Montrealers begin advance voting for federal election

Across the country on Friday, the first of four days of advance voting began for the 2025 federal election. This means that eligible Canadian electors could start voting at polling stations in Montreal before election day on Monday, April 28th. 

“For me, I already had my mind made up where I was going to vote based on previous elections and previous information,” said Philip Robbins, a Montrealer who took part in the advanced voting. “I’ve followed the party I vote for quite some time, so I was just happy to vote based on what I previously knew about that party.”

Helen Gibson, another early voter, said, “The sooner the better. It’s really important to vote this year and come out and show your true colours.”

Those voting can only vote at their assigned polling station, which is located on their voter information card or can be found on Elections Canada’s Voter Information Service online.    

“I’m going to be back home at my parents’ place on the actual day of voting. So that’s, I pretty much needed to do advanced voting,” said Curtis Gagnon, an advanced voter. “The election campaign was short, but I had lots of information to go off of.”

Cynthia Cloutier, another advanced voter, added, “I wanted to vote today because I listened to both debates and was eager to make my choice known this year.”

For those advance voting on Friday, they have made up their mind on who to vote for before the major parties unveiled their fully-costed platforms.

The main parties have announced many of their policies, but have not provided an official document detailing their entire platform and the costs associated with these promises.

“This is an issue where cost is less important than leadership issues and an outside force, in this case, Mr. Trump. So most people are probably not spending as much time on the issue of costing as they might have otherwise,” said Brooke Jeffrey, a professor of political science at Concordia University.

Jeffrey emphasizes that while those taking advantage of advance voting may not have access to fully-costed platforms, they should have enough information from the major parties to make an informed decision at the ballot box.

“I think it’s so important to vote in this election in particular that obviously the more information everybody has, the better, but I would hate to see people discouraged from voting only because they don’t have a fully-costed platform,” Jefferey explained.

Advance voting runs daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. until Monday, April 21. Those wanting to vote before election day can also vote early using the special ballot process at any one of the 500 Elections Canada offices by April 22 at 6 p.m. Voting by mail is a third option, but you must apply by April 22 at 6 p.m. as well. 

“We’ve got the Trump issue. We’ve got affordability. We’ve got the economy. Very important issues as far as I’m concerned,” said Gibson.