Toronto's municipal election on Monday, 26 October, will show whether turnout will recover from the city's record low of 29.2 per cent in 2022, The Globe and Mail reports. Across Ontario only about one in three eligible voters took part in that election, against a historical average of around 40 per cent.
The paper describes candidates knocking on doors in areas such as Etobicoke North, where turnout at one public housing complex was 17 per cent last time. Researchers have linked the decline to the pandemic, political hostility, election fatigue, shrinking local media and a sense among some residents that city decisions do not change their lives.
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario found people vote when they trust the system and want change, and noted that a record number of candidates were elected unopposed in 2022. Strong advance voting hints at a revival.
Source: The Globe and Mail
Photo: ON – Rogers Centre Toronto by Taxiarchos228, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative image of Toronto.
