Date: April 28, 2025

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia

As daylight fades over Vancouver, one of the final polling stations stands ready to welcome the last of the day’s voters. Across Canada, stations opened in staggered fashion from coast to coast, reflecting the country’s six time zones. In British Columbia and the Yukon, polls will close at 10:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. PT), marking the end of balloting in this pivotal snap election.

The 2025 contest has been unusually shaped by events south of the border: U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian exports—and even his quip about annexing Canada as the “51st state”—have loomed large in Canadian campaign speeches and news coverage. Those foreign-policy flashpoints appear to have energized voters on both sides of the aisle, with record advance-poll participation evident in many ridings.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, buoyed by his economic credentials and a surge of nationalist sentiment in response to Trump’s provocations, has campaigned on a platform of defending Canadian sovereignty without undermining the vital Canada-U.S. trading relationship. Meanwhile, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has emphasized domestic concerns—cost of living, housing affordability, and public safety—seeking to steer the narrative back to homegrown issues even as Trump-related rhetoric continues to dominate headlines.

With polls about to shut, Canadians in Vancouver and across the Pacific Time Zone will have until 7:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. ET) to cast their ballots. As soon as the doors close, vote counting will begin, and early returns from the Atlantic provinces—where polls closed hours earlier—will start to trickle in. National projections may start to emerge late this evening, but final, official results will depend on the full tally of ballots from coast to coast.

Sources:

• Loonie strengthens as Canadians head to the polls – Reuters 

• Canadians vote in election dominated by concerns about Trump – Reuters

• Liberals win Canada's election but unclear if they will have majority, CTV and CBC say – Reuters

• In Canada’s federal election, the 1st polls have closed – Global News globalnews.ca