1) (Update) Advance poll turnout breaks record with 7.3M ballots cast, Elections Canada says

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Craig Lord, April 22, 2025

The waning days of the federal election campaign saw voters turn out in record numbers for advance polls and party leaders attempt to poke holes in each others’ platforms.

Elections Canada said in a news release Tuesday that the four days of advance polling between Friday and Monday set a new record for turnout, with 7.3 million people casting ballots early.

That’s up 25 per cent from the 5.8 million people who took part in advance voting in the 2021 federal election.

Elections Canada said it made adjustments to deal with long lineups at polling stations in the early part of the long weekend.

Voters can still cast a ballot early at an Elections Canada office until 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

With less than a week to go until election day on April 28, federal leaders were making their closing pitches Tuesday to voters across the country,

The Conservative campaign released its costed election platform a day after the end of advance voting. The Liberals and NDP both released their platforms on Saturday, the second day of advance polls.

The Conservative party platform forecasts $100 billion in deficits over the next four years, along with billions of dollars in tax cuts and new revenues.

That document also clarifies some earlier Conservative pledges — such as the plan to slash the bottom income tax rate in Canada to 12.75 per cent from 15 per cent, a measure that the platform now shows would be phased in over four years.

Conservative Leader Poilievre said at a campaign event in Vaughan, Ont., on Tuesday that his plan would cut bureaucracy, government consulting and some foreign aid and “unleash a half-trillion dollars of economic growth” in the resource development and housing sectors.

Both Liberal Leader Mark Carney and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh attacked the Conservatives’ numbers on Tuesday.

“If you look at what they’re proposing, the numbers are not based in any reality,” Singh said at an event in Vancouver.

The NDP leader said he would push back against cuts in the Liberal and Conservative platforms.

The Liberal platform promises $28 billion in savings over four years through “increased government productivity.”

The Liberals would add roughly $129 billion worth of new measures, including a one percentage-point tax cut to the lowest income bracket that would add to the deficit over the next four years.

Carney also has pledged to separate the budget into operating and capital streams, and to balance the operating side by 2028-2029. But he would still run a $48 billion deficit on the capital side for that fiscal year.

The Conservative platform projects a $14 billion deficit by 2028.

The Conservatives’ figures include forecasts of billions of dollars in boosted revenue from building additional homes, scrapping the industrial carbon price and cracking down on tax evasion, among other sources.

But Carney claimed at an event in Trois-Rivières, Que., on Tuesday that his own party’s plan would project a budget surplus in five years’ time if it used the same growth assumptions informing the Conservatives’ platform.

Carney said his platform does not “rely” on rosy predictions in a global climate of economic uncertainty tied to the United States’ trade war.

“We are in a crisis. In a crisis, you always plan for the worst, you don’t hope for the best, and you don’t make those types of assumptions,” he said.

“The Conservatives, who have no experience managing crises … they don’t know what they’re doing, so they make those assumptions.”

The Liberal platform is based on real gross domestic product projections the parliamentary budget officer released in March that forecast growth of 1.7 per cent of GDP this year and 1.5 per cent in 2026.

The Conservative campaign did not respond to a request for clarity on GDP estimates underpinning the platform.

The International Monetary Fund released an updated World Economic Outlook on Tuesday that projected scaled-down growth of 1.4 per cent for Canada this year and 1.6 per cent in 2026. Those figures are down 0.6 percentage points and 0.4 points, respectively, from the IMF’s previous forecasts in January.

The report said global economic risks are tilted towards the worse outcomes due to trade uncertainty and market volatility.

Carney toured through Quebec on Tuesday promising to protect residents of the province from U.S. President Donald Trump. He laid out plans to maintain supply management for farmers, increase funding for CBC/Radio-Canada and move forward with major nation-building projects through Quebec.

Singh was campaigning in Metro Vancouver and his home riding of Burnaby Central on Tuesday before he headed to Edmonton for a rally with Alberta’s former NDP premier Rachel Notley.

— with files from Kyle Duggan and Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa and Nick Murray in Vaughan, Ont.

2) Poilievre paints picture of gloomy future under Carney as election day draws closer

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Jim Bronskill, April 24, 2025.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is predicting a gloomy future of more crime and higher inflation under a Liberal government led by Mark Carney.

