Canadians now only have a few hours left to vote - depending on what area of the country they live in.

The 2021 election saw a lower number of voters than the previous two elections.

This election though is pivotal, as threats by US President Donald Trump loom over Canadians.

A record number of people - more than 7 million - have already cast their ballots in advance.

We'll have to wait to see the turnout for this year, but queues have been forming at several polling places.

Regan Morris
Reporting from Vancouver

Image source, Regan Morris / BBC

Marichu Jaro cast her ballot and then came to pay her respects to the dead and wounded at a memorial near the site of the weekend attack.

As a Filipina Canadian, Maricho says she is grateful that she wasn’t at the festival with her infant on Saturday when a car ploughed through the crowds, killing 11 people including a 5-year-old child.

Maricho said the attack would likely have an impact on the polls as people decide which candidate would take mental health treatment most seriously.

“I think this is a big eye opener for all the candidates,” she said, welling up with tears. “Maybe casting our votes, maybe we can change what needs to be changed.”

The memorial site was crowded with mourners despite the rain on election day. Candles were extinguished, but people kept coming to lay flowers and quietly pray in the rain. Maricho says she felt compelled to vote more than ever.

“We have to give this to the victims,” she said of showing up to vote.

Trump's shadow looms over pivotal Canadian electionpublished at 22:05 British Summer Time 28 April

22:05 BST 28 April

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent, reporting from Ottawa

As if on cue, a Canadian election overshadowed by President Trump’s threats to take over his neighbour began with a taunt from across the border.

"No more artificially drawn line from many years ago. Look how beautiful this land mass would be," he wrote on this Truth Social platform.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, accused by his critics of a Trump-like policies and style, was the first political leader to respond.

"Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state," he declared in his social media post.

"Every time Trump inserts himself in this election it has an impact for Poilievre," pollster David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data told BBC News.

In a poll viewed as one of the most consequential in Canada’s history, Poilievre is fighting to close the gap with banker turned novice politician Mark Carney - who heads the Liberals.

In his last days of campaigning, Carney made President Trump not Poilievre his main target of attack.

Taking on Trump is the one issue political leaders all agree on, but they also know it’s not an equal fight; the US economy is 10 times the size of Canada’s.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal leader Mark Carney have both cast their ballots in the Canadian election.

Polls have not yet closed, but some counting of ballots has started.

Canadians could potentially know who their prime minister is by late Monday night or early Tuesday morning (local time).

Polls start to close at 19:00 EDT (00:00 BST) in Newfoundland and Labrador and the last polls in British Columbia close at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST).

Stick with us as we bring you voices from voters across Canada, expert opinions and the most recent election day updates.

Neal Razzell
Reporting from Vancouver

Image source, Reuters

A polling station backs onto the street where a driver killed 11 people at Saturday’s Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver.

People are still laying flowers as others walk through the perfumed air to vote.

Many victims of Saturday's deadly incident remain in hospital.

Kay and Ross Howard-Jones stopped to talk.

"This is our neighbourhood, so we’ve been affected by it," Kay said. "It’s absolutely devastating."

But she’s heartened by the huge community response.

"Everybody is banding together. My son’s school is having a moment this afternoon, and we’re going from here, to exercise our right to vote, then to go donate blood."

Other voters here said health care and security were their top issues.

Ross Howard-Jones said he "just wants to keep Canada Canada".

Canada has six different time zones, so opening and closing times at polls vary according to their location.

The graphic below shows the closing time at polling locations according to these time zones, with the final polls closing at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST).

Polls have not closed but counting has already begun for mail-in ballots from Canadians who voted from abroad, according to an update from Elections Canada.

Those "special ballots" are being counted at a distribution centre in Ottawa, Canada's capital.

Even though they are being counted now, results will not be released until after the polls have closed.

Party representatives are witnessing the count, and journalists have also been invited to observe, Elections Canada said.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from Ottawa

We visited the family-owned Ottawa steel company, Ideal Roofing, which has suffered under US tariffs and whose owners fear further pain after the 90 day tariff pause ends.

Father and son, Claude and Philippe Laplante, work side by side, but are divided politically.

Claude was considering Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, but he’s decided Mark Carney has more business experience and is better qualified to negotiate with the US president and deal with a potential recession.

Claude's son Philippe, though, says they’ve had a failed Liberal government for years and they can’t keep doing the same thing, hoping for better.

He tells me, Trump is "putting Americans first and we need someone to put Canada first".

Both stress how important it is for the next leader to keep good relations with the United States, their largest trading partner.

While trade deals with others would be potentially beneficial to other industries, Claude says it’s not feasible for them to ship their products across the Atlantic. The geography of the US makes it irreplaceable.

Image source, Reuters

Mark Carney has just turned up and cast his vote in the Canadian federal election.

