Parties To Protect Employment Rights.
• From The Maple: What The Timing of Justin Trudeau’s Snap Election Means for Working-Class Voters.
• From The Maple: Labour Experts Pour Cold Water On Erin O’Toole’s Plan To Include Workers On Corporate Boards.
• From PressProgress: Here’s What Canada’s 3 Major Parties Say They Will Do For Workers and Labour Unions.
• From PressProgress: Here’s What Canada’s 3 Major Parties’ Climate Platforms Mean for Workers.

The illicit drug poisoning crisis:

• From The Maple: Do The Federal Parties Have Real Plans to Address Canada’s Illicit Drug Poisoning Crisis?
• From The Tyee: Where They Stand: The Parties on the Toxic Drug Crisis.

Gun control

• From CTV News: Gun control advocates unimpressed with O'Toole's policy change on Liberal gun ban.

Reproductive rights

• From The Maple: A Guide To Erin O'Toole's Comments About Racism, Abortion and Climate Science.

Miss The Leaders’ Debates? We’ve Got You Covered

We lifted the paywall for our coverage of the French and English language leaders’ debates:

• From The Maple: We Took A Closer Look At Key Claims Made By Party Leaders During Last Night’s Debate.
• From The Maple: Party Leaders Slam Trudeau's Early Election Call And Climate Record As O’Toole Dodges Questions About Private Healthcare During Debate.

What The Politicians Themselves Have To Say

During the election campaign, we spoke to leaders and candidates from the NDP, Greens and Liberals to dig deeper into the key issues facing voters this election. Hear what they said on The Maple’s election podcast series, and be sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google and SoundCloud for more great content after election day:

• EP1 - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh On Housing.
• EP2 - Avi Lewis On The NDP's Climate Plan.
• EP3 - Green Candidate Paul Manly On Fairy Creek, Policing And His Party's Infighting.
• EP4 - Liberal Candidate Jennifer Grenz On Decolonization, Indigenous Representation and Party Politics.

Where Things Stand Where You Are

Want to know how the federal parties are doing in your area? Check out 338Canada, which provides regional estimates of how competitive each party is in your riding.

Weekend News

• The issue of COVID-19 vaccines continued to dog Erin O’Toole this weekend as the Conservative leader would not say how many of his party’s 336 candidates had received their shots, The Canadian Press reports.
• Embattled Green Party Leader Annamie Paul travelled to B.C. this weekend, making it her first visit this election to the only province where her party currently has seats in Parliament, The Canadian Press reports.
• A senior United Conservative Party member has called for an emergency meeting to discuss an early leadership review of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, The Calgary Herald reports. Kenney has faced growing calls to resign over his government’s botched handling of the pandemic fourth wave.
• Also in Alberta, union leaders representing thousands of medical workers in the province have asked Kenney to deploy the military and Red Cross to support a health-care system they say is "collapsing right in front of our eyes" due to rapidly increasing COVID-19 cases, CBC reports.
• While partisan vitriol is to be expected in any election, Black women candidates are facing especially nasty attacks and racism during this year’s campaign, The Toronto Star reports.
• Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau announced on Saturday that he remains open to replacing Canada’s first-past-the-post voting system with an alternative system, The Canadian Press reports. Trudeau’s comments similarly echo a promise he made during the 2015 election that he would reform Canada’s voting system, but ultimately reneged.
• Conservative candidate Lisa Robinson, who was dropped by the party over Islamophobic tweets she says were faked, insists she is still running as the "confirmed" Tory candidate in the Toronto riding of Beaches–East York, The Canadian Press reports.
• Climate activist and NDP candidate Avi Lewis hopes to leave a mark on his party despite his low chances of winning the West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country riding, CBC reports. Despite NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh expressing his support for Lewis’ proposal for a Green New Deal, that policy is absent from the NDP platform. Singh also has not visited Lewis’ riding during the election campaign.
• In The Tyee, Katie Hyslop reports that whatever the results of today’s election, youth fighting for climate justice will be keeping a close eye on the next government's record on climate action.

The Latest Polls

As of Sunday afternoon, the CBC’s poll tracker has the Liberals leading at 31.4 per cent, the Conservatives at 30.7 per cent, the NDP at 20 per cent, the People’s Party at 6.7 per cent, the Bloc at 6.6 per cent and the Greens at 3.4 per cent.

According to CBC:

“Though the Liberals and Conservatives are effectively tied in national support with a small edge given to the Liberals, Justin Trudeau's party is favoured to win the most seats and has roughly a three-in-five chance of being re-elected with a minority government. The Conservatives are holding their support but are trailing in some key battlegrounds. NDP support is also holding and the party could see a big increase in its seat count. The Bloc Québécois remains in second place in Quebec while the PPC is rising in Western Canada. The Green vote stands at about half of what it was in 2019.”

WATCH: This weekend, The Maple was pleased to participate in Harbinger Media’s 12-hour election telethon, featuring some of the brightest and best contributors from Canada’s independent media ecosystem. Watch The Maple’s managing editor, Alex Cosh, talk about this publication’s work at the 08:09:00 mark.

WATCH: APTN spoke to the Native Women's Association of Canada’s president, Lorraine Whitman, who is calling on Indigenous women living in Canada to head to the polls and vote in the upcoming federal election.

Commentary

• For The Star, former NDP strategist Robin V. Sears argues that the Liberal Party’s appeals to Canadians to vote for them strategically amounts to a rusty campaign tool that speaks volumes about the Liberals’ own fears about their chances of electoral success.
• For the CBC, Andre Bear explains why, as an Indigenous sovereigntist, he will vote in this year’s federal election, arguing that voters must do whatever it takes to improve the quality of life for Indigenous children in Canada.
• On the other hand, Waabshkigaabo, also writing in CBC, explains why, as an Anishinaabe citizen, he cannot in good conscience vote in federal elections, arguing that they erode the sovereignty of First Nations.
• In The Guardian, David Moscrop argues that the election is tilting towards maintaining the status quo, with the major parties’ policies adhering strictly to the liberal, free-market script.
• For Media Co-op, David Gray-Donald slams the Liberal Party’s climate platform as “new denialist trash.”

Catch Up On Our Latest Newsletters

• ‘A Dumpster Fire’: Here’s Why Jason Kenney's Conservative Government Keeps Failing To Get A Grip On Alberta’s COVID-19 Crisis.
• Liberal Party’s Home Savings Proposal Likely Just A Tax Shelter For High-Income Canadians, Economist Says.
• Trans People Are Receiving Voting Cards With Wrong Names, Putting Them At Risk Of Being Outed In Unsafe Situations.