Friday afternoon marks deadline to run in Ontario’s upcoming municipal elections

For anyone in Ontario who is thinking about running in a municipal election this fall, they have until Friday afternoon to file their nomination papers with their local municipality.

Prospective candidates running for the positions of mayor, councillor, school board trustee or other elected positions at the local level have until 2 p.m. on Friday to register. That’s also the deadline for changing positions or withdrawing from races.

In Toronto, where the number of wards was shrunk by the Ontario government in 2018 to match provincial and federal riding boundaries, there appears to have been declining interest in running for city council.

In the 2018 Toronto election, there were more than 275 candidates who ran for mayor or councillor positions. According to the City of Toronto’s election website as of Thursday evening, there were just more than 160 candidates seeking to become mayor or to fill one of 25 council seats.

Some have suggested the decline in interest has been, in part, due to the increased constituency workload. Also, name recognition and incumbency are heavy factors in municipal races.

Looking at Ward 18 Willowdale as an example, long-time Coun. John Filion came out on top and beat 17 other candidates in 2018. Earlier this year, Filion announced he wouldn’t be running in October. Currently, there are just three candidates looking to succeed him.

RELATED: Fewer candidates for Toronto city council a ‘warning signal’

Looking at the 2022 slate of candidates for council, there were 25 candidates for mayor as of Thursday evening.

Ward 25 Scarborough–Rouge Park had the lowest number of candidates with just two people running to be councillor, including the incumbent, while Ward 1 Etobicoke North (the seat left vacant after Michael Ford was elected as an MPP) had the most with 13 candidates.

The 2022 election date for Ontario’s nearly 450 municipalities is Oct. 24. The next term of office for mayors, councillors, school board trustees and other elected positions at the local level is between Nov. 15, 2022, and Nov. 14, 2026.

Advanced voting days vary by municipality, but Ontario law requires at least one day ahead of the general election date.

Registration to run opened across the province on May 2.

For those who want to check to see if they’re on the local voters’ list, who want to add an elector to the voters’ list or who want to change school board support, they can do so by going to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation’s website.

Here are links for more information on running in various municipalities across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area or for information on registered candidates or applying to work for the election:

City of Toronto
City of Hamilton
City of Burlington
Town of Oakville
Region of Halton
City of Mississauga
City of Brampton
Region of Peel
City of Vaughan
City of Richmond Hill
City of Markham
Region of York
City of Pickering
Town of Ajax
Town of Whitby
City of Oshawa
Region of Durham