In a COVID hotspot, Canada’s election prompts little enthusiasm

Residents of Ontario’s Peel region, hard-hit by coronavirus, express muted interest in upcoming federal vote.

Brampton, Ontario, Canada – After Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap election last month, he defended the decision to hold a vote during the coronavirus pandemic by saying Canadians needed to choose “how we finish the fight against COVID-19”.

But in Ontario’s Peel region – a sprawling area west of Toronto that is home to 1.5 million people and was one of the parts of the country hardest-hit by the virus – the electorate has shown little enthusiasm for going out to vote.

“I think it was a really dumb idea,” Brampton resident Pam Bates told Al Jazeera before Election Day on September 20.