Poilievre began Thursday in Halifax, where he pitched a promise of change for Canadians struggling to afford life’s essentials.

Federal leaders are making campaign stops across the country as election day inches closer.

Carney was slated to deliver remarks and hold a press conference Thursday in Port Moody, B.C., before heading to Winnipeg for a rally.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh planned to make an announcement in Winnipeg, then travel to Toronto for a campaign event.

In Halifax, Poilievre cited a sobering scenario produced by a little-known federal policy unit that publishes reports on trends and possible disruptions to Canadian life.

The Policy Horizons Canada report suggests that by the year 2040, people might lose faith in traditional notions of “moving up” by climbing the social and economic ladder.

The report also says a loss of belief in social mobility could make space for positive ideas — a rejection of conspicuous consumption and a new focus on policies that promote health care, housing, the environment and education for its own sake.

Poilievre said many people in Canada already feel desperate, unable to afford a home or buy a car after a decade under the federal Liberals.

Poilievre also said Thursday that if his party is elected, it will scrap Canada’s electric vehicle sales quotas.

Canada has mandated that 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold must be electric by 2026; the mandate rises to 100 per cent by 2035.

Poilievre called the EV mandate a “Car-ney tax,” saying it will cost consumers more and deny Canadians the right to choose what they drive.

The Liberals are widely seen to be leading in the polls, with the Conservatives in second place and the Bloc Québécois, NDP and Greens trailing behind.

Canadians will choose their next government on Monday.

— With files from Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa and Michael MacDonald in Halifax

3)Tories release platform as federal campaign nears its end

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, April 22, 2025

This composite image made from three file photos shows, from left to right, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in Surrey, B.C., Sunday, April 20, 2025; NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in Burnaby, B.C., Saturday, April 19, 2025; and Liberal Leader Mark Carney in Montreal, Friday, April 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam, Nathan Denette, Graham Hughes

As the federal election campaign nears its end with less than a week to go before voting day, all federal party leaders are making their last pitches to Canadians on why they deserve their vote.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre unveiled his party’s costed platform in Vaughan, Ont., on Tuesday while the Liberals and NDP already released platforms over the weekend.

The platform showed plans to cut the annual deficit to $14.1 billion by 2028-2029 through reduced program spending (cutting nearly $9.8 billion by the same year) and increased revenue (projected to be up by almost $5.2 billion in 2028-2029).

Many of the platform’s central policy planks, such as cutting the federal industrial carbon tax and focusing on initiatives to build more homes, were previously announced.

Four days of advance polls closed yesterday, with Elections Canada reporting record turnout on the first day with more than two million people casting their vote.

Poilievre spent Monday in Toronto and announced a homebuilding plan, pledging to build 2.3 million homes over the next five years.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney started Monday in Charlottetown talking about his health-care plan and efforts to address Canada’s shortage of primary-care providers, and then campaigned in Truro, Nova Scotia and held a rally in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh started his day in Nanaimo, B.C., where he promised to cover “essential medicines” by the end of the year in an expansion of pharmacare.

4) (Updated) Tories focus on homes as Liberals, NDP talk health care in last week of campaign

Courtesy Barrie360.com and  Canadian Press

By Craig Lord, April 21, 2025

The final week of the federal election campaign kicked off Monday with security officials warning of social media activity targeting a Conservative candidate.

Officials with the federal government’s election interference task force, SITE, said Monday they have detected a transnational repression operation targeting Joe Tay, a Conservative candidate opposed to Chinese government policies.

The operation features a mock “wanted” poster and disparaging headlines and comments about Tay, the federal Conservative candidate for Don Valley North.

Officials said the operation is taking place on social media platforms where Chinese-speaking users in Canada are active, including Facebook, WeChat, TikTok, RedNote and Douyin, a sister-app of TikTok for the Chinese market.

Previously in the campaign, SITE warned of an online information operation linked to the Chinese government focusing on Liberal Leader Mark Carney.

Elsewhere in the campaign on Monday, federal leaders were laying out their plans to build homes and improve health care.

Earlier in the day, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told an event in Scarborough, Ont., that his party would release its costed platform on Tuesday, a day after advance voting closes.

“Tomorrow, we will have a platform for all eyes to see which will bring change to Canada,” he said.

The Liberals and NDP both unveiled their costed platforms on Saturday.

Poilievre was in the Greater Toronto Area on Monday promising to build 2.3 million homes over the next five years.

The Conservative platform would tie municipalities’ federal infrastructure funding to their pace of home construction approvals — cities that approve 15 per cent more housing each year would get full funding, while cities that approve fewer homes would collect less.

The party is also proposing to free up federal land for more homebuilding, cut the GST on new homes worth up to $1.3 million and encourage cities to cut development charges.

Carney was in Charlottetown Monday talking about his health-care plan and efforts to address Canada’s shortage of primary care providers.

He also issued a public appeal for Canadian health-care professionals working abroad — especially in the United States — to come back to Canada.

“To the Canadian health-care professionals practising in the U.S., let me say this. If you’ve been thinking about coming back to Canada, there’s never been a better time,” Carney said. 

“It’s time to come home.”

Carney said a Liberal government would commit $4 billion to provinces to build more hospitals and clinics. The Liberals also say they would work to train more family doctors and nurse practitioners in Canada and recognize foreign health-care credentials so physicians from outside of the country can practise here.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh started his day in Nanaimo, B.C., where he promised to cover “essential medicines” by the end of the year in an expansion of pharmacare.

He took shots at Poilievre for voting against pharmacare and dental care legislation in the House of Commons, and at Carney for not committing to expanding pharmacare beyond the early stage covering diabetes medications and birth control.

Poilievre has said during the campaign that no one currently with access to dental and pharmacare coverage through government programs would lose those benefits under a Conservative government. Carney has committed to protecting the existing programs but has not said if he would expand coverage.

Singh also accused his rivals of not stating they would defend the public health-care system against pushes towards privatization at the provincial level.

“We want to fight back and defend a public and universal health care for all,” he said.

Each of the leaders took time Monday to mark the passing of Pope Francis.

Carney spoke of the Pope’s call to “reintegrate human values into our economic lives.”

“He reminded us that markets don’t have values, people do,” Carney said.

“I join all Catholics in reflecting on his passing and commit myself to fulfilling his challenge.”

Carney said Pope Francis’s visit to Canada in 2022 — during which he issued an apology for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system — was a “crucial step in moving the church forward in its journey toward meaningful reconciliation.”

When asked by a journalist if that apology went far enough, Carney said it was a “step” on a journey.

“The church, and dare I say all of us, have more to travel on that journey. And certainly my government is committed to advancing reconciliation if we are returned,” he said.

In Nanaimo, Singh recalled being present for the Pope’s 2022 apology in Alberta, which he called a “step forward” for healing.

Singh also said in a social media post earlier in the day that the apology “was not enough” for many survivors of the residential school system.

Poilievre began his announcement Monday noting that Francis had inspired “millions of Catholics and non-Catholics” with his leadership and faith.

“Our prayers are with all Catholics as they lay to rest the head of the Catholic Church and we are in solidarity in remembering him and honouring his contributions,” he said.

Monday is the fourth and final day for advance polls, which are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Until 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Canadians can also either cast their ballot at an Elections Canada office in their riding or apply to vote by mail. Election day is April 28.

— With files from Kyle Duggan and Jim Bronskill in Ottawa, Anja Karadeglija in Charlottetown and Nick Murray in Scarborough, Ont.

5) New record set as 2 million vote on first day of advance polls: Elections Canada

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Craig Lord and Dylan Robertson, April 19, 2025

The federal Liberals and NDP both released their costed campaign platforms Saturday as Elections Canada reported record turnout in the first day of advanced polls.

Nearly two million people showed up to cast a ballot on Friday, the first of four days for advanced voting in the federal election.

Elections Canada said in a social media post it will be making adjustments over the coming days to handle the high traffic after many voters were met with long lineups at polling stations.

Almost 5.8 million voters turned out for advanced polls in the last federal election in 2021, which was up more than 18 per cent from figures in 2019.

This year’s four advanced voting days land over the April long weekend and come to an end on Monday, one week before the general election date of April 28.

With just over a week left before election day, Liberal Leader Mark Carney and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh published documents on Saturday outlining their full campaign commitments and what they say they’ll cost.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who was campaigning in Richmond, B.C. Saturday, said his full platform will come soon, but said “95 per cent” of it has already been announced.

