Our Editorial Director, Andrea Tornielli, reflects on the late Pope Francis' insistence on mercy, which became an underlying theme of his 12-year-long pontificate. [Vatican News]

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat that included his wife, lawyer and brother. [CNN]

Stephen Maher: Pierre Poilievre looks set to lead his party to a fourth successive defeat after a dalliance with the radical fringe. Perhaps geography was always against him. [Sunday Times]

This weekend, the Conservatives debuted two new ads which are significant, I think, for a couple of reasons. First: Neither features a leader the Conservatives are supposed to love (Poilievre) nor a leader they are supposed to loathe (Carney). Second: They feature old people. People not 55+ but likely 65+. This used to be the Conservative base but what was their base six months ago, multiple polls tell us, is now voting Liberal. So, with a week to go, we have old people reminding other old people to vote Conservative. Back to the base that was. Both ads are below. Click through to watch on Instagram and, as always, I'm interested in what you think. -DA

Conservatives tend to outperform in advance polls versus election day. But in this "consequential" election, those in NDP and Liberal strongholds endured long lineups to vote. [Global News]

Thank you all for writing in about your experience with advance polls.

Based on your feedback, I’m getting the sense that there was a definite surge on Good Friday advance polls that caused delays but those who voted Saturday found the experience much quicker.

In my riding of Carleton, where Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is the incumbent, my family and friends voted on Friday and reported waits of 45 minutes to an hour. Next door in the riding of Kanata, a reader spotted long lineups as well but reports, "The mood was actually jovial in the lineups.  People were motivated and excited to be able to have their say."
 
Near Hamilton, ON, the riding of Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North (Conservative Dan Muys is the incumbent), a reader says he was surprised to see such a long lineup at the polling station Friday. It took 45 minutes to vote. “First time in my life I have ever stood in line this long to vote. Not a problem. We are voting for every Canadian's future.”

A reader in Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound where Conservative Alex Ruff is the incumbent and likely favourite to win in my model reports that it took 1.5 hours to get to a voting booth Friday. “Never have I seen such a turn out for an advance poll.”

Conservative Dean Allison is seeking re-election in Niagara West and a reader in that riding also reports long lineups Friday in Beamsville and next door in Grimsby.

In beautiful Picton, Ontario, in the riding of Bay of Quinte where Conservative Ryan Williams seeks re-election a reader says she was used to polling station workers outnumber voters during advance polls. Not so on Friday where there was a long lineup and poll station workers seems a bit overwhelmed.

In Vancouver East, New Democrat Jenny Kwan is fighting for re-election and electors there were fighting long line-ups on day one. A reader in that riding reported a two-hour wait to vote!

In the southern Alberta riding of Lethbridge where Conservative Rachael Thomas is seeking re-election, a reader says the Good Friday lineup was 1..5 hours! “Our first time voting in this riding and others said they had never waited that long.”

In Edmonton West (CPC Kelly McCauley incumbent), there were 100 in line at 9:30 am on Friday morning, a reader writes. “I haven’t seen it this busy ever.”

Same story on Friday in Winnipeg South Centre (Liberal Terry Duguid is the incumbent) where a reader reported she took an elderly lady to vote and it took an hour to cast a ballot at the only station Elections Canada had open. The same reader though voted Saturday in the riding of Winnipeg West (Conservative Marty Morantz is the incumbent) and had only one person ahead of him.

In the the west island riding of Lac-Saint-Louis where Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia is seeking re-election, a reader says Elections Canada did not seem as organized they could have been, dividing voters list between two tables: A-L here and M-Z there. There were lots of more A-L folks who were lines up while the M-Z folks, including our reader there, moved through pretty quickly.

I’ve had two readers from Toronto Centre write in. One voted on Good Friday: “Toronto Centre was jammed Friday morning with long lines. Wait would have been 2+ hours. Poll location is so convenient so I returned over dinner. It was still busy but I voted with 15 min. I’ve never missed voting & it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen this level of voter engagement. That’s incredibly encouraging to see.”  The other reader there voted Saturday evening and found no one else at the advance poll. Toronto Centre is one of safest Liberal seats in the country and the candidate there, former broadcaster Evan Solomon, should win easily.

So Saturday seemed to be the difference. A reader in Ottawa-Vanier-Gloucester reports being in and out of the advance polling station in about four minutes.  -DA

The Kildonan-St. Paul riding usually goes Conservative on election night, and the incumbent is hoping it stays that way. In my seat projection model, this is the closest race in the country right now where, since I have to pick a winner, I have the Liberal by 49 votes. A true toss-up!