He went to a polling place in Ottawa, Ontario, as his opponent Pierre Poilievre did earlier in the day.

Carney appeared in good spirits and was accompanied by his wife Diana as he shook hands with other people at the location.

Robin Levinson King
Reporting from Toronto

As a long-time Liberal voter, Denise Mitsche was disappointed - but not surprised - when her riding of St Paul’s in Toronto flipped from the Liberal Party to the Conservatives in 2024.

“It sounds like people were ready for a change,” she tells the BBC.

The riding had been under Liberal control for more than 30 years but flipped during last summer’s by-election in what many saw as a sign of growing discontent with the party in power.

Now, Liberals hope to get their territory back, as the party has surged in the polls in what would be a remarkable comeback.

For many, their for Liberal leader Mark Carney has been fuelled by Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric about making Canada the 51st US state.

“I feel like he’s the right person for what we need right now and what we need right now is to protect Canadas sovereignty and stand up to Trump,” Mitsche says of Carney.

“He seems calm, he wants to do the right thing.”

Nadine Yousif
Reporting from Ottawa

The main theme of the campaign has been how Canada's next prime minister will tackle a trade war with its closest economic ally and neighbour, after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened its sovereignty.

Most of the leading federal parties agree on some form of retaliatory tariffs in response to those put in place by the US, though they have different ideas on how the money raised by these levies would be used.

The Conservatives promised to put it towards tax relief, especially for workers affected by tariffs. The Liberals have also said they would use money raised by counter-tariffs to help workers and businesses and the NDP vowed to put "every dollar" collected towards ing those affected.

The Conservatives are also vowing to remove trade barriers between provinces, and have promised to call a meeting with premiers within a month of taking office.

Additionally, the Liberals have said they will spend C$5bn on measures to diversify trade internationally and within Canada and invest in infrastructure like ports and railroads. They have also vowed to spend C$2bn to protect Canada's auto industry.

The Bloc Québécois has called for pandemic-style for affected workers and are pushing for more for Quebec's aluminium industry, which has suffered under Trump's metals levies.

The NDP have proposed a 100% levy on all Tesla products if Trump moves ahead with his tariffs on all Canadian goods, and to bar the president from the G7 summit in Alberta in June.

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Image source, EPA

Canadians know their next PM will have no choice but to deal with Donald Trump. So the question on many voters' minds is: who can most capably handle the unpredictable US president?

The contest essentially boils down to the new Liberal leader Mark Carney and the Conservative's Pierre Poilievre, who has led the Conservatives since 2022.

Carney, 60, brings experience on the world stage - he governed the Bank of England from 2013-2020 - but lacks time spent in the cut and thrust of political campaigning, and will get his first real test in this general election.

At 45, Poilievre may be significantly younger, but he is a political veteran. First elected to the House of Commons at age 25, he has two decades of experience in federal politics, including time in cabinet, and is known for his political acumen.

Canada and the US share deeply integrated economies, a long-standing security partnership and the longest "undefended" border in the world.

So when Trump says he wants to use "economic force" against America's northern neighbour, calls the border an "artificially drawn line" and imposes steep tariffs, it marks a profound shift in the relationship between the two allies.

Trump's interventions have already helped transform what seemed like a certain Conservative victory into a too-close-to-call battle with the Liberals.

And as campaigning began, all the party leaders focused their launch messages heavily on the US threats.

Trump has made his views on the election known, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham on 18 March that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is "stupidly, no friend of mine" and that it may be "easier to deal actually with a Liberal".

Ultimately, he added, who wins "doesn't matter to me at all".

This election cycle has been dominated by the US-Canada relationship, including repeated remarks by the US president about making Canada the 51st state.

The BBC has asked voters across the country what it means to be Canadian - and what makes the country different from the US.

“We aren’t American,” says Edward, a British Columbia resident.

Many voters emphasise diversity, kindness and safety as reasons they love their country.

Some also criticise Canada. One voter calls it a “communist state”, another dubs it “broken”.

When asked whether they could ever see themselves being American, most voters the BBC spoke to responded with a resounding “no”. But some did say yes, or that they could see both the pros and cons.

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

One man who has a lot to do with the election but is legally not allowed to vote is Stéphane Perrault, who is the head of Elections Canada - the independent agency that isters the polls.

As the Chief Electoral Officer, Perrault cannot vote during his 10-year tenure, which began in 2018. After the end of his term, he is eligible to vote.

Perrault is not the only high-profile government official not voting today. Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon will also not be voting.

Simon is King Charles’s ceremonial representative in Canada and while she is not legally barred from voting, governor generals have traditionally abstained from the polls to maintain their political neutrality.

