What you need to know ahead of the 2022 Ontario municipal elections

Ontario voters will head to the polls on Monday to elect metropolis councillors and college board trustees as provincewide municipal elections get underway.

Over 6,300 candidates throughout the province are working to sort out a spread of key points, from housing affordability, to infrastructure and public transit, to COVID-19 restoration and psychological well being.

While municipalities like Thunder Bay, Waterloo and Sudbury have opened on-line voting, different components of the province will select their native governments at polling stations Monday. 

CBC News tells you what you need to know ahead of the 2022 Ontario municipal elections, and the way you can observe the outcomes.

Electronic voting spreads in try to curb low turnout

Several tendencies have emerged throughout this municipal election interval.

This 12 months’s races may see a traditionally low turnout. Just 38.3 per cent of the eligible voting inhabitants solid a poll throughout the 2018 municipal elections, the lowest quantity recorded since 1982. 

Meanwhile, June’s provincial elections noticed the lowest turnout in historical past, with solely 43 per cent of the eligible inhabitants voting.

An attention-grabbing distinction has emerged at superior polls, the place a number of areas noticed greater voter turnouts. Windsor, Ont., noticed 80 per cent extra voters throughout the superior voting interval than it did throughout the final election, in accordance to metropolis officers.

Electronic voting can be extra accessible this 12 months to assist with lacklustre turnout. Over 215 municipalities are utilizing on-line or telephone voting this 12 months, up from 175 in 2018, in accordance to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. 

Some consultants warning that the system is not foolproof — earlier this month, a web based poll error affected 27 voters throughout two wards in Thunder Bay — and that Canada wants greater requirements in place to be sure that digital voting is correctly regulated.

Open mayoral races, anti-trans trustee candidates

The province’s main municipalities are dealing with open mayoral races as a big quantity of incumbents opted not to search re-election, together with in Ottawa, North Bay and Vaughan.

Incumbency offers a big benefit, particularly at the municipal stage the place candidates aren’t aligned with model identify political events and are sometimes engaged on identify recognition alone.

The profitable candidates may get one other enhance: Ontario Premier Doug Ford has mentioned he’ll prolong robust mayor powers to a number of main municipalities subsequent 12 months, after testing the system in Toronto and Ottawa.

Monday’s election may even see voters solid a poll for his or her native faculty board trustee. Some dad and mom are involved a couple of sample of anti-trans rhetoric utilized by trustee candidates throughout the province.

A latest CBC News investigation discovered that dozens of trustees are working on platforms that embrace rolling again protections for transgender college students.

Regions from Kitchener-Waterloo to London to Ottawa have reported an increase in trustees working on self-styled “anti-woke” platforms.

Hot races in Ottawa, North Bay, Hamilton

Ottawa: The nation’s capital may have one of its most enjoyable — and aggressive — races in years, as the metropolis elects a brand new mayor for the first time in over a decade.

Mayor Jim Watson has hung up his hat. There can be 14 candidates on the poll, with Catherine McKenney, Bob Chiarelli and Mark Sutcliffe amongst these vying to exchange him.

Ottawa’s metropolis council may even see some upheaval, with almost a dozen new councillors in the working. The election comes simply over a 12 months after Ottawa launched its newly redrawn ward boundaries.

Windsor: Mayoral incumbent Drew Dilkens was first elected in 2014. Now vying for a 3rd time period, Dilkens has pitched voters on financial growth, public security and constructing a brand new hospital.

Among his challengers is Chris Holt, a two-term metropolis councillor who has pledged to enhance highway security, metropolis providers and public transit.

Toronto: Toronto’s metropolis council is getting a big facelift this election, with almost 30 per cent of its seats up for grabs as seven incumbents name it quits.

Among the hottest races are University-Rosedale, Toronto-Centre and Spadina-Fort York, the latter the place 12 candidates are making a bid to lead. 

Etobicoke North has made headlines as this 12 months’s race marks the first time a member of the Ford household will not run in its municipal elections. Candidate Amber Morley in Etobicoke-Lakeshore is trying to unseat a longtime incumbent, Mark Grimes. 

Willowdale, in Toronto’s North York district, will see a aggressive race this 12 months as its longtime incumbent John Fillion retires — having endorsed, at one level, two of the candidates. 

North Bay: The northeastern Ontario metropolis may have a brand new mayor for the first time in 12 years. Incumbent Al McDonald is leaving municipal politics, setting the stage for a newcomer to take the reins. 

Leslie McVeety, Peter Chirico and Johanne Brousseau will compete to exchange McDonald. McVeety is prioritizing housing and homelessness, and public security; Chirico is wanting to reinvent the metropolis’s downtown and creating tradition change at metropolis corridor; whereas Brousseau will sort out neighborhood wellbeing and financial growth.

The race to metropolis corridor can be a crowded one, as 29 candidates are working for metropolis council.

Hamilton: Hamilton’s race to exchange outgoing mayor Fred Eisenberger consists of Andrea Horwath, former head of the provincial NDP, Keanin Loomis, the former president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, taxi union chief Ejaz Butt and former Hamilton mayor Bob Bratina.

Six of 15 councillors aren’t working for re-election in Hamilton, leaving one of the province’s largest municipalities open for drastic change. 

Some candidates are being focused in a wave of elevated harassment and hateful rhetoric, spending money and time to take care of vandalism and loss of life threats. 

Waterloo Region: The majority of seats on Waterloo’s regional council (which represents cities Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge) are up for grabs as six of eight incumbents opted not to run for re-election.

Three candidates are working for regional chair: monetary planner Brendon Da Costa, social employee and psychotherapist Narine Dat Sookram and former MP Karen Redman. 

A shakeup can also be promised at the faculty board stage, the place 4 of 11 incumbents have chosen not to run for re-election.

Some candidates say they’re targeted on strengthening the public schooling system and supporting lecturers, whereas others need to change present sex-ed curriculums and take away political discussions from the classroom.

How to vote, observe election outcomes

CBC News may have ongoing protection of the 2022 Ontario municipal elections on Monday. Here’s the place you can be taught extra and observe stay outcomes particular to your area: