Long lines at polling stations across Canada as advance voting begins

Elections Canada signage is pictured near an advance polling station in Ottawa, on Friday, April 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Canadians packed polling stations and stood in long lineups in cities across the country on Friday as advance voting in the upcoming federal election officially got underway.

A queue snaked outside the voting centre on Smythe Street in Fredericton, as people waited, some with their dogs, others with young children in strollers or holding their parents’ hands.

Some were in line for more than 45 minutes to cast their vote on a sunny and cool spring afternoon.

“It feels more important to vote and make sure we keep having the country that we want,” said Nicole Bent, who is going to Nova Scotia for a few weeks and decided to vote early so she didn’t miss the chance to cast her ballot.

Bent said the election feels different this time because of recent actions and statements from United States President Donald Trump.

She voted Liberal.

“It’s voting for the man, not the party. Which man we want in there,” said Bent, referring to party leader Mark Carney.

Mark Kunkle, who also voted in Fredericton, said he runs his own business and the first day of voting seemed like a quiet and good day to go to the polls.

“Well, all elections are important, but in this particular case, it’s pretty, pretty important because the future (of the country) is going to be decided,” said Kunkle, who came to the poll with his dog.

Bill Randall, who said he’ll be voting Liberal, left the queue after seeing how long it was. He said he would come back the following day.

“I really believe that Prime Minister Carney is the kind of solid thinking person who we need at the helm in this particular time, especially, and I am concerned about some of the policies or leanings of the Progressive Conservative leader,” he said.

But at an advance poll in Whitby, Ont., east of Toronto, retired police officer Guy Service said he hoped his vote could end ten years of Liberal government, which he blames for the housing crisis and restricting freedoms and rights.

“I saw a lot of people that were excited to vote for the first time, a lot of people that haven’t voted before, and even people who didn’t agree with each other kind of we talked about in line and, you know, no one beat each other up,” Service said of the ambience inside the polling station.

Jane De Guzman, who came to vote in Whitby with her husband, said she voted for the Liberals because of Carney, not the party.

She said he is an economist, not a career politician.

“I would like to give him a chance to try and prove himself,” De Guzman said. “I feel that he is the right person to defend Canada against all of Trump’s tariffs nonsense.”

Another Liberal voter, Matthew Gorman, was less concerned about U.S. threats.

“I think what we need to worry about most is less about what the U.S. is doing, and more about what we can do as Canadians to make our country better,” he said as he waited outside for his partner to finish voting while minding their three dogs.

Annette Virtue, from Woodstock, Ont., said she will be voting Liberal in this election. Virtue says she plans to take part in advanced voting this weekend in hopes of avoiding long lines.

Virtue said she voted early in the provincial election.

“It’s fast,” she said.

Tim Lobzun, who drove almost 50 minutes from Ingersoll, Ont., for a Carney rally in Brantford, Ont., on Friday evening, said he’s voting early just to cross it off his list of things to do.

“Just to get it over with,” said Lobzun, who is a longtime Liberal and who ran as a party candidate in the 2011 federal election.

Lobzun said the timing of his vote might be different if he wasn’t sure who to cast a ballot for, but he’s decided.

Meanwhile in East Vancouver, Rod Moore was in line for an advance poll on Friday afternoon. Moore said he wasn’t sure what to expect, but he showed up because he’s going to be working out of town on election day.

“It’s probably going to be a heavier turnout this year,” he said. “Because everyone’s paying attention.”

Moore said the “cross-border” situation has people in his community talking politics more than he’s ever experienced.

The riding’s been held by the NDP for decades, currently by Jenny Kwan, but Moore doesn’t think that a vote for the party this time around is a wise choice.

“I think voting NDP, forgive me for saying this to anybody that might find this offensive, is a waste of a vote because it’s a two-horse race, like, very clearly,” he said.

The line moved steadily into the hotel, with some voters saying they waited about 90 minutes and others beating the spring heat with ice-cream bars and slushy drinks from a nearby Dairy Queen.

In one Ottawa riding, voters will see an exceptionally long ballot in Carleton, where 91 names appear. The oversized ballot includes two columns of names listed alphabetically. The incumbent in the riding is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Elections Canada says it’s the second time that a ballot has had 91 names on it. The last was during a 2024 Montreal-area byelection in LaSalle--Emard--Verdun. Because of the number of candidates, Carleton results may take longer to report.

An Elections Canada spokeswoman told The Canadian Press that staffing levels are similar to those in past elections, but there are more advance polling locations this time than in 2021.

The advance polls run daily through the long weekend, including Monday, and are generally open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in each jurisdiction.

Voters will need to bring accepted forms of ID, which could include voter information cards, bank statements, drivers licenses or birth certificates.

People can also vote early at any Elections Canada offices any day before April 23, or vote by mail.

The deadline to register to vote by mail is April 22.

Elections Canada says once someone applies to vote by mail they cannot vote at advance polls or on election day.

Nearly five million people voted at advance polls in the 2019 election, and 5.8 million did so in the 2021 campaign.

Hina Alam and Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press

With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal. Hina Alam reported from Fredericton, Sharif Hassan from Whitby, Ont., Catherine Morrison from Brantford, Ont., and Darryl Greer from Vancouver.

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