Image source, Getty Images

Even before the polls opened, a record number of people - more than 7 million - had already cast their ballots in advance.

Here's how election day is unfolding:

• The first polls opened at 07:00 EDT (12:00 BST) in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador earlier today. They will close at 19:00 EDT (00:00 BST)
• The next to follow were the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the rest of Labrador. Polls here will close at 19:30 EDT (00:30 BST)
• Polls in Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and bits of British Columbia opened at 09:30 EDT (14:30 BST). Voters can cast their ballot until 21:30 EDT (02:30 BST)
• And finally, the rest of British Columbia and Yukon opened at 10:00 EDT (15:00 BST) for voting. These polls will close at 22:00 EDT (03:00 BST)
• Preliminary results will likely come in late on Monday night or early on Tuesday morning, local time
• The biggest sweep of polls close at 21:30 EDT, including in Ontario and Quebec. If the Conservatives or Liberals win big in the eastern part of the country, it is possible the election can be called earlier in the night

Robin Levinson King
Reporting from Toronto

During last year’s by-election in St Paul’s, Shirley Grossi and her husband Giancarlo Grossi were divided on who to vote for - the Liberals, who had ruled the riding for over 30 years, or the Conservatives.

To the surprise of many, Conservative Don Stewart won the by-election. Now the couple want him to stay in parliament, and hope to see the Tories form the next government.

For Giancarlo, his comes down to concerns about how the Liberals have handled immigration.

“I just want change,” he says.

“We say we’re doing better but our services have diminished. If you’re going to allow a lot of people in the country, you have to be ready for it.”

His wife Shirley says she’s worried about crime.

“I have this neighbourhood app and everyone’s complaining. They capture someone and the next day they’re out,” she says. “If you don’t implement tougher measures they’re just going to commit crimes.”

Crime, immigration, the economy - these are standard issues in any election. But this election, many Canadians say there is one big issue that has trumped them all - US President Donald Trump and his threats and tariffs against Canada.

Giancarlo says Canadians should focus on what’s happening at home, not south of the border.

“I think it (tensions with US) will ,” he says.

And even if not: “Regardless of who’s in power, if Donald Trump doesn’t want to listen to you, he won’t. There’s no logic.”

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from Ottawa

Polls suggest Liberals are doing far better than expected in large part because anxious Canadians are shifting to the larger parties, fearing their vote might be wasted otherwise.

It’s certainly something we’ve been hearing in our conversations with voters.

Ian Wells, a 23-year-old student who plans to go into teaching, decided against voting for the smaller left leaning New Democratic Party. He says his priority now is “how best to stave off the conservatives".

What’s happening in the US with the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump “horrifies him", he says, referring to the judge who was arrested, and the way the istration has handled deportations and revoked foreign students' visas.

He says he doesn’t want Canada going in that direction. “I don't necessarily know for sure if Pierre Poilievre is that here, but he's close enough to it that I don't want to risk anything like that,” he explains.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, today's snap election in Canada is considered to be a referendum on almost 10 years of Liberal rule.

US President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats to the nation's sovereignty have also cast a long shadow over Canadian politics over the last few months.

As voters head to the polls to choose their new leader, here is some BBC content to help you take a step back and look at the wider context and key issues that have come up in this election:

• Who's who? BBC's Toronto-based reporter Nadine Yousif looks at the candidates running in this election
• BBC reporter Ali Abbas Ahmadi travels to Nunavut - Canada's largest federal district - where 40,000 inhabitants will be represented by one person in parliament, to see how people there might vote
• Our correspondents in China, India, Australia and elsewhere analyse why this election is being closely watched across the world
• And the BBC's Environment Correspondent Matt McGrath looks at why Canada's top candidates are talking up fossil fuels as climate slips down the country's agenda

Ali Abbas Ahmadi
Reporting from Toronto

Outside a Toronto polling place, 50-year-old Noel D'Souza tells me about his chief concerns going into this election.

"Crime is something that's been on a lot of people's minds," he says.

Car thefts appear to be on the rise in the Greater Toronto Area, and D'Souza "doesn't want it to become a big problem [in his neighbourhood]".

He adds that it is important to "make sure we make the most of our economy", and that the rising cost of living is making life difficult for many Canadians.

I thank him for speaking to me, and he smiles and replies: "Good luck to us all!"

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from Ottawa

At the riding in Ottawa South, we also spoke to those voting Conservative, including two elderly couples.

George Pires used to be a fan of Donald Trump, but no longer, and says he doesn’t take his threats seriously.

“That’s not going nowhere, Canada’s stronger than that,” he insists.

Repeating Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s signature line, he says the country needs “change” after three of Liberal rule.

Another man agrees. “The last elections, it’s been liberal, and the country’s gone downhill,” he tells me after casting his vote.