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Photo illustration The Globe and Mail. Source photos: The Canadian Press, Reuters
Table of contents How a pandemic election works Graphics: House seats at dissolution Where Canada’s party leaders stand Election issues to watch More election reading
2021 election: Latest updates The Liberals and Conservatives unveiled their pitch for Canada’s economic recovery from COVID-19 on day two of the campaign. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has vowed to extend pandemic supports for businesses – set to expire November – until March 2022, while Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole released his party’s platform, which calls for dropping the Liberals’ child-care plan in exchange for tax credits. Mr. O’Toole is casting himself as an agent of change for a Conservative Party seeking a path back to government as he launched his first election campaign as Leader. Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh hopes to lure progressive voters away from the Liberals by building on his growing popularity and his promise to tax the ultrarich to help pay for everything from national pharmacare to clean drinking water on Indigenous reserves. Before Parliament’s dissolution, the Liberals had 155 seats, the Conservatives 119, the Bloc Québécois 32, the NDP 24 and the Greens two. There were five Independents seats and one vacancy. Subscribe to The Globe and Mail’s daily politics newsletter and follow @globepolitics on Twitter for the latest updates as the election unfolds.
How will Canada’s first pandemic federal election work? Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, four out of 10 provinces (five, once Nova Scotia votes on Aug. 17) plus Yukon have held elections. Those races, as well as national votes in other countries, have given Elections Canada plenty of ideas about how to make their polls COVID-19-safe. The agency has had months to prepare because an election call was long expected (more on that later).
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A voter visits an advanced polling station in North Vancouver last October during the B.C. election.
Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press
What to expect at the polls Physical distancing: About 18,000 polling places are normally needed for a federal race, and Elections Canada has been working to find enough buildings where voters and volunteers will have room to spread out. That could send Canadians to unfamiliar or far-off locations if the usual venues, such as schools, aren’t available. PPE: Elections Canada has stocked up on hand sanitizer, face masks, plastic partitions and single-use pencils to minimize the risk of infection. Later results: Normally, federal votes are decisive enough to be called on election night or the morning after, but it could take two to five days to sort out this one, chief electoral officer Stéphane Perrault says. Mail-in ballots (more on that below) won’t be counted until the day after the election; that way, all envelopes that arrive before polls close can be counted and checked against the list of in-person votes. Open this photo in gallery
A provincial election ballot is sealed in an Elections BC return envelope before being deposited in a mailbox in Richmond, B.C., this past October.
Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
What voters can do ahead of time Check your registration: You have to be on the list of electors for the riding you live in, which is how Elections Canada knows where to send the card with your voting location and advance poll times. Check Elections Canada’s website to make sure your address is current and correct. Special ballots: If you’re concerned about physical contact on election day or at advance polls, there are options to vote by mail-in ballot or at the local Elections Canada office. The agency is preparing for a higher-than-usual volume of mail and expects four to five million Canadians to vote in this way. Get vaccinated: If you’re eligible to vote (i.e. a Canadian citizen aged 18 or older), you’re also eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in every province and territory. Getting both shots, if you haven’t already, will make for a much safer experience for yourself and others at the polls. (Return to top)
House of Commons seats at dissolution There are 338 seats in the House up for grabs. A party needs at least 170 to win a majority, and at least 12 to hold official party status (which gives MPs the right to ask questions in Question Period and access certain kinds of parliamentary funding). Here’s what the seat count looked like when Parliament was dissolved.
Seats by province
ALTA.
14
B.C.
42
34
SASK.
14
MAN.
121
ONT.
QUE.
78
KEY
Bloc Que.
Conservative
Green
N.B.
10
N.S.
N.L.
PEI
4
11
7
Liberal
NUN.
1
NDP
NWT
1
Independent
YUKON
1
Vacant
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ourcommons.ca
Seats by province
ALTA.
14
B.C.
42
34
SASK.
14
MAN.
121
ONT.
QUE.
78
KEY
Bloc Québécois
Conservative
Green
N.B.
