Local politicians open to change to boost election turnout

Ontario’s 2022 municipal elections saw astoundingly poor turnouts in most centres. In Kawartha Lakes only one in three registered voters chose to cast a ballot last October. In Burlington, Niagara Falls and St. Catharines the turnout was closer to one in four.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) has been collecting data on municipal votes since the early 1960s, and reports that over the last 40 years the average municipal voter turnout in Ontario has never risen above 40 per cent.

While Canadians continue to vote in far larger numbers for federal and provincial candidates, half of all municipal races in 2022 ended with a winner acclaimed on election day.