Canada
Quebec General Election, 3 October 2022
Hurricane Fiona, 23 September 2022
Post-tropical hurricane Fiona hit Canada’s coastline between 23 and 24 September 2022, affecting Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, heavy rains and huge winds (AP 2022). Entire homes were washed away and roads were blocked by debris and trees causing the military to be mobilized to eastern Canada (New York Times 2022).
Impact on the electoral process
Fiona impacted Quebec 28 days into the general election campaign period. Due to the storm, some political parties in Quebec cancelled planned events. The party leader of Coalition Avenir Québec briefly suspended his campaign to manage a response to Fiona (Canadian Press 2022).
Early voting took place on 25–26 September, however Fiona forced polling stations in Îles-de-la-Madeleine to close on the first of these two days. To compensate, Îles-de-la-Madeleine polling stations were open for an additional two hours on the second day of early voting (Élections Québec 2022b; Presse Canadienne 2022).
Voter turnout was 66.05 per cent. In the 2018 Quebec general election it was 66.45 per cent (Élections Québec n.d.).
Bibliography
Associated Press (AP), ‘Houses washed away after storm Fiona as Canada sends in military for cleanup’, The Guardian, 25 September 2022, < https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/25/canadas-military-sent-to-help-recovery-after-storm-fiona-batters-coast >, accessed 3 October 2025
The Canadian Press, The, ‘As Fiona slams into eastern Quebec, Legault pauses Quebec election campaign’, Global News, 24 September 2022, < https://globalnews.ca/news/9153539/hurricane-fiona-tropical-storm-caq-legault-quebec-election/>, accessed 3 October 2025
Élections Québec, ‘When and where to vote’, 2022, <https://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/en/vote/when-and-where-to-vote/>, accessed 3 October 2025
—, ‘History of voter turnout’, [n.d.], <https://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/en/results-and-statistics/history-of-voter-turnout/>, accessed 5 October 2022
Presse Canadienne, ‘Almost one-quarter of Quebec voters showed up to advance polls’, Montreal Gazette, 27 September 2022, <https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/almost-one-quarter-of-quebec-voters-showed-up-to-advance-polls>, accessed 3 October 2025
New York Times, The, ‘Canada Mobilizes Military to Help Towns Slammed by Fiona’ 25 September 2022, <https://www.nytimes.com/article/tropical-storm-fiona-hurricane.html>, accessed 3 October 2025
Severe Storms and Hurricanes
