The first polls in Canada’s federal election have closed in Newfoundland and Labrador as millions of Canadians cast their ballot in the 2025 federal general election.
To watch as the live results of the election roll in, click here.
Newfoundland and Labrador was the first province where polls closed on Monday at 8:30 p.m. local time (7 p.m. Eastern or 4 p.m. Pacific time).
Election workers count special ballots, ballots cast by Canadians outside their ridings, at the Elections Canada Distribution Centre on the day of the federal election, in Ottawa, on Monday, April 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Polls closed in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia shortly after, at 8:30 p.m. Atlantic Time (7:30 p.m. Eastern/ 4:30 p.m. Pacific).
In Quebec, most of Ontario and Nunavut — which follow Eastern Standard Time — polls will close at 9:30 p.m. Eastern or 6:30 p.m. Pacific.
A person walks into a polling station on the day of the federal election in Ottawa on Monday, April 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Manitoba and the parts of Nunavut northwestern Ontario that follow Central Time will see polls close at 8:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. Eastern or 6:30 p.m. Pacific).
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Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and part of Nunavut will see polls close at 7:30 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. Eastern or 6:30 p.m. Pacific).
Polls will close last in British Columbia and Yukon, at 7 p.m. local time (10 p.m. Eastern).
The federal election was punctuated by record-breaking early voter turnout in addition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and his repeated attacks on the country’s sovereignty with calls to make Canada the 51st state as recently as Monday.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and Green Party co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault spent the past month traversing the country vying for votes.
The Liberal party held a four-point lead heading into Monday, according an Ipsos poll done exclusively for Global News that was released Sunday.
Preliminary on Tuesday showed 7.3 million voters cast their ballots at advance polls during the Easter long weekend, a 25-per cent increase from the 5.8 million early votes in the 2021 federal election.
Ordinarily, vote counting does not begin until polls close. However, election law in Canada allows the chief electoral officer to make exceptions, on the request of district returning officers, to start counting advance ballots up to one hour before polls close.
Due to the high number of advance ballots cast in advanced polls, Elections Canada received special dispensation to up to two hours before polls close.
This will take place in only some ridings and the returning officers would have to request permission and receive permission from the chief electoral officer.
Elections Canada said special exception has already been granted for the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, where 91 candidates including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre are on the ballot. The larger-than-usual size of the ballots means it could take poll workers longer to count the votes.
Advance vote counting in that riding will be allowed to begin six hours before polls close in an effort to have results from there in a timely fashion.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
