The deadline to vote in today’s federal election has passed in Ontario and most of the rest of Canada.

Polls closed at 9:30 p.m. in the Eastern, Central and Mountain time zones.

By that point, the Liberal Party was celebrating success in Atlantic Canada, where a clean sweep of the region appeared possible.

 

The first results released are usually those from advance polls. Elections Canada says more than 3.6 million Canadians chose to vote that way this year, representing a 71 per cent increase over 2011.

Political observers say southwestern Ontario in general and Waterloo Region specifically could be key battlegrounds determining the outcome of the election.

Party strategists seem to agree, judging by the multiple visits each federal leader made to the region.

Locally, there are plenty of storylines that could make for interesting results.

A fifth riding was added to Waterloo Region in the form of Kitchener South-Hespeler, while the other ridings all saw significant boundary adjustments.

Small portions of Brant County have left the former Brant riding – now known as Brantford-Brant – and vote with either Cambridge or Oxford.

Wellington-Halton Hills also lost small parts of its territory to Kitchener-Conestoga and Guelph.

Guelph and Perth-Wellington are both guaranteed to have first-time MPs, as incumbents Frank Valeriote and Gary Schellenberger chose not to seek another term in office.