Riding Pierre Poilievre lost in had highest voter turnout in Ontario, data shows
It has been a busy year for elections in Ontario, as residents were asked to cast their ballots in both federal and provincial elections over the course of less than three months.
In February’s provincial vote, only 45.4 per cent of eligible Ontarians cast a ballot, whereas this week’s federal election saw a healthy turnout of 69.1 per cent of Ontarians go to the polls.
It was a similar story across the rest of Canada as 68.7 per cent of eligible Canadians cast a ballot for their party of choice.
Locally, however, there was a massive range of numbers across Ontario ridings.
The riding in the province with the biggest turnout was Carleton, where 81.57 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot, according to the Elections Canada website.
The riding featured Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as well as a record number of candidates. Poilievre would lose the riding after holding onto it for 21 years to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy.
While the numbers were high, 74.4 per cent of voters also came out for the 2021 federal election, so this is a constituency that goes to the polls even in a less-attended election.
The next three highest turnouts also came from the Ottawa area: Kanata (77.99 per cent), Ottawa Centre (77.49 per cent) and Nepean (77.47 per cent), where Prime Minister Mark Carney cruised to victory, finished second, third and fourth.
Wellington—Halton Hills North, which is located north of Guelph, saw 76.91 per cent of registered voters turn out to return longtime Conservative MP Michael Chong to Ottawa with just over 50 per cent of the vote.
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While voters in the Ottawa area turned out in droves, the same cannot be said for a number of ridings across Toronto, as four of the five lowest turnouts came out of the provincial capital.
Humber River—Black Creek was the lowest as just 55.25 per cent of residents cast a ballot in an election that saw Liberal MP Judy Sgro easily retain her seat. In 2021, just 48.9 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
Etobicoke North was second-lowest at 55.99 per cent, followed by York South—Weston—Etobicoke (57.53 per cent) and Windsor West (58.13 per cent). Scarborough Woburn rounded out the bottom five at 59.36 per cent.
A range of factors at both a local and federal level could affect voter turnout, according to Western University associate professor Laura Stephenson.
She told Global News that things like money spent and whether there is an incumbent can play a part in deciding voter turnout, although those are not the most important factors.
“The biggest thing I think that matters when we think about turnout going up or down is actually interest in the election,” she said. “Obviously, this was an interesting election.
“We saw a lot of people being motivated for all sorts of reasons across the spectrum. And for that reason, I think, that’s why the overall voter turnout as is currently being reported is higher.”
Stephenson noted that two of the Ottawa ridings that finished with a higher turnout also had political leaders on the ballot.
“The fact that there is one of the party leaders running may give a greater incentive for somebody to think about using their vote,” she said. “Now they can think about it in two ways, right? Obviously, in Carney’s riding, it led to him being elected, and in Poilievre’s riding, it went the other way.”
She noted that some of the things that sound simple, like knocking on doors or planting campaign signs, matter in building up interest in an election as they build enthusiasm or urgency and make people aware of whether it is a competitive race.
“It might sound silly, but signs actually make a difference,” Stephenson said. “Signs obviously build name recognition and that helps a lot with people understanding who’s running.”
She also pointed out that signs might also play a part in whether people feel a candidate is going to cruise to victory or whether it is a tight race.
“If you see a lot of signs with a lot of different colours, you’re like, ‘Oh, OK, maybe this is actually a fierce contest that’s going on.’”
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