Ontario voters choose mayors, councillors in municipal elections
Voters in more than 400 municipalities cast ballots for mayors, councillors and school trustees.
TORONTO · Voters across Ontario went to the polls Monday to elect mayors, councillors and school board trustees in more than 400 municipalities. More than 11.8 million Ontarians were eligible to cast ballots, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. Most polling stations were open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with about 6,663 candidates vying for 2,800 positions. The elections are headlined by closely watched mayoral races in Toronto, Mississauga and Ottawa.
In Toronto, the contest was largely a two-way race between incumbent Olivia Chow and her main challenger, two-term city councillor Brad Bradford. A Liaison Strategies poll last week showed the pair in a statistical dead heat, with Bradford at 49 per cent support and Chow at 47 per cent among decided and leaning voters. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Chow and Bradford outlined their plans on affordability and other issues in a final debate on Thursday.
Mississauga’s mayoral race appeared to be a four-way contest between incumbent Carolyn Parrish, former mayor Bonnie Crombie and city councillors Alvin Tedjo and Dipika Damerla. A poll published last week showed Crombie in the lead with 35 per cent support among decided and leaning voters, followed by Tedjo with 31 per cent and Parrish with 28 per cent. Crombie served as mayor from 2014 to 2024 before a brief stint as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Mississauga set a new record for advance voter turnout, with more than 44,000 people casting ballots early.
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Ottawa’s mayoral race was also close, with incumbent Mark Sutcliffe holding a single-digit lead over Jeff Leiper, a three-term city councillor. A Quorus Consulting Group survey released last week put Sutcliffe at 28 per cent support compared with 24 per cent for Leiper. Other candidates trailed by a significant margin. The election follows a period where candidates sparred over the strong mayor powers granted by the provincial government.
Premier Doug Ford’s government figured prominently in the local elections beyond the mayoral races. No regional chairs will be elected in Waterloo, Niagara and several other upper-tier municipalities after the province recently gave itself the power to appoint them instead. Eight school boards also remain under provincial supervision, raising questions about the role of trustees elected on Monday. In Hamilton, incumbent Andrea Horwath sought re-election against 12 other candidates, including local community organizers, city councillor Rob Cooper and Keanin Loomis, who lost the 2022 race to Horwath by about 1,600 votes. The city reported strong turnout in advance polls, with at least 34,996 ballots cast ahead of election day. In Oshawa, nine candidates competed to replace Mayor Dan Carter, with homelessness emerging as a major campaign issue as regional data shows the city has the highest homeless population in Durham Region.
Ten mayoral candidates were on the ballot in Thunder Bay, where Mayor Ken Boshcoff was not seeking re-election. The candidates vying to replace him included Trevor Giertuga, Maureen (Moe) Comuzzi and Volker Kromm. Whoever wins faces the city’s $30.6 million annual infrastructure deficit. An informal survey by CBC Thunder Bay found homelessness and public safety were the top issues for residents. Six candidates, including incumbent Jan Liggett and Coun. Scott Hamilton, are in the race to be the next mayor of Cambridge.
With files from The Canadian Press, CityNews and CBC News