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A clearer picture of the choices Ontarians will face at the ballot box is set to emerge this afternoon as nominations for the fall municipal elections come to a close.
Would-be candidates have until 2 p.m. to register for the Oct. 26 vote, though some early birds — including mayoral hopefuls in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont. — have already begun making their pitches in earnest.
The last few days have seen a flurry of high-profile entries, including former Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith, who is running to represent the east-end Toronto ward of Beaches—East York.
Some political observers have raised concerns over the number of seats showing only one candidate or none at all as the deadline grew near.
Zachary Spicer, an associate professor of public policy at York University, says a competitive mayoral race can bump up voter turnout in municipal elections, which is generally lower than at the provincial or federal levels.
On the flip side, he says, a mayoral race with a strong incumbent and no significant challengers seems to have a “reverberating effect” on campaigns for council, with fewer people showing up to cast a ballot.
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Spicer said he’ll be keeping an eye on Mississauga, which has seen more competition for mayor in recent years after decades as a stronghold for the late Hazel McCallion, as well as Hamilton, where he said the incumbent mayor, former provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath, is facing “considerable challenges.”
The race is also likely to be interesting in Guelph, Ont., as three-term mayor Cam Guthrie leaves the city’s top job open to new blood, he said.
In Toronto, where veteran politicians including former federal Conservative minister Chris Alexander and current council member Brad Bradford are seeking to unseat mayor Olivia Chow, a new poll suggests residents want the city to make decisions more quickly and with more openness to new ideas.
An online survey of about 800 adult Torontonians conducted by Ipsos for the Toronto Region Board of Trade found 59 per cent of respondents said the city lacks speed in making decisions, while 57 per cent say it lacks willingness to try new solutions.
Fifty-five per cent said the city isn’t investing enough in infrastructure, according to the poll, which was carried out between July 20 and Aug. 4.
The survey also found respondents listed the cost of living, housing affordability and traffic congestion as their top three economic concerns for the city, with public transit improvements in fourth place.
The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
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