Carney rolled out the party’s campaign commitments in Whitby, Ont., one of several battleground ridings in the seat-rich Greater Toronto Area.

The platform pledges billions in new spending as Carney eyes attracting and stimulating private-sector investment amid the global economic crisis prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“Governments must lead and catalyze private sector investments,” Carney said. “The core of this platform is investing, and investing here at home is going to build out.”

The Liberal platform includes $35.2 billion in new spending over the next year, and $129 billion over the next four years.

The spending is heavily focused on building, including in defence, housing and trade infrastructure such as ports and highways.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh released his own platform in Burnaby, B.C., where his own riding is located. The NDP document forecasts a net increase to the federal deficit of $48 billion over four years, a tally that builds in large offsets from a new tax on the “super rich.”

Singh’s wealth tax would apply to people with holdings over $10 million, and the party says it would generate more than $22 billion a year.

“No nurse, no teacher, no tradesperson should pay more than a billionaire flipping stocks,” Singh said, before heading to a rally in Victoria later Saturday.

B.C. is critical ground for the NDP, home to 13 of the 25 seats it won in 2021. Polling aggregator 338Canada.com says right now just one of those seats is a possible win for the NDP, with the Liberals set to scoop up as many as eight of them and the Conservatives as many as five.

Poilievre was campaigning in Richmond, the city of about 200,000 people just outside Vancouver. Nearly 60 per cent of residents cited East Asian as their ethnicity in the last census.

The Liberals won the two seats in Richmond in 2021, but the margins are close and the seats are both in contention for the Conservatives in this match up.

Poilievre spent most of his speech criticizing the Liberal platform for being too expensive, calling it “shocking.”

“We now know that life will get even more expensive if the Liberals get that fourth term,” he said.

He also announced a plan to allow judges to order mandatory drug treatment for certain prisoners to access parole. He said it is compassionate for judges to allow those with small quantities of drugs to seek drug treatment instead of jail, but those with more serious sentences would need to serve their full term behind bars if they don’t undertake treatment.

“This policy is not about punishment; it’s about redemption,” he said.

Carney is focusing Saturday’s campaign efforts in southern Ontario, completing a whistle stop in Newcastle before holding a rally in Peterborough, where the Liberals seek to unseat incumbent Conservative Michelle Ferreri.

She won in 2021 by several thousand votes, but polls have suggested a closer contest this time. A third party group registered with Elections Canada to try and unseat Ferreri, under the name No More MP Ferreri. It appears to be the only one of 93 third party groups registered that specifically targets one candidate.

Advance polls continue through Monday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time. 

— with files from Brenna Owen in Richmond, B.C., Kyle Duggan in Ottawa and Catherine Morrison in Whitby, Ont.

6) Liberals, NDP release costed campaign platforms as advance voting continues

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Dylan Robertson, April 19, 2025.

The Liberals and NDP released their costed campaign platforms Saturday, with just over one week left in the election campaign.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney rolled out the party’s campaign commitments in Whitby, Ont., one of several battleground ridings in the seat-rich Greater Toronto Area.

The platform pledges billions in new spending and charts a major change in priorities from the party’s 2021 platform under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

The 65-page document shows a reversal in the proportion of operating and capital spending within the government as Carney eyes attracting and stimulating private-sector investment amid the global economic crisis prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The documents come after advance voting began Friday, with voters packing polling stations across the country.

Carney will focus his campaign on southern Ontario Saturday, making a whistle stop in Newcastle before holding a rally in Peterborough. The Liberals are trying to unseat incumbent Conservative Michelle Ferreri in the Peterborough riding.

Ferrari won in 2021 by several thousand votes but polls have suggested a closer contest this time. A third party group registered with Elections Canada to try and unseat Ferreri, under the name No More MP Ferreri.

The other two main party leaders are just outside Vancouver, with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh releasing his platform in Burnaby, B.C., and then heading to a rally in Victoria.

The NDP platform promises a wealth tax on “super-rich millionaires” the party says would generate more than $22 billion a year, as well as $7 billion for mental health coverage.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is slated to hold a news conference in Richmond, B.C.

Advance polls continue today through Monday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time.

— with files from Craig Lord and Kyle Duggan in Ottawa and Catherine Morrison in Whitby, Ont.

