Good morning,
After a 40-day campaign, election day is here. Make sure to get out and vote (if you didn’t already cast your ballot in record-setting advance polls).
As results come streaming in this evening, be sure to check our website for live updates – including an interactive map.
Still undecided? Here’s our definitive guide to where the parties stand on the key issues, from climate to taxes to child care.
Not sure where to vote? Go here and enter your postal code.
Polling times: Polls are open for 12 hours across the country, but times vary by region. Newfoundlanders will be the first ones eligible to cast ballots, as of 8:30 a.m. local time, with those on the West Coast having the latest cutoff at 7 p.m. PT.
Make sure to bring ID: Your driver’s licence or any other government-issued card with your photo, name and address will suffice. If you don’t have one of those, there are other options.
All bets are on a tight race: The Liberals and Conservatives are in a dead heat, according to the final Nanos Research survey commissioned by The Globe and CTV. The Tories polled at 32.5 per cent, the Liberals at 31.7 per cent, the NDP at 20.8 per cent, the Bloc at 7.2 per cent, the Greens at 6 per cent and the People’s Party at 1.5 per cent. Visit tgam.ca/election-polls for the methodology.
Final pitches: Justin Trudeau, Andrew Scheer and Jagmeet Singh all spent the final day of their campaigns in and around the Vancouver area, in a sign that more seats than usual could be up for grabs in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. They also used public addresses on Sunday to take aim at Yves-François Blanchet’s Bloc Québécois, the sovereigntist party threatening a comeback.
Further reading while you wait:
From coast to coast, these are 21 key ridings to watch.
What happens if no party wins a majority of seats? Here’s a guide to how things could play out in the event of a minority government.
The election campaign has revealed a deeply fractured country, John Ibbitson writes.
More than 1.1 million Canadian elementary and secondary students participated in what may have been the world’s largest simulated election.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Protests in Chile, Hong Kong, Lebanon and Spain
Parts of Chile are under a state of emergency after at least seven people died in violent clashes over the weekend. Protests began two weeks ago over fare hikes on public transit.
The pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong isn’t letting up, with at least 24 injured in the latest round of clashes between protesters and police.
In Lebanon, hundreds of thousands took to the streets to oppose political corruption as well as proposed new austerity measures.
And in Spain, a pro-unionist counterprotest was staged calling for an end to violence after unrest prompted by the jailing of Catalonia separatist leaders.
Johnson forced to ask EU for Brexit extension: After British MPs voted to hold off on considering the deal, the Prime Minister had no choice but to request a three-month extension. Johnson also sent a second note asking the European Union to reject the request. It’s still possible a deal is ratified by the end of the month, but calls are growing for a snap election or referendum on the agreement.
Alleged Asian drug kingpin laid groundwork for empire in Toronto: Tse Chi Lop is suspected to be the leader of a narcotics syndicate believed to have played a major role in the surge of drugs like methamphetamine across Asia. Tse immigrated to Canada in 1988 and was a Toronto-based member of a gang called the Big Circle Boys.
Ontario’s cannabis sector: The provincial cannabis agency is examining a boost to the private sector’s role in distribution after posting a $42-million loss in the first year of legalization. One option on the table would allow for a “direct-delivery” system where producers could bypass provincial warehouses and ship straight to retailers.
U.S. troops not leaving Middle East: Despite Trump’s insistence that removing troops from Syria is part of an effort to bring them home from “endless wars” in the region, his Pentagon chief says those forces are headed to western Iraq to fight the Islamic State.
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks gain on hopes for progress in trade war and Brexit: World shares nudged higher on Monday, as hopes for progress towards resolving the U.S.-China trade war and a belief that Britain will avoid a disorderly exit from the European Union gave cause for riskier bets. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.3 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite rose marginally. The FTSE 100 was down 0.1 per cent around 4:30 a.m. ET, with Germany’s DAX up 0.6 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 up modestly. New York futures were higher. The Canadian dollar was well above 76 US cents.
Looking for investing ideas? Check out The Globe’s weekly digest of the latest insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and what investors need to know for the week ahead. This week’s edition includes Algonquin Power’s new share offering, Boyd Group Income Fund’s conversion and top 10 year-end tax tips.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
When Donald Trump aims low, his reach never exceeds his grasp
Globe editorial: “Canadians going to the polls on Monday can reassure themselves that, whatever the next federal government throws at them, it will pale in comparison to the recent crimes and misdemeanours of the Trump administration.”
How China loses friends and alienates people
Minxin Pei: “The Chinese folk saying ‘lift a rock only to drop it on one’s own feet,’ or its English equivalent – ‘to shoot oneself in the foot’ – perfectly describes the self-defeating inclinations of dictatorship. And nothing exemplifies such inclinations so much as China’s recent effort to bully the NBA.” Minxin Pei is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.
Fish should be part of the animal welfare conversation
Jessica Scott-Reid: “It’s a notion that has made headlines several times over the past few years: Fish feel pain, and the way we catch and kill them for food may actually be cruel. … And as Newfoundland copes with a massive fish-farm die-off, concerns about the well-being of the fish in crowded farms are being added to this mounting conversation.” Jessica Scott-Reid is a Montreal-based freelance writer and animal advocate.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(David Parkins/The Globe and Mail)David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
A new theory on depression: It’s a disease caused by the body’s immune system
The central idea is that a stress hormone plays a key role in depression. Dr. Diane McIntosh, one of Canada’s leading proponents of the thesis, puts it this way: “Chronic stress causes the body to produce high levels of cortisol, which can lead to depression, but depression itself ramps up the cortisol, which worsens the depression.”
MOMENT IN TIME
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo librarians working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. In the spirit of Halloween, we’re looking at candy this month.
Assembly-line workers package bulk candy, 1926
(John Boyd/The Globe and Mail)John Boyd/The Globe and Mail
It is rather quaint to see the Loblaw Groceterias Co. Limited employees, above, in 1926, unpack bulk candy and repack it in special containers. The all-female assembly line helped Loblaw sell 25,000 pounds of repackaged candy every week. Confectionery wasn’t nearly as diverse or as prolific then as it is now, but it still had a loyal sweet-toothed customer base in those pre-Depression boom years. Today, bulk candy is relatively cheap and plentiful. Specialty-candy stores and bulk-food stores routinely carry thousands of varieties of confectionery, everything from Allan Ju Jubes to Zingy Zaps. We eat sweets every day, but the four biggest seasons are Halloween, Christmas, Valentines and Easter. Swedes eat about 35 pounds of candy each every year. Switzerland, Germany and Ireland are the world’s top consumers of chocolate, consuming more than twice as much, per capita, as Canadians. – Philip King
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