Canadians vote in pandemic election

TORONTO: Canada began voting on Monday in the 44th election that has turned into a battle between contrasting views of Liberal Party leader and incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole on the management of Covid-19.

Trudeau cast his vote at a polling centre in Montreal, Quebec, while his rival O’Toole voted in the town of Bowmanville in Ontario. Voting across Canada’s six time zones started in the Atlantic island province of Newfoundland at 8.30am local time and was to wrap up in westernmost British Columbia at 7pm.

Trudeau is pitching its management of the pandemic and leveraging the wedge issue of vaccine passports against the principal opposition leader O’Toole who has opposed imposition of mandatory vaccination.

That single issue has bolstered Trudeau’s campaign to return to power in Ottawa, and indications on the eve of the polls were that he may even have an outside chance at capturing the majority he craved while precipitating snap elections on August 15.

As per the latest data from the tracking website 338 Canada, the Liberals have 31.9% vote share translating to 148 seats, while their rival Conservatives have 31.4% support equal to 125 seats.

The outlet CBC’s poll tracker gives the ruling party a 57% chance of forming a minority government but just 17% for a majority. The majority mark in the House of Commons is 170 and the ruling party captured 157 seats in 2019.

Approximately, 6.3mn have voted prior to Monday, at advance polls that spanned four days and through mail-in ballots.