Municipal elections in Ontario decide which candidate(s) will represent voters on municipal councils, district social services administration boards (DSSABs) and public and catholic school boards. They are managed by each municipality’s municipal clerk, not Elections Ontario.
Voting is a basic right and important civic duty that is vital to maintaining a healthy democracy.
When are municipal elections held in Ontario?
The next municipal election will be held Monday, October 26, 2026. The last municipal election was held on Monday, October 24, 2022. Elections for municipal governments in Ontario are held every 4 years on the fourth Monday of October. Where the polling day falls on a holiday, polling day shall be the next succeeding day that is not a holiday.
Bill 81, Budget Measures Act was passed in 2006 and required that elections be held in 2006 and in every fourth year thereafter.
Confirm you are registered to vote
You must be on the voter’s list to vote in a municipal council or school board election.
Register or update your voter information at RegisterToVoteON.ca so that you will be mailed a voter information card with information on when, where, and how to vote. Last election, the final list was set on September 1, 2022. If you want to add, remove, or change your listed information on or after September 1, contact your municipal clerk.
You can change your school support for the purpose of elections at school-support.mpac.ca.
Who can vote in municipal elections?
You are eligible to vote in municipal elections in Ontario if you are a:
- Canadian citizen, and
- 18 or older, and
- Qualify to vote in the municipality, if you:
- live in the municipality (resident elector). You may own, rent, live in shared accommodation where you do not pay rent or live in the municipality but do not have a fixed address. Being a resident elector is the most common type of eligibility.
- own or rent property in a municipality (non-resident elector), but it’s not the one where you live. You can be a resident elector in only one municipality. However, you can be a non-resident elector in any other municipality (or municipalities) where you own or rent property.
- spouse owns or rents property in the municipality or municipalities other than the one where you live (spouse of a non-resident elector).
Note: property must be personally owned or rented to vote in that municipality. Properties owned by a business or trust do not qualify.
University and college students
Section 2 (2.1) of the Municipal Elections Act allows post-secondary students to vote in both the municipal election where they are attending school and the municipal election conducted in their “home” municipality, provided they are residing in another municipality to attend a post-secondary institution and intend to return to their “home” municipality at the conclusion of their studies.
Who cannot vote?
- Serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution
- Corporations
- Acting as executor or trustee or in another representative capacity, except as a voting proxy
- Convicted of a corrupt practice described in Section 90(3) of the Municipal Elections Act
How to vote
Can I vote online in Ontario municpal elections?
Municipalities in Ontario are increasingly conducting municipal elections by phone and online voting, with many no longer offering in-person paper ballots. For example, the City of Belleville’s most recent municipal election was only by telephone and online, with no paper ballots or tabulators.
Contact the municipal clerk for more information about how you can vote in your municipality.
Getting time off work to vote
An elector whose hours of employment are such that he or she would not otherwise have three consecutive hours to vote on voting day is entitled to be absent from work for as long as is necessary to allow that amount of time. 1996, c. 32, Sched., s. 50 (1).
The absence shall be timed to suit the employer’s convenience as much as possible. 1996, c. 32, Sched., s. 50 (2).
The employer shall not make a deduction from the employee’s pay or impose any other penalty for the absence from work.
Section 50 of the Municipal Elections Act
Electoral system
In 2016, the Wynne government passed Bill 181, the Municipal Elections Modernization Act, which allowed municipalities to adopt ranked ballots for municipal elections.
London was the only municipality to use ranked ballots in the 2018 election itself, with the decision in that city being made by London City Council in 2017, while Cambridge and Kingston held referendums concurrently with their 2018 elections on whether to adopt ranked ballots for the next municipal elections in 2022, with both referendums passing.
Who are you voting for?
Residents of each municipality are asked to vote for:
- Head of council (typically a Mayor)
- One or more Councillors to represent each of the wards
- One or more school board trustees for each of the areas
What are their responsibilities?
The role of head of Council, often called the Mayor is to:
- Act as the municipality’s chief executive officer
- Preside over council meetings such that business is carried out both efficiently and effectively
- Provide leadership to the council
- Provide information/recommendations to council on policies, practices, procedures, to ensure transparency and accountability; and,
- Represent the municipality at official functions.
