Although Elections Canada started counting mail-in ballots Tuesday, the day after the general election, the outcome won’t affect the result in Chilliwack-Hope.
And the total number of votes cast represents the lowest local voter turnout since 2011.
As of Tuesday morning – with one poll out of the 213 still not included – a total of 47,904 votes were cast in Chilliwack-Hope out of 85,413 eligible electors. Elections Canada reported 4,584 mail-in ballots to be counted in Chilliwack-Hope, for a total vote count of 52,488, a voter turnout rate of 61.5 per cent.
In 2019, the local voter turnout rate was 65.7 per cent and in 2015 it was 69.7 per cent. In the previously configured riding of Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, the 2011 election had a voter turnout of 58.7 per cent.
Across Canada, 16 million votes were cast in the Sept. 20 election out of 27.4 million registered electors, or 56 per cent.
Nationally there were almost 800,000 mail-in ballots to be counted, which could yet change the preliminary results in about a dozen tightly contested seats including three in B.C.
By Tuesday morning, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were leading or elected in 158 seats, one fewer than they won in 2019.
Conservatives were at 119, two below 2019. The NDP were at 25, a gain of one seat, while the Bloc Québécois was down one to 31. The Greens were at two, down from the three they won in 2019, while the People’s Party of Canada gained in popular vote over 2019 but still managed no seats.
READ MORE: VIDEO: Everything old is new again after election returns virtually identical Parliament
Chilliwack-Hope election results as of Sept. 21, 2021:
• Conservative – Mark Strahl – 22,218 votes – 46.4% (Elected)
• NDP – DJ Pohl – 12,640 votes – 26.4%
• Liberal – Kelly Velonis – 7,938 votes – 16.6%
• PPC – Rob Bogunovic – 3,811 – 8%
• Green – Arthur Green – 1,297 – 2.7%
READ MORE: Strahl re-elected in Chilliwack-Hope with fourth straight election win
– with files from The Canadian Press
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