True North: Strong And Free 🇨🇦

let's recap: WHY THE ELECTION DATE: APRIL 28, 2025?

Typically, Canada's federal election is hosted on the third Monday of October once every four years. The reason Canada is hosting it in April is because Carney, the new Prime Minister, requested a Dissolution of Parliament. This action can be requested at any point by request of the sitting Prime Minister or by the King of Canada, but cannot go forward without the approval of the sitting Governor General. The Governor General serves as the King's representative within Canada, among a variety of other constitutional duties, and thus oversees the procedure.

WHO ARE THE POLITICAL PARTIES?

Canada's parliament is currently [as of March 2025] occupied by five political parties. There are more than just these five, but these ones are considered the main players in Canadian Politics. ◦ New Democratic Party / Policies & Publications ◦ Bloc Québécois / Policies & Publications [French] ◦ Green Party / Policies & Publications ◦ Liberal Party of Canada / Policies & Publications ◦ Conservative Party of Canada / Policies & Publications

HOW DOES ALL THIS WORK?

I've seen a few comments floating around treating former Prime Minister Trudeau's tag-out with replacement Prime Minister Carney like it was a federal election [it was not] and that it was somehow illegal [it was perfectly legal]. Being America's neighbor has even Canadians confused as to how our own election system operates, so here are the cliff notes: ◦ You are eligible to vote in Canada if you are a Canadian citizen, are 18 years or older, and can prove your identity and address. ◦ Eligible voters can still register to vote at the polling station if they forgot to register in advance. ◦ Eligible voters can vote early on specific days, register for mail-in voting, vote at an Elections Canada office, or vote on election day itself before polling stations close in their respective time zone. ◦ Eligible voters can still vote while incarcerated, homeless, live abroad, or are outside of Canada during the election. ◦ Employers are obligated to give employees three hours off from work to vote. ◦ Federal elections do not utilize automatic ballot-counting machines. If someone's going off about ballot-hacking or interference, they likely haven't voted in a Canadian federal election. From casting ballots to counting, Canadian voting is largely analog. All golf pencils and paper. ◦ Canada does not vote to elect the Prime Minister specifically. There are 343 Ridings [Electoral Districts] across Canada. These correspond with the 343 seats in the House of Commons:

Each riding elects a member of Parliament to represent them in the House of Commons. Each member of Parliament is typically affiliated with a political party, but they can be independent. The party that wins the most seats in the House becomes the prevailing government and that party's leader becomes Prime Minister. ◦ This is not a celebrity contest. Election ballots vary from riding to riding and list the names of the candidates running for Parliament within each individual district. Party leader names only appear if they happen to be the representative for your particular riding. Voters can find out their riding's candidates using the Elections Canada website.

While Canadian elections don't have nearly the same sensationalism as the States, these basics should still give you the knowledge to recognize when someone [or a bot] is trying to manufacture social media outrage or otherwise spew some bullshit. So I'm going to close this all off with this:

Elections are not Team Sports

In the social media era, it can be alarmingly easy to get swept up in hype and spectacle. Canada operates on a multi-party system, sure, but you still need to pay attention and read into to the policies and guarantees each party is dangling in front of you. Don't just leave it to election day vibes. You need to think critically about who you want writing the legislation, and that also means equipping yourself with the awareness to vote strategically. If you live in a riding that's detrimentally attached to a party whose policies conflict with human rights and values, you may need to place your vote in the candidate whose party has the best chance to oust them - even if that party isn't the one you'd personally prefer to vote for.

Be critical, don't get swept away, and please spare a thought for Canada's House Hippo. They've been trending increasingly endangered since the 90's, but thanks to conservation efforts in the late 2010's they've a fighting chance to make a comeback.

Hey, for the record. This isn't my endorsement of treating "felons" like shit. Its bullshit that Canada has a blanket ban on anyone with a felony conviction. I think it's bullshit that the US has so many "felons". I think it's bullshit that felonies are a thing.

This is merely an expression of my wish to see trump get treated the same way that the rest of us are treated for once in his fucking life, and not get special treatment from every fucking establishment in the goddamn world. Our punitive, carceral system isn't going anywhere any time soon, I just think it would be funny to see him treated the same way anyone else would be.

Get the🍿👀

I can't speak for Australia, but you need to know that the ONLY reason the centralist Liberals won is because Trump threatened our sovereignty and tried to interfere in our election. (Which he's now gloating over.)

Before that? Conservatives were slated for a practically guaranteed win. We NARROWLY escaped a very real future where our own Trumpian fascist pig (Poilievre) could have been elected PM. I cannot overstate ENOUGH just how much we dodged that bullet.

