Today is the day. Canadians across the country are able to get out and vote for their MP and the party they want to form government.
It’s been a battle between parties for who will form government with many Canadians seeing primarily negative news about the different candidates as parties targeted each other’s weaknesses. Current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially dissolved parliament on September 11, marking the official campaign race for all the parties.
After a month and 10 days Canadians now get to make their political voices heard. You may be one of the 4.7 million Canadians who voted in the advanced polls, but if not the Calgary Journal has got you covered for election information.
What you need to vote
To find out where to cast your ballot for your riding visit this page on Elections Canada’s website — and have your postal code ready to go. If you are already registered to vote you can also check your voter information card which would have been mailed to you, or you can call 1-800-463-6868.
If you’re not yet registered to vote, don’t fret, you can register at the polls. All you need is to be able to prove your identity, the simplest is to show a piece of government issued ID; for more options click here.
To find a list of candidates in your riding enter your postal code here.
How to find party platforms
Canada has a party system which means that you vote for your candidate who is, unless running as an independant, a member of a political party and will run under that platform.
The Liberal party platform can be found here, the Conservatives released their platform after the official leaders debate and it can be found here. The NDP platform can be found here, the PPC has their platform here and the Green party’s platform can be reviewed here. The Quebecois have released their platform here, but as we are in Alberta, we are not eligible to vote for them.
For a quick breakdown of what you need to know this election, read the Calgary Journal’s Federal Election: Here’s what you need to know. The article reviews what the different parties’ stand for and brief look at this years election campaign.
Election night coverage from the Calgary Journal
We are running a Facebook live show starting at 7:30 PM, you can find it streaming on our Facebook page.
The Journal will be speaking with professors, university political party groups and passionate individuals on the results and overall election.
We have over 20 reporters out in the field bringing you the best federal election coverage in Calgary. They will be stationed at party campaign headquarters to gather reactions to the results and give a first hand look at candidate’s emotions.
Watch for our coverage on our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.