10
N.S.
N.L.
PEI
4
11
7
Liberal
NUN.
1
NDP
NWT
1
Independent
YUKON
1
Vacant
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ourcommons.ca
Seats by province
MAN.
14
B.C.
42
ALTA.
34
SASK.
14
121
ONT.
78
QUE.
KEY
Bloc Québécois
Conservative
Green
N.S.
4
N.B.
10
11
N.L.
7
PEI
Liberal
NUN.
1
NDP
NWT
1
Independent
1
YUKON
Vacant
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ourcommons.ca
Seats by party
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 LIB CON BQ NDP GRN IND 170 needed for majority 155 THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: PARLIAMENT OF CANADA
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Party Seats LIB 155 CON 119 BQ 32 NDP 24 GRN 2 IND 5
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Where Canada’s party leaders stand Open this photo in gallery
Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, LIBERALS Two years ago, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were reduced to a minority just months before a COVID-19 pandemic that spurred billions of dollars in emergency relief, unprecedented limits on travel and radical changes in how Parliament operated. Public-opinion polls have generally shown majority support for Mr. Trudeau’s handling of the crisis, and with the other parties’ approval ratings trailing behind, it is an advantageous time for Mr. Trudeau to call an election, and every party has known that for some time. If Mr. Trudeau can get the Liberals back to majority, they will not depend as much on opposition support for the next phases of postpandemic recovery.
MORE READING ON TRUDEAU AND THE LIBERALS Party challenges and strategies for the 2021 federal election
Trudeau’s federal government is bigger, bolder and more controlling. Is that what you want?
Trudeau’s election gamble: have times changed?
Kelly Cryderman: Liberals look to regain ground in Alberta with high-profile candidates. Will it be enough?
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Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
ERIN O’TOOLE, CONSERVATIVES The 2019 election was a moment of reckoning for the Conservatives, who had hoped to unseat the Liberals but didn’t break through in Quebec as they had hoped. Erin O’Toole, who won the leadership last August, is looking to succeed where his predecessor, Andrew Scheer, did not. His party’s riding associations are, on average, well-positioned to outspend their Liberal counterparts. But Mr. O’Toole’s real challenge is to promote policies and messages that expand the Tory base, such as embracing a form of carbon pricing and playing down the party’s social-conservative elements.
MORE READING ON O’TOOLE AND THE TORIES Erin O’Toole’s Tories launch bid to regain power after Trudeau calls snap election
John Ibbitson: Conservatives may be feeling blue if Erin O’Toole doesn’t have a strong election campaign
Andrew Coyne: More than leadership or policy, it’s the Conservative temperament that’s putting off voters
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Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
JAGMEET SINGH, NDP For two years, the NDP-Liberal alliance has kept the minority government functioning despite Conservative and Bloc Québécois opposition on confidence motions, such as last year’s budget (which introduced NDP-friendly programs such as universal child-care funding and extended pandemic relief). Leader Jagmeet Singh stressed that the New Democrats wouldn’t trigger an election while the main focus was on fighting the pandemic. Now that an election is here, Mr. Singh’s task is to retake lost ridings in B.C., gain ground in Ontario and Quebec and build a critical mass of support among young people.
MORE READING ON SINGH AND THE NDP Jagmeet Singh’s popularity and record key to NDP success this election
NDP pledges free mental health care, better pandemic preparedness in new pre-election pitches
John Ibbitson: If Trudeau doesn’t win a majority in the next election, Jagmeet Singh may be the reason
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Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
YVES-FRAN？OIS BLANCHET, BLOC QUéBéCOIS The Bloc more than tripled its seat count in 2019, hobbling the New Democrats and shutting out the Tories in Quebec. Since then, the party has repeatedly voted non-confidence in the government, which could have triggered an election if not for Mr. Singh’s support for the Liberals. But the Bloc also warned Mr. Trudeau to avoid a pandemic election at all costs; this year, they tabled a motion to hold the government to that, and while all parties supported it, the motion didn’t clearly define when the pandemic could be considered “over.” So the election came anyway, and now the Bloc’s challenge will be to hold its ground in Quebec.
