General Election, 20 September 2021

Wildfires (British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba) 2021 

During the summer of 2021, multiple wildfires occurred throughout British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and other parts of Canada – the worst the country has ever seen.  

In British Columbia, almost 300 wildfires were burning on 17 July 2021, causing over 40 evacuation orders and 69 evacuation alerts which in total affected 38,700 people (CBC 2021a). The White Rock Lake fire in the beginning of August caused evacuation alerts for most of the city of Vernon with about 40,000 residents. A further 10,000 residents of Armstrong and Spallumcheen received evacuation alerts as the wildfire spread (CBC 2021b).  

In total, about 8,700 square kilometers of land were burned by the 2021 wildfires. A total of 181 evacuation orders were issued and Canadian $565 million (USD $450m) was spent on wildfire relief (Kulkarni 2021).   

Climate change has been reported as the reason for the number of wildfires in Canada throughout 2021. As heatwaves and thunderstorms grow more frequent, the combination of intense heat and lightning creates increasingly severe igniting conditions, leading to a rise in wildfires (Ansari 2021). 

Impact on the electoral process 

The general election in Canada took place on 20 September 2021. Elections Canada created a Forest Fire Task Force, drawing also from Public Safety Canada, to monitor the situation and ensure that no affected voters were disenfranchised by the wildfires or the emergency response. A targeted media approach was developed to contact voters who self-evacuated. Election administrators used radio, television and social media, as well as locally distributed print materials, to inform those were displaced about their voting options. These included mail-in voting (postal voting), using special polling stations or visiting a local Elections Canada office (Elections Canada 2022). 

Firefighters and aid agencies received informational flyers on voting from the Government Operations Centre, at locations where displaced residents had a central point of contact. Polls were opened by the two main hotels in Winnipeg on election day, as many residents of Manitoba were evacuated to various hotels around the area. Shuttles taking evacuees from their hotels to the polling stations were provided, as was information about relocation, with the Red Cross assisting Elections Canada in the process. Public utility workers repairing power lines in Manitoba were ensured voting access due to mobile voting (Elections Canada 2022). 

Voter turnout was 62.25 per cent, presenting a decrease compared to the 2019 parliamentary election which had a turnout of 67.65 per cent (International IDEA n.d.).