SYDNEY, N.S. — It’s Elections Day in Cape Breton.
A day when you can have your say about how the country is governed.
Across various social media platforms, voters are being encouraged to cast a ballot, but is it working?
At a polling station in North Sydney this afternoon, a steady stream of voters was spotted at the North Sydney Firemen’s Club.
With little room available at the Pierce Street facility, parking was spilling over to a nearby gravel lot.
“It’s been busy everywhere,” said Francoise Enguehard, Elections Canada media relations officer for Atlantic Canada.
“I can’t comment any other way. Our people are up to their eyeballs in work, so it’s been going well.”
Enguehard said so far there were no major problems reported at the polls in Cape Breton.
“I can tell you it’s been going well,” said Enguehard noting that it’s too difficult to tell at this point if voter turnout numbers are up across Atlantic Canada.
“It’s Mission Impossible,” she said.
Across the island a few signs were vandalized overnight and in Scotchtown someone posted their own sign attacking the previous Liberal government on a telephone poll outside the local polling station.
Big changes are afoot this election as both Cape Breton ridings are without an incumbent candidate. That means that no matter the result, the island will be two new faces to Parliament this fall.
Turnout at advanced polls up slightly in Cape Breton
Nearly 18,000 people voted in the advance polls for Cape Breton’s two federal ridings.
According to Elections Canada, 17,962 people cast ballots from Oct. 11-14, up slightly from 17,708 in the 2015 general election.
In Cape Breton-Canso, 9,274 people voted ahead of time, up significantly from 7,555 in 2015. In Sydney-Victoria, turnout dropped from 10,153 in 2015 to 8,688 this year.
Across Canada, participation was up by more than one million votes, jumping to 4,774,963 from 3,657,422 in 2015.
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