"Good people, women and men, have died in two world wars. One of the freedoms is to vote. And we don't vote enough. Your vote might change the whole thing. So don't be lazy. If these guys can give their lives for the freedom to vote, you get out and vote like good Canadians."-- Don Cherry, Coach's Corner, October 17
Welcome to Election Day 2015 in Canada. The federal election will be for 338 ridings, a new Canada record. From that vote, the party that wins the most seats gets the first chance of forming government.
Voting goes by time zone for polling hours. In the Maritimes, you vote from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm, local time. In Quebec and Ontario in the Eastern time zone, your hours are from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. In the part of Ontario in Central time and Manitoba, you vote from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm. Saskatchewan votes from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm. The Mountain time zone areas also vote from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm. Finally, parts of Canada in the Pacific time zone vote from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.
Full results will be available at 10 pm Eastern, 11:30 pm in Newfoundland.
C-SPAN2 will have a simulcast of CBC news coverage starting at 6:30 pm Eastern.
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We offer no predictions as to how tonight will go. If you are looking for a sign, The Globe and Mail endorsement is brighter than the Batsignal. The endorsement extends to the Conservative Party but not Stephen Harper.
The newspaper likes what the Conservatives have done with the economy but not anything else. The endorsement criticizes the Liberals and the NDP for having economic proposals similar to the Conservatives.
By the newspaper's logic, Canadians could have economic proposals similar to what's been done yet do things better in other areas. But that won't happen with the Conservative Party. Yet that is where the endorsement went.
This is why we here at CanadianCrossing.com will never do a political endorsement of any kind.
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If you zoned out during the longest campaign most Canadians will remember, or if you just discovered that Canada is having a rather significant election thanks to the Internet, bienvenue and welcome.
I was sitting in a lounge in a hostel in downtown Halifax when Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement that the campaign was starting. That was the last day I was in Canada.
Even without being on Canadian soil, I tried as much as I could to capture the essence of this campaign. If I didn't have a pesky day job to consider and a non-Canadian vacation, I could have spent even more time on covering the election.
Still, there is a lot here to go over. Hope you enjoy reading these notebook stories. If you live in Canada, go vote today. Here is our coverage:
Of course you don't want to end up with a Sarah Silverman type gaffe and run afoul of Canadian election law!
Posted by: Tim | October 19, 2015 at 11:53 AM
I'd be tempted to do so for the publicity. My only interest in "violating" the law would be to encourage Canadians to vote in general. We do not endorse candidates.
Posted by: Chad | October 20, 2015 at 07:59 PM
Stay out of the fray so they don't turn you away at the border!
Posted by: Tim | October 23, 2015 at 09:36 AM
That was almost literally poetic. Thanks for the advice.
Posted by: Chad | October 23, 2015 at 10:58 AM