Vancouver voters are turning out early in unusual numbers. Advance voting in the city has already topped the entire early-vote total recorded in 2022, and one advance voting day still remains in British Columbia's provincial campaign.
The surge comes in a campaign where childcare costs, housing and the future of public healthcare have dominated debate. In Vancouver, parties are also being pressed on transit funding and on whether council-era housing pledges have turned into homes renters can actually afford.
Elsewhere in the region, the campaign trail has been shadowed by local emergencies: a Sunday-morning fire at a low-income apartment building in New Westminster displaced residents of 24 units, and police in Delta are still investigating a head-on crash between a pickup truck and a transit bus on Scott Road that injured the truck driver and a bus passenger.
Advance polls close ahead of the general vote, and election officials will be watching whether Vancouver's early pace translates into a higher overall turnout than the province saw four years ago.
