The nominations for Toronto’s upcoming municipal election are officially in.
A total of 372 candidates were certified by Toronto’s City Clerk John Elvidge, after the nomination deadline closed at 2 p.m. on Friday.
There are 31 certified candidates running for mayor, 164 candidates running for councillor and 177 candidates running for school board trustee.
A full list of candidates can be seen on the city’s website.
There are three school board wards where only one candidate filed a nomination.
That is an improvement from this time a week ago when 13 school trustee races and two council races had only one candidate running.
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Under municipal election rules in Ontario, if there is only one certified candidate running in a race as of 4 p.m. on Aug. 22 then that candidate will be formally elected by acclamation.
“On voting day, the ballot will indicate ‘Acclaimed’ for that office and a voter will only be able to mark their ballot for the other offices in which more than one candidate is running (e.g. Mayor and Councillor),” city staff said in a news release on Saturday.
Mayor John Tory is seeking re-election, vying for a third term in office.
Ward 1- Etobicoke North has the most certified candidates (16) out of all the councillor races.
Earlier this week, Rose Milczyn was appointed by city council to fill the seat for Ward 1 until the current term ends on Nov. 14.
The seat became vacant after former councillor Michael Ford left to run and ultimately win a seat for the same area in June’s provincial election.
There are significantly fewer candidates in this municipal election overall compared to the last election in 2018, when 501 candidates entered the race (35 for mayor, 242 for councillor and 224 for school board trustee).
The last election was also the first one with a reduced 25-ward model, down from 47 seats previously.
Among the candidates who applied in the eleventh hour are prominent broadcaster Ann Rohmer, who joined the councillor race in Ward 11 (University-Rosedale) yesterday hours before the deadline.
The former CP24 anchor said she contemplated a career in politics for a while and decided to commit after hearing the news about a lack of people running in this year’s election.
"I thought that's a sign right there. This is our democratic right to vote. It's our democratic right to run and I want to exercise them," Rohmer told reporters on Friday at City Hall.
Voters are set to head to the polls on Oct. 24.
