The arrogance of Justin Trudeau in calling a pandemic election was felt to the very end. He called it despite the legislation which provides fixed election dates, the motion in the House against holding a pandemic election, which even his party supported, and despite severe weather conditions and COVID-19 emergencies across the country.

The difficulties his election call imposed on those entrusted with delivering the election were felt right through to voting day and no doubt even now as the vote continues to be tallied.

Elections Canada reported on the eve of election day that it was about 40,000 people short of its goal for hiring election workers. It had to cut down on the number of voting locations to meet physical-distancing requirements and because some businesses, school boards and other organizations didn’t want to host voters during the COVID-19 crisis.

Elections Canada also had to reorganize the way polling stations were laid out, because of health restrictions, including placing only one deputy returning officer per table instead of two, which slowed down the processing of voters walking in the door.

Elections Canada reported that a record number of people — nearly 5.8 million, an increase of 18.5 per cent from the 2019 federal election — voted in advance polls. More than one million, said to be a greater number than ever before, also requested special mail-in ballots. Reports now indicate that not all of them were returned.