And frankly: Liberals are centralist at best with their own share of right-wing policies. Many of us had to "hold our noses" and vote Liberal just to keep Cons out because they were the only party with a decent shot at beating them. And unless we ever get electoral reform (which will never happen), this is not gonna change. The actual (so-called) leftist party incurred heavy losses this election. We Canadian leftists aren't in a good spot and still have to keep fighting.

I am so tired of people treating my country's politics as a joke. It's always "Canada is the nice Liberal paradise, with healthcare!". As if Cons haven't been trying to privatize everything and tear down our constitution. As if the western provinces aren't falling into alt-right ideology and demanding to separate. As if we aren't also guilty of Indigenous genocide and other human rights abuses (that many of us still refuse to reckon with). Among a whole host of other issues and historic shames.

You want to comment on Canadian politics? Then ACTUALLY PAY ATTENTION and LISTEN to us. At the very least stop making generalizations about our politics and history. No, we're not in fact "better than the US". We never were.

As a Canadian who has lived abroad for most of my life, I'll always identify primarily as a Canadian, it's where I was born, my accent is still a PNW accent, and that nation is where my soul aches for every single day. I also feel as though quite a lot of people don't entirely get what exactly the last five months have been like as a Canadian, even if I don't live there anymore. The USA has always been our biggest ally and partner, the Prime Minister and President have historically worked side by side for the betterment of all nearly 400 million of us. So, for those wondering why I have that #ElbowsUp in my header now, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, here's why.

In the past five/six months, Felon 47 has done the following to my country:

Insinuated that we should become the 51st State (only possible through full on military invasion) calling us ''Not a viable country''.

Called then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, son of our greatest PM Pierre Trudeau, a ''Governor''.

Defamed our now-Prime Minister Mark Carney in speeches and on social media.

Levied unwarranted tariffs on the country over something we didn't even do.

Blamed the American fentanyl crisis on Canada, which was proven untrue hours later.

Attempted to rig our election in favour of his puppet Pierre Poilievre, who proceeded to lose his own seat.

Attempted to sabotage our trade deal with Mexico, which Trudeau was well within his authority to negotiate as our PM.

Is allegedly sending members of the Heritage Foundation to Alberta to drum up support for an Albertan separatist movement.

Is allegedly asking border police to dig through the phones of Canadians trying to enter the States, and turn away/arrest those who oppose the regime.

Is trying to get the border altered/erased by citing the 1908 Boundary Treaty inked between the US and British Canada. Stating that the border is an ''arbitrary line'' between the two nations.

Has lied about the nature of the special relationship, the US doesn't subsidize Canada, it's the other way around. We could shut the gas and electricity off to the US overnight if we wanted to.

Has ordered his 2IC, the owner of the bird app, to plant anti-Carney propaganda in Canadian media and on social media via his AI and bot networks.

It is no coincidence to me that Trudeau's popularity ratings began to drop immediately after the 2020 US Election, and the rumours of Felon 47's wife having a crush on Trudeau came to light was the touching paper.

I very rarely use this space for politics, preferring to bitch to my parents about current events. But, I will not be quiet about this manchild's threats to the nation I love so dearly. I owe it to the country that birthed me to speak up for it, even in some small way.

Taken from reddit.

My fellow Canadians.

(or at least all Canadian citizens, which isn’t quite the same thing)

There is an election Monday, April 28th. That’s tomorrow. You need to vote.

If you received a voter card, it will have your poll location on it. If you didn't, you can find the location HERE (français). Elections Canada does not call voters - if someone called or texted you to say the time or location has changed, that’s fraud. Check the website for accurate information.

In order to vote you need EITHER a driver’s license or provincial ID card, OR two pieces of ID, one of which has your current address. A letter from your University or residence counts. (Proof of address is more important than proof of citizenship.) The full list of ID accepted is HERE (français).

If you didn’t receive a voter information card, you may not be registered to vote. But that’s okay!

YOU DO NOT NEED TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE TO VOTE IN CANADA.

You can register at the poll station on Election Day. It’s not hard and it doesn’t take very long, and you don’t need extra ID.

Voting is quick and usually simple. Polling hours depend on your province (français), but all polls will be open until at least 7:00 pm, usually later. (Note that in the Eastern Time Zone polls open late, at 9:30 am.) Your employer is required to give you time off to vote (français) if you need it.

Information for voters with disabilities is HERE (français). If you have feedback on accessibility or other issues, there will be forms you can fill out at your polling station.

If you got a mail-in ballot and you have not sent it yet, you can drop it off in person at your local Elections Canada office (français) or the address on the envelope, anytime before the polls close.

Here’s the acceptable ID list again (français).