The city clerk has announced new registration dates for the Oct. 22 municipal election as the city scrambles to respond to last-minute boundary changes imposed by the new provincial government.
Candidates wishing to run for a position on city council or on the Toronto District School Board will be able to submit nomination papers starting Aug. 20. Nominations will only be accepted at Toronto City Hall and the deadline to submit paperwork will be Sept. 14.
The new dates come two days after the provincial government used its majority to pass Bill 5, a new law that shrinks Toronto City Council from 47 wards to 25 and pegs the ward boundaries to those used for federal and provincial elections.
The previous deadline for submitting nomination papers was July 27. Candidates who were already registered to run in the election under the old ward model must fill out a “change of ward” form and submit it to the city by September 14. However they will not have to pay a new registration fee.
The deadline for entering the mayoral race was also July 27 and has not been extended.
The provincial government has said that they are enacting the changes as part of a general mandate to shrink government and because they believe that having fewer concillors will make Toronto’s city council function more effectively.
However critics have said that Premier Doug Ford is misusing his power at Queen’s Park in order to ram through a change that he and his brother, former mayor Rob Ford, had long advocated.
While the city spent years studying new ward boundaries that were set to go into effect for this year’s municipal election, the provincial government passed Bill 5 with no formal consultation with the city or the public, leading to charges that the changes are “undemocratic.”
The bill is being challenged in court. City staff are also set to report back next week on possible legal options for challenging the bill.
