Canadians are headed to the polls.
After a marathon campaign, the 42nd general election is underway, and voters from coast to coast are casting their ballots.
Polling stations in Newfoundland opened at 8:30 a.m. local time (7 a.m. ET), and stations in Western Canada will close at 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET). Until then, Canadians are casting the ballots that could decide whether to grant Conservative Leader Stephen Harper a fourth mandate, or elect another party to government.
Election day comes after 78 days of intense campaigning, during which candidates tried to convince Canadians that they are the best choice to represent them on Parliament Hill.
On Sunday, the major party leaders gave their final pitches to Canadian voters.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau appealed to voters in Western Canada, aiming first to convince Albertans to vote Liberal after years of his party failing to capture any seats in the province.
In his final campaign stop in North Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday night, Trudeau told supporters, “This government is out of ideas, this government is out of touch and, in just a few hours, if we work hard, this government will be out of time.”
Meanwhile, at rallies in Toronto and Montreal, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair told supporters that his party is the best option to defeat Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.
He also invoked memories of popular former NDP leader Jack Layton, who led the party to an “orange crush” in Quebec in 2011.
“We’re going to get it done,” Mulcair told supporters in Toronto.
In his own stops in the Greater Toronto Area and Abbotsford, B.C., on Sunday, Harper warned voters against change, and urged them to give his government a fourth mandate.
“The other guys want to take us back to the days where they could get their hands on as much money as possible and spend it on bureaucracy and special interests. We have been building a Canada over the past few years that they do not like,” he said.
Now, it’s up to voters to decide which vision of Canada has been most convincing.
Advance polling over the Thanksgiving weekend saw asurge in voter turnout, with approximately 3.6 million Canadians casting ballots in early polls. This was up 71 per cent from the 2011 election.
That year, 2,077,000 voters showed up to three days of advance polls. In total, 61.1 per cent of Canadians voted.
The country saw its lowest voter turnout in 2008, when only 58.8 per cent of Canadians cast ballots.
Canadians hoping to cast a vote on Monday must bring appropriate ID and proof of address.
Source: www.ctvnews.ca