TORONTO — The majority of polls have closed in Toronto’s mayoral byelection, where residents had a record 102 candidates to choose from as they selected the city’s next leader.
The hotly contested race was triggered by the resignation of former mayor John Tory, who stepped down only a few months into his third term after admitting to an affair with a staffer.
Roughly half a dozen candidates emerged as the key contenders in the crowded field during the 12-week campaign.
Former NDP parliamentarian and past city councillor Olivia Chow quickly became the apparent frontrunner as she vied to reverse her electoral fortunes after finishing third in the 2014 mayoral race.
But former deputy mayor Ana Bailão gained ground in various opinion polls after securing Tory’s endorsement in the campaign’s final week, giving her an edge over ex-police chief Mark Saunders.
Rounding out the list of high-profile candidates are former Liberal provincial education minister Mitzie Hunter, city councillors Josh Matlow and Brad Bradford, and right-wing columnist Anthony Furey.
Some voters said the wide open race made it challenging to make a choice.
“It was very overwhelming,” Vikki VanSickle said earlier Monday at a polling station in a west-end area of the city known as the Junction.
“There were a lot of candidates. There wasn’t a lot of clarity up until closer to the end.”
The campaign was headlined by issues of housing affordability, public safety and damaged municipal finances.
Whoever is elected will inherit a city budget with a nearly $1-billion pandemic-related shortfall, driven partly by reduced transit revenue and increased shelter costs.
The next mayor will also inherit largely untested “strong mayor” powers, allowing them to pass budgets with just one-third council support, veto bylaws and unilaterally shape the city’s top-level administration. Several leading candidates have vowed not to use those powers to overrule council.
For some voters, Monday’s vote was a strategic one.
Lynn Burgess said she was open to paying higher taxes if it helped improve homelessness, housing and mental health services.
“The city’s at such an incredible crossroads right now,” she said. “There’s so many things going on and falling apart that I guess for me it became like a strategic voting plan because I don’t want to see another John Tory or (Premier) Doug Ford or (former mayor) Rob Ford.”
Erminia Bottoni, at a polling station in the west-end Etobicoke neighbourhood, said she was also voting strategically.
“A lot of candidates are kind of saying the same thing, so the vote could be diluted,” she said. “If you really want to get your voice heard, think strategically.”
Carmen Ricci said she cast a vote grudgingly.
“They’re all the same to me,” she said of the candidates while outside a west-end polling station. “I only vote because I’m Canadian and I’m proud to be Canadian. Whoever gets elected, all the best to them, but they still do screw up anyways.”
Advance polls held earlier this month saw 129,745 people cast a ballot, an increase of 14,000 over early voting in the October municipal election.
That election saw a record low 30 per cent voter turnout in a race where Tory cruised to a third term against a field absent of any contenders with high-profile name recognition and experience in elected office.