MORE READING ON BLANCHET AND THE BLOC Bloc Québécois is on the rise, but separatism stays in the shadows
For Bloc Québécois, the October Crisis is a modern-day political weapon
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Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
ANNAMIE PAUL, GREENS Civil war within the Green Party has left it more disorganized, and with fewer MPs in the House, than after the past election. Leader Annamie Paul has been trying to quell an internal conflict over Middle East policy that prompted a Green MP from New Brunswick, Jenica Atwin, to cross over to the Liberals this summer. For now, Ms. Paul and her supporters have successfully averted a non-confidence motion in her leadership, leaving them free to focus on winning her a seat (she currently doesn’t have one) and pressing for climate action on the campaign trail.
MORE READING ON PAUL AND THE GREENS Robyn Urback: Atwin’s defection earned the Liberals an Israel headache – and gifted Paul a podium
Campbell Clark: Green Party’s potential crumbles in small-time bickering
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Election issues to watch Open this photo in gallery
A motorist watches wildfires in Lytton, B.C., on Canada Day from a pullout on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
CLIMATE CRISIS It’s “code red” time for countries to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions, a landmark United Nations report warned in early August. Some threats, such as initial rises in sea levels and extreme temperatures, will continue in the coming decades, but immediate and drastic action will make them less severe and deadly, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found. That leaves governments like Canada’s with two challenges: Decarbonizing their societies at a faster pace, and building infrastructure that will withstand the effects that can’t be avoided.
MORE ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS Climate newsletter: Subscribe for the latest updates
The Decibel: What the new IPCC report tells us about our climate future
What does ‘net zero’ actually mean for Canadian business?
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A registered nurse prepares a Pfizer-BioNtech dose at a vaccination clinic in Dartmouth, N.S.
Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
COVID-19 A year ago, Canada had no COVID-19 vaccines and no idea when effective drugs might be ready to use. Since then, the country’s rollout has outpaced most of the developed world, but there’s still a way to go. Vaccinating Canadians is only part of the problem, since many developing countries have given no shots at all. The global challenges of the pandemic could drag on for years, especially if new, more contagious variants find ways to circumvent the vaccines. Expect the opposition parties to critique Mr. Trudeau’s handling of the pandemic and explain how they might change course if elected. And pay close attention to how leaders propose to make Canada’s health care system ready to respond to future pandemics.
MORE ON CANADA’S COVID-19 PANDEMIC Coronavirus newsletter: Subscribe for the latest updates
How many COVID-19 cases are there in Canada and worldwide? The latest maps and charts
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A builder works on a home in a new subdivision in suburban Ottawa this past July.
Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
ECONOMY AND WORK The pandemic was the biggest economic shock of recent Canadian history, so the parties’ usual election promises of job growth will take on an added significance. So far, we’ve already recovered about 92 per cent of the Canadian jobs lost, Statistics Canada’s latest figures show, but wage growth is sluggish even though employers say they’ve had trouble filling positions. The conversation about the future of work includes not just how many people are employed, but how they live: The Liberals have been busy making deals with provinces on a promised universal child-care program, and for parents going back to work, much will depend on which party will be in power to implement, adjust or abandon that system.
MORE ON CANADA’S POSTPANDEMIC ECONOMY Canada’s challenge: Getting the long-term jobless back to work
The Decibel: Would a four-day work week solve our work-life struggles?
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More election reading Canadians didn’t ask for an election. But like the pandemic, here it is
John Ibbitson: Trudeau’s federal government is bigger, bolder and more controlling. Is that what you want?
Andrew Coyne: Here are the issues that should be debated this federal election, but probably won’t
Campbell Clark: Trudeau sets out to win the day but leaves the future of Canada for another time
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Compiled by Globe staff
With reports from Kristy Kirkup, Marieke Walsh, Evan Annett and The Canadian Press