Ontario municipal elections: A look at 7 mayoral races as voters head to the polls
Monday is municipal election day in Ontario, and people across the province will get a chance to pick their next local leaders.
More than 11.8 million Ontarians are eligible to vote, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
Most polling stations will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and residents can find information about where to cast their ballots on their municipality's website.
Across Ontario, about 6,663 candidates vying for 2,800 positions, including mayor, city councillor and school board trustee, the association says.
Here, CBC looks at the mayoral contests in seven cities: Toronto, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Oshawa, Mississauga, Hamilton and Cambridge.
Toronto
While dozens of candidates are vying to be Toronto's next mayor, it has largely been a two-way race between incumbent Olivia Chow, who was elected in 2023, and her main challenger, two-term city councillor Brad Bradford.
A Liaison Strategies poll last week said the pair were in a "statistical dead heat" heading into election day. Bradford was in the lead with 49 per cent support while Chow had 47 per cent among decided and leaning voters surveyed. The poll has a margin of error of +/-3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The two top candidates had a final chance to make their case to voters in a debate on Thursday, outlining their plans on affordability and other issues.
You can follow all of CBC's coverage from Toronto here.
WATCH | Toronto's final mayoral debate:
Chow vs. Bradford: Toronto’s final mayoral debate in 3 minutes
October 22|
Duration
2:43
The two leading candidates in Toronto's mayoral race squared off in one final debate ahead of Monday's election. They tackled issues relating to cost of living, traffic and public safety, CBC’s Dale Manucdoc breaks it down.Ottawa
Ottawa's mayoral race is also a close one, with incumbent Mark Sutcliffe holding a single-digit lead over Jeff Leiper, a three-term city councillor.
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A Quorus Consulting Group survey released last week put Sutcliffe at 28 per cent support compared with 24 per cent for Leiper. The survey did not have a margin of error, but a comparable random sample poll of the same size would have a margin of error plus or minus 3.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Other candidates trailed by a significant margin, with Neil Saravanamuttoo at seven per cent and Alex Lawson at four per cent, the survey showed.
For all our coverage from Ottawa, follow along here.
WATCH | Breaking down last Ottawa mayoral debate:
From taxes to transit, mayoral candidates faced off in CBC Ottawa debate
October 22|
Duration
3:58
The CBC’s Arthur White-Crummey breaks down CBC Ottawa’s mayoral debate, from jabs over taxes to promises about infrastructure, public safety and transit.Thunder Bay
Ten mayoral candidates are on the ballot in Thunder Bay — but that doesn't include Mayor Ken Boshcoff, who is not seeking re-election.
The candidates vying to replace him are Trevor Giertuga, Maureen (Moe) Comuzzi, Volker Kromm, Peter Mark John Diedrich, Donald Baxter, Shane Judge, Aldo Ruberto, Peter Panetta, Wolfgang Schoor and Doug Vincent.
Whoever wins faces the city's $30.6 million annual infrastructure deficit .
An informal survey, launched by CBC Thunder Bay at the end of August, found that homelessness and public safety were the top issues for residents. Roads, infrastructure and traffic were also high on people's lists of priorities.
For all CBC's election night coverage from Thunder Bay, check out this page.
WATCH | Candidate rejects strong mayor powers:
Thunder Bay, Ont., mayoral candidate rejects strong mayor powers
October 14|
Duration
2:29
With less than two weeks until the municipal election, one of Thunder Bay’s 10 mayoral candidates says he wants Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to revoke the city’s strong mayor powers. Here’s what Peter Diedrich had to say on the matter during a media conference he arranged outside Thunder Bay City Hall.Oshawa
In Oshawa, nine candidates are competing to replace Mayor Dan Carter, who is not seeking re-election. That includes three sitting councillors: Tito-Dante Marimpietri, Jim Lee and Derek Giberson.
As in Thunder Bay, homelessness emerged as a major campaign issue in Oshawa, as regional data shows the city has the highest homeless population in the Durham Region.
It will be interesting to watch voter turnout, too. In 2022, just 18.4 per cent of eligible voters — about two in 10 people — cast a ballot.
For our election coverage from Oshawa, see our Durham page here.
WATCH | Oshawa's mayoral race is wide open:
Oshawa’s mayoral race is wide open. CBC’s Durham team gives you a primer
October 19|
Duration
14:42
Nine mayoral candidates in Oshawa are vying for your vote this October. Here’s a rundown of where they stand on the biggest issues facing the city.Mississauga
Mississauga residents will get to choose from more than a dozen mayoral candidates.
But it's shaping up to be a four-way race between incumbent Carolyn Parrish, former mayor Bonnie Crombie and city councillors Alvin Tedjo and Dipika Damerla.
A poll published last week showed Crombie — mayor from 2014 to 2024 before leaving for a brief stint as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party — in the lead with 35 per cent support among decided and leaning voters.
Tedjo had 31 per cent followed by Parrish with 28 per cent and Damerla at four per cent. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Mississauga set a new record for advance voter turnout, the city said earlier this month. More than 44,000 people cast their ballots between Oct. 6 and 11 — an increase of 57 per cent compared with advance voting in 2022.
You can follow along here for Mississauga election news throughout the day.
WATCH | Final debate in Mississauga mayoral race:
Leading candidates in Mississauga mayoral race face off in final debate
October 16|
Duration
2:52
Mississauga's mayoral race is shaping up to be one to watch this election season with the current mayor, a former mayor and two city councillors hoping to steer the ship at city hall. Tensions reached a boiling point at a debate on Oct. 1. The four leading candidates shared the stage again on Oct. 15, but this time it was a much less heated face-off. CBC Peel's Jayden Dill was at the debate in Port Credit and has the highlights.Hamilton
Hamilton also reported strong turnout in advance polls ahead of election day. It said on Oct. 21 that at least 34,996 ballots had already been cast, surpassing the 30,893 advance votes cast in 2022.
Incumbent Andrea Horwath is seeking re-election against 12 other candidates.
Those challengers include local community organizers, city councillor Rob Cooper and Keanin Loomis, a former president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce who lost the 2022 race to Horwath by about 1,600 votes.
Stay on top of all our election updates from Hamilton, here.
WATCH | All you need to know about the candidates:
Get to know the 2026 Hamilton mayoral candidates
October 7|
Duration
2:27
The stakes are high this upcoming election on Oct. 26 for Hamilton incumbent mayor Andrea Horwath, who will once again face former Hamilton Chamber of Commerce leader Keanin Loomis, after winning by a 1.7 per cent margin in 2022. Here are some of the promises four out of the 13 candidates in Hamilton are making.Cambridge
Six candidates, including incumbent Jan Liggett and Coun. Scott Hamilton, are in the race to be the next mayor of Cambridge, just outside of Kitchener.
For all our coverage from Cambridge and the wider Kitchener-Waterloo region, see here.
WATCH | Candidates share plans for housing, LRT:
Cambridge mayoral candidates share their plans for transit and the LRT
October 8|
Duration
11:09
Cambridge mayoral candidates Ryan Bolender, Tony Chaves, Scott Hamilton, incumbent Jan Liggett and Ken Roche were at the Old Post Office in Cambridge Monday evening to answer questions from the public. Craig Norris, host of CBC K-W's The Morning Edition, moderated the forum. Candidates explained what they envision for Cambridge when it comes to transit and the LRT.KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.