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Ballots cast on election day in B.C. will be counted by hand, Elections BC says
B.C. election day ballots will be counted by hand
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
It's the last full day of campaigning in British Columbia's election ahead of final voting day Saturday, when most ballots will be counted by hand.
Elections BC has confirmed that votes cast on election day will be tallied manually, in a departure from 2024, when electronic tabulators were used to count paper ballots for the first time in a general election.
That was hailed as a success in Elections BC's report on the polls, but the agency says in a statement that it's going back to a manual count due to "short time frames and complex operational logistics of a snap election."
It says paper ballots cast at advance polling stations and at district electoral offices will be counted with electronic tabulators, and it expects those results to be reported first.
Elections BC also says the election-night count will not include absentee or main-in ballots, which will be tallied at the final count scheduled Nov. 6 to Nov. 10.
Advance voting numbers released Thursday were down more than 11 per cent compared to 2024, bucking a two-decade upward trend.
There were more than 891,000 advance votes cast from Friday to Wednesday, representing about 24 per cent of all registered voters.
That compares to more than one million advance votes cast in 2024, when numbers spiked 49 per cent over the previous election.
Elections BC's report on the 2024 election says electronic tabulation allowed the first preliminary results to be reported within five minutes of polls closing, and 59 per cent of preliminary results to reported within half an hour.
"In past elections first results typically started to be reported around 45 minutes after polls closed," it said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Military could begin Arctic sensor installations next summer
Military may deploy Arctic sensor stations in 2027
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
National Defence plans to install 47 sensor stations across the North starting as early as next summer to bolster Norad’s surveillance and early warning abilities, according to recently published regulatory filings.
The planned installations would start in Yukon near the Alaskan border and follow along the Arctic coast across the Northwest Territories, reaching as far out as Alert, Nunavut, the most northern inhabited point in the world.
Called Project Crossbow, the plan involves using Hercules aircraft and Chinook helicopters to airlift passive sensor installations, which resemble large shipping containers that stand on metal legs.
The initial deployments could begin as soon as next summer with initial operating capability coming online in 2029, said Royal Canadian Air Force spokesperson Lt.-Cmdr. Melanie Aqiqi.
She said in an emailed statement that Crossbow is “part of a broader network of capabilities supporting northern air domain awareness.”
The container stations will run on solar and wind power, according to a series of National Defence documents filed with a Nunavut regulatory board.
Aside from some temporary deployments required to set them up and an annual maintenance cycle, the installations will remain unstaffed throughout the year.
"This defence capability (surveillance sensors) will operate within self-powered, autonomous, ruggedized power-generating container systems designed for continuous operations in austere environments and extreme Arctic conditions," one of the documents said.
The federal government is investing billions of dollars in a broader effort to modernize Norad's equipment.
The project was announced in 2022 by then-defence minister Anita Anand under the Northern Approaches Surveillance system, which includes the over-the-horizon radar project.
Anand said at the time the capabilities of the joint Canada-U.S. project are classified but the new network would add “another layer of detection” to Norad.
An information package submitted to the Nunavut Planning Commission said the project is of “national significance” and the “proposed sites are required for overall system network operation.”
The sites mapped out in some of the filed plans include two in Quttinirpaaq National Park on Ellesmere Island and four within a migratory bird sanctuary on Banks Island. The documents state the project is expected to have little to no impact on wildlife.
Two sensor systems are already stationed in Alert, Nunavut and Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, one of the documents said.
The sites were chosen so that National Defence can easily airlift the containers in just a few days — although the exact rationale for site selection remains classified.
The sensor project is expected to be complete by 2032. Once fully deployed, the project is expected to run another 20 years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
— With files from Nick Murray
By Kyle Duggan | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Inquest into death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet set to continue
Korchinski-Paquet inquest set to continue
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
A coroner's inquest into the death of a Toronto woman who fell from a highrise balcony in the presence of police is set to resume this morning after adjourning early on Thursday.
The inquest into the death of 29-year-old Regis Korchinski-Paquet was paused roughly an hour into Thursday's proceedings after her mother made a new allegation against police.
Claudette Beals testified that she saw officers push her daughter toward the balcony.
The presiding coroner, Dr. David Cameron, told jurors Thursday counsel were strategizing on how to best have them hear evidence related to the circumstances of Korchinski-Paquet's death "in a clear and fair manner."
Beals is expected to continue her testimony today.
Earlier Thursday, she said that the family struggled at times to deal with Korchinski-Paquet's seizures and would have benefited from support and education regarding epilepsy.
The inquest has heard Korchinski-Paquet experienced seizures from epilepsy and had two on May 27, 2020, the day she died.
Her seizures were often followed by periods of erratic and aggressive behaviour, the inquest has heard.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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