Lost track of the race to be Toronto's next mayor? Get up to speed here
CBC News | Posted: June 8, 2023 7:23 PM | Last Updated: June 8, 2023
Advance voting started Thursday, with election day set for June 26
Hello, potential Toronto voter. There's two and a half weeks to go before the city's mayoral byelection on June 26.
At this point in the campaign you may have already settled on your candidate of choice, or perhaps with a whopping 102 options you're working on narrowing down your top picks.
Or — and there is no shame in this — maybe you're just starting to pay attention to this whole election thing.
Either way, we've got you covered with a host of resources to help you get up to speed.
You can cast your ballot early
Advance voting opened Thursday and will continue until June 13. There are 50 advance polling locations across the city that are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The city made a key improvement to make advance voting more convenient for this byelection: you can vote at any polling station you like, no matter what ward you live in. If you wait until election day, you'll need to vote at a polling place in your neighbourhood. The city's MyVote site is the best resource to find where that is.
If you applied successfully to vote by mail, Toronto Elections needs to receive your completed package by noon on June 15. The city has a good explainer on filling out your mail-in voting package here.
Have there been any voting issues?
Unfortunately, yes. A mail-in voting drop box outside the Wellesley Community Centre on Sherbourne Street was vandalized on Tuesday night.
Toronto Elections estimates that about seven packages were damaged, meaning they won't be counted. Anyone who dropped a mail-in voting package in the box between 9:45 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. on June 6 is asked to call 416-338-1111 or email VoteByMail@toronto.ca to discuss options.
To stop any further vandalism, the city has opted to move drop boxes inside the locations where they were placed. That means they'll only be accessible during the normal operating hours of each building. Details will be posted by the city here.
What are candidates promising?
With more than a hundred people in the race, there are a lot of promises being thrown out. It is, quite literally, impossible to keep track of them all, let alone make sense of all of them.
We tried to do the next best thing. We've broken down the major commitments of six of the top candidates on seven key issues: the budget, housing, livability, public safety, tenants rights, gridlock and public transit. You can compare them for yourself here.
There have also been no shortage of debates. They seem to be getting more heated as the campaign drags on and candidates try to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.
CBC Toronto hosted a debate on Tuesday that saw fiery exchanges on a wide range of topics. If you missed it, you can check it out below:
Another contest on Wednesday featured the first debate appearances of candidates Chloe Brown, a policy analyst, and Anthony Furey, a longtime conservative newspaper columnist. You can read a recap here.
CBC Radio's Metro Morning is also hearing from some of the leading candidates in one-on-one interviews. Here are the interviews so far, with more to come before election day:
A sign of things to come
Even if you haven't paid very much attention to the mayor's race so far, you probably noticed candidates' lawn signs popping up across the city recently.
The campaigns were allowed to start installing lawn signs as of June 1.
CBC Toronto municipal affairs reporter Shawn Jeffords breaks down what signs can, and cannot, tell us about the state of the race here.
Or you can watch his video on lawn signs below.
WATCH | How election signs could help shape the race for mayor:
That article is part of a weekly series outlining the big issues of the campaign as they emerge. If you want a take a really deep dive into the race, here are the rest of Shawn's dispatches from the trail:
Week 5: Congestion, construction and how the [expletive deleted] Torontonians are supposed to get around
If there isn't a burning issue on your mind but you still have a question about the byelection, please send us an email at Ask@cbc.ca
Also, if you have news tips related to the campaign you can reach us at TOnews@cbc.ca.