7) Poilievre promises to end ban on single-use plastic straws, other items

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By David Baxter, April 18 2025

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, left to right, Liberal Leader Mark Carney and New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet participate in the English-language federal leaders’ debate in Montreal, Thursday, April 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to strike down a key element of the Liberal government’s environmental policy Friday as he and other party leaders got back on the campaign trail following the national leaders’ debates in Montreal.

Both Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh stayed in Quebec to make announcements Friday morning, while Liberal Leader Mark Carney made his way to Niagara Falls, Ont.

Carney used the border city as a backdrop for further comments about how U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariffs have changed Canada’s relationship with its closest neighbour — once again framing the election around an issue that helped rejuvenate Liberal support.

“It’s said that there are no atheists in foxholes. There should be no libertarians in a crisis,” Carney said. “What happens in a crisis is the private sector retreats. The government needs to step up. Government must lead and catalyze private investment.”

At a recycling facility in Montreal, Poilievre said his party would end the ban enacted by the Liberals in 2022 that prohibits the manufacture and sale of six single-use plastic items, including straws, grocery bags and cutlery

If elected on April 28, he also said he would end Liberal plans to standardize plastic packaging and labelling to make it easier to recycle, referring to it as a “plastic tax” on food packaging.

“How long would the other fresh produce here stay edible if it could not be plastic wrapped? The answer is a lot less time,” Poilievre said. “There’ll be more waste in our foods, more food that goes into the garbage, and therefore more costs that Canadians pay for food they don’t even get to eat.”

The plastic ban in place does not currently extend to food packaging except for takeout containers.

The previous Liberal government banned the items after designating plastic manufactured items as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

A Federal Court quashed that designation in November 2023 saying it was too broad to say all manufactured plastic is toxic. The federal government appealed the decision and was granted a stay, allowing the ban to remain in place pending the conclusion of that appeal.

The Liberals also began implementing a plan to require up to 60 per cent of food packaging be made from recycled plastic by 2030.

They were looking to increase how much plastic gets recycled in Canada, with studies suggesting as much as 90 per cent of plastic waste ends up in landfills.

The Liberals say about three million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in Canada every year, about the same weight as 13 big cruise ships, and that the material has a value of about $8 billion.

Poilievre claims the plastic ban will cost the economy $1.3 billion over the next decade, and the average family $400 annually.

While Poilievre could reverse the federal rules if elected, some jurisdictions like British Columbia and Montreal have their own bans and regulations in place for single-use plastics

Plastic straws have generated an unexpected amount of political discussion in recent years as countries grapple with how to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated. Many consumers have found paper straws to be unacceptable alternatives.

The United States was also moving to phase out plastic straws but on Feb. 20, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order overturning that plan.

Carney accused Poilievre of importing American plastic policy into Canada with this proposal, saying the banned items all have “readily available, readily affordable, you know broadly affordable” alternatives.

“So I don’t see the need to follow the U.S. either in terms of the respect for rule of judgments of judges, U.S. firearm policy or with respect to plastics,” he said. “We make our own decisions here in Canada.”

In Yamachiche, Que., about an hour east of Montreal, Singh announced his party’s Quebec platform. The document puts a more regional focus on NDP policy planks, such as plans for an east-west clean electricity power grid, and argues Quebec could sell it’s hydroelectricity to the rest of Canada.

Singh was flanked by several NDP candidates at his announcement and said his party will focus on protecting farmers and the environment. 

Singh said protecting Canadian sovereignty means defending food security, including ensuring supply management in the dairy industry is safeguarded.

U.S. tariffs have pushed resource projects to the forefront in the campaign, and the NDP’s Quebec platform states that no pipeline would be built through Quebec without provincial consent. 

Singh continued his pitch to elect more New Democrats, saying his party is the only one putting regular people first. 

“You saw as prime minister, (Carney) made a choice to give a tax cut that mostly helped millionaires. And at the same time, he’s proposing to cut services you need. You’re worried about all that. You think his priorities might not be the right priorities. You have the power to vote for New Democrats,” Singh said.

He said the NDP’s full, costed platform will come “very soon.”

Carney said the full Liberal platform will be released on Saturday.

No party has yet released a fully costed platform.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2025.

— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal and Catherine Morrison in Niagara Falls, Ont.