City beats national average for voter turnout

Elections Canada preliminary results show that Ottawa, engaged as ever, saw higher voter turnout than its fellow big cities and the nation as a whole, while Carleton led the pack as the riding with the highest turnout in the capital.

While national voter turnout was 66 per cent with 99.7 per cent of polls reporting, Ottawa’s turnout was 72.3 per cent with all but two polls reporting — higher than the turnout in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. (These numbers do not include voters who registered on election day.)

However, compared to official results from 2015, turnout was down throughout the country and in Ottawa. The last federal election saw nationwide turnout surge to 68.3 per cent, the highest it has been since 1993. In Ottawa, the preliminary results showed lower turnout in every riding compared to 2015.

Within the capital, the Carleton riding eked out the highest voter turnout with all polls reporting: 77.4 per cent, just ahead of Ottawa Centre’s 76.2 per cent. Carleton drew nearly 68,000 voters to the polls. Conservative candidate Pierre Poilievre took the win over his two-time Liberal challenger Chris Rodgers in what was, as many expected, a fairly close race.

The lowest voter turnout of Ottawa’s eight ridings Monday night was 68.3 per cent in Liberal stronghold Ottawa– Vanier. Mona Fortier won the election with just over 50 per cent of the vote, continuing the long tradition of Liberal dominance in the riding.

Across the rural ridings surrounding Ottawa, turnout was also strong. At its highest, 70.1 per cent of voters came out in Lanark–Frontenac– Kingston, while the lowest turnout, 62.9 per cent, was in Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry. Turnout in Gatineau, widely considered a safe zone for the Liberals, was 65.2 per cent.