Ontario’s municipal candidates cool to strong mayor powers, according to Vote Compass - Toronto Star
A new online tool tracking dozens of local races finds most contenders side with council over top-down override.
Elections signs along Lundy’s Lane in Niagara Falls. Municipal elections are being held Oct. 26.
Candidates for mayor and council in Ontario’s 50 most populous municipalities are not keen on the full use of strong mayor powers, according to data from the newest edition of Vote Compass, which launched Monday.
Candidates for mayor, however, appear to be a little more favourable than council hopefuls when it comes to mayors using the controversial powers to overturn decisions made by a majority of council members.
Vote Compass is a popular online tool that asks users a series of questions about how their municipality should be run, then calculates their alignment with candidates for mayor and local councillors ahead of Oct. 26 civic elections.
Vox Pop Labs, in partnership with the Star, has urged candidates for mayor, deputy mayor and councillor to answer detailed surveys so that voters can clearly see where they stand on important issues. As of Friday, more than 1,000 candidates — almost half of all registered hopefuls in the 50 municipalities covered by the tool — had completed the Vote Compass survey.
