This piece was co-written by Cristina Mazza and Delany Leitch.

Happy Municipal Election Day, Ontario! And yes, for those who have successfully tuned out election signs, there may be a poll waiting for you today.

I know what you’re thinking. “Not another article on why municipal elections are important!” Admittedly, I was numb myself to all news related to municipal elections until I actually got a chance to have a chat with a candidate for ward councillor while out for a run, despite being a bit of a politico myself. Turns out, there’s more to municipal politics than Toronto’s 25 wards. Who knew?

The nice thing about municipal elections is that they are generally less divided and partisan (yeah, yeah, Toronto, I qualified it with “generally” because I know there are exceptions). Sure, municipal elections are not as enthralling as the battlegrounds on the provincial and federal levels, but does that mean our municipal representatives are just funded by our tax dollars to sit in a room and argue about bylaws? Unfortunately, we don’t get much of a chance to explore these issues as municipal candidates don’t have the advantage of a provincial or federal party platform to refer to when campaigning, so it becomes all about name recognition and getting your platform out there yourself. Of course candidates can have more right or left wing perspectives to offer, but that still necessitates digging a little deeper to find out where candidates stand on certain issues, and how effective they may be in addressing them.

So what issues might municipal candidates (be it for mayoral, council, or school trustee elections) be dealing with? Here’s a small sample of what to look out for, for both urban and rural municipalities:

Cannabis

This is the hot one! Sorry, no pun intended.

With recreational weed now legal in Canada, regulatory issues are still far from having been sorted out. January 22^nd is the deadline given by the provincial government to decide whether privately owned cannabis retailers will be allowed to sell within municipal borders. Markham quickly made its stance on it known. And what if you don’t consume cannabis yourself? There are still the pros and cons of health and safety, as well as tourism to weigh. Whatever your views are on cannabis, find out if what your candidates have been saying about it.

Transit

Yes, I know we’re beaten this dead horse to a pulp already during the Ontario provincial election, but assuring transit needs buy-in from municipalities even more than from the province. Whether it is tending to overcrowded subways on Yonge Street, or the lack of decent transit in less dense areas, this is worth paying a visit to your candidates’ websites for.

Don’t take public transit yourself? Whether public transit is important to you or not, the next topic would be, as is getting around in general:

Roads

Even out of the reach of the TTC, OC Transpo, getting around is crucial for a municipality to thrive. For those who take the car to get around, look to what candidates are talking about infrastructure, whether it’s congestion, crumbling infrastructure, or proposed new roads that might have an impact on your community. For cities, the problem might gravitate more towards congestion, while rural municipalities may struggle with doing more with less as tax revenue may be decreasing.

Natural Gas Access

Like transit for urban municipalities, this is an issue that requires buy-in for rural communities. While electricity was extended to rural areas using government funds and funds from private businesses and consumers, the same needs to be done for natural gas, which is a relatively less expensive form of energy. Natural gas can replace propane use for farmers, as well as oil or propane use for rural residents trying to heat their homes. Additionally, using a less expensive form of energy can lead to a competitive advantage, and further economic development for rural municipalities. So, what kind of by-law improvements would you like your town to implement to address this? While we are talking about access, let me also throw in access to high-speed internet as an issue, along with access to education coming up next.

Education

While school closures are an issue all over Ontario, this is one issue that hits rural communities harder. However, a one-size-fits-all approach has been taken to address under-capacity schools, and the impact on rural communities is often understated. This is where election of school trustees comes in. If you’re concerned about the impact of school closures, vote for the candidate you believe would be the best advocate for your community.

Housing

What better issue to finish off with, than the basic challenge of trying to have a roof over one’s head? It is difficult to find a place to start with this issue, as it is interconnected with so many others. For example, what are property taxes like in your municipality? Where are new housing developments being located? How big of an issue is community safety where you live? Is more community housing needed? Are housing plans geared more towards renters or potential home-owners? Unless you plan on abandoning society and living out your life in a cave somewhere out of town, this issue may impact you. Luckily, this is the one issue that seems to be talked about more than any other, so there is no shortage of information on what candidates think.

In the end, municipal elections do hold importance, as a community cannot implement, or resist, the mandates of provincial and federal governments without effective local representation. Hopefully this will be motivation to get to the polls today to vote about the issues that matter to you! Or, at the very least, to see municipal elections as more than another excuse to decorate one’s lawns with election signs.

Click here for the 2018 Voters Guide for municipal elections.

Click here for the contact information for Ontario municipalities.

Click here for a guide to ranked ballots.

Happy voting!