The job of elected municipal councillors is to represent your ward at council and raise your questions, concerns, or issues about municipal government responsibilities, such as:
- Airports
- Ambulance
- Animal Control
- By-laws
- Arts and Culture
- Building Permits
- Child Care
- Economic Development
- Fire Services
- Garbage Collection and Recycling
- Electric Utilities
- Library Services
- Long Term Care and Senior Housing
- Local Road Maintenance
- Museums
- Parks and Recreation
- Public Transit
- Planning New Community Developments and Enhancing Existing Neighbourhoods
- Police Services
- Property Taxes/Assessments
- Provincial Offences Administration
- Public Health
- Sidewalks
- Street Trees
- Snow Removal
- Social Services
- Social Housing
- Storm Sewers
- Tax Collection
- Water and Waste Water (Sewage)
See: Municipal councillor job description
How to choose who to vote for?
Most municipal election candidates (and even many elected officials) do not meet Wikipedia’s notability test, so they are not eligible to have their own page. This limits the amount of encyclopedic information there is about the people we vote for and represent us.
Here is a general guide:
- Understand what the municipal government is responsible for (see above) and the job of members of council
- Make a list of issues that are important to you, your community and Ontario, for example:
- climate change
- housing
- public transit
- policing
- job creation
- Assess candidates’ platforms, promises and views
- How well do they engage, listen, understand and act on the needs of residents?
- background
- education
- work experience
- community involvement and engagement
- social media profiles for views and interests
- all candidates debates and Q&As for promises and priorities
- donations to federal and provincial political parties and candidates
- Compare what each candidate says they will do to address each issue.
- Review incumbents’ past performance (what did they actually did)
- voting record
- committees served on
- meeting attendance
- motions introduced
- Compare what each incumbent says they will do to address the issue.
- Contact candidate(s) and ask about issues they haven’t addressed.
More:
- Municipal voting checklist: where to find information
- Questions to ask municipal election candidates
Contact the municipal clerk if you have questions about a municipal election
Every municipality in Ontario has a municipal clerk who is in charge of running the election that can answer questions about the election, such as:
- how or where to vote
- how to apply for election jobs
- whether or not you are eligible to vote in the municipality
If your municipality does not have a website you may visit or contact your municipal office for more information.
Elections
Who can make contributions to a candidate’s campaign?
See: Municipal election contribution and spending limits in Ontario
Who can run in municipal elections?
Last election, the nomination period began on May 1, 2022. The deadline to file a nomination to be a council or school trustee candidate was Friday, August 19, 2022 at 2PM.
See: How to run for municipal council in Ontario
Who can advertise in municipal elections?
See: Third party advertisers in Ontario municipal elections
Election campaign signs
Rules regarding the placement of municipal, provincial and federal election campaign lawn signs are set by Municipalities in Ontario, which each have their own election sign bylaws that control sign:
- placement on public property
- placement on private property
- size
- height
- timing (eg. not before the Writ of Election is issued)
- removal (eg. within 3 days after the election)
A municipality’s by-law enforcement department is responsible for the enforcement of election sign bylaws.
Ottawa
Signs on private property
City of Ottawa – Temporary Signs on Private Property By-law
- No person or entity shall place or cause to be placed or allow to remain placed an election sign more than forty-five (45) days immediately preceding the election date in a municipal election, or, in the case of a federal election or provincial election, the sign may be placed upon issuance of the relevant Writ.
- Every election sign together with its appurtenances shall be removed from the premise within seventy-two (72) hours following the election date.
- No person shall place an election sign on private property that,
- is within three metres (3m) of an intersection,
- is within fifty centimetres (50cm) of a sidewalk, or where there is no sidewalk, within two metres (2m) of the roadway or within fifty centimetres (50cm) of the edge of a shoulder where such exists,
- Sign dimension requirements contained in this by-law shall not apply to an election sign.
Signs on public property
City of Ottawa – Signs on City Roads By-law
- Despite Sections 4 and 5 hereof, election signs may be placed on an inner boulevard, provided that,
- the sign is not placed more than forty-five (45) days immediately preceding the election date in a municipal election or, in the case of a federal election or provincial election, the sign may be placed upon issuance of the relevant Writ;
- no sign is placed within fifty centimetres (50) cm of a sidewalk, or where there is no sidewalk, within two metres (2m) of the roadway or within fifty centimetres (50cm) of the edge of a shoulder where such exists; and
- the sign and its appurtenances are removed within seventy-two (72) hours following an election date.
- Dimension requirements contained in this by-law shall not apply to an election sign.
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