Several area municipal spots up for grabs with 30 days left to file

University of Western Ontario (UWO) professor Martin Horak said more municipal politicians are being acclaimed during elections as fewer people across the province put their name on ballots. Photo courtesy of UWO

By Lee Griffi

There are many good seats available with one month remaining to file nominations papers in upcoming municipal-election races.

Martin Horak is a University of Western Ontario (UWO) professor and an expert in the field of local politics, and he said there are several reasons why so few people run for office including what he called the incumbency advantage.

“Incumbents have a huge advantage at the polls and it’s very substantial,” said Horak, associate professor and director at the school’s Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance. “In small places where we don’t have political parties, name recognition matters. A lot of people tend to vote for the folks who are familiar unless they are really unhappy with them.”

Horak said the situation often leads to the same people being voted into office for long periods of time and discourages others from putting their hat in the ring. He added it’s also very difficult to get people to run for office and the pay municipal politicians receive also acts as a barrier.

“They typically come with small honorariums, people have other things to do and these days, politicians face a lot of public criticism and even abuse, and people know that. It can be really hard to get folks to run for that reason as well.”

In East Zorra-Tavistock (EZT) there is only one registered candidate for the position of mayor and also just one for the deputy-mayor spot. There are no candidates for Ward 1, which has two councillors elected, while Ward 3 has a single candidate. The only race is in Ward 2 where two residents have put their names forward.

Wilmot Township is in a bit better situation with three candidates running for mayor. Three of the four wards have a single councillor elected with no candidates registered in Ward 2 and one in wards one and three. Two people have filed papers for Ward 4 where two councillors are elected.

In Perth East, two candidates have registered for the mayor’s position and one for deputy-mayor. Not a single candidate has filed for each of the four wards where one councillor is elected in each. It is interesting to note that not a single candidate has filed nomination papers in the municipality since June 6.

Horak said many smaller municipalities in Ontario and Quebec see incumbents re-elected on a regular basis and they are often acclaimed as no one runs against them. He added anyone attempting to defeat an incumbent may need to get their chequebook out.

“It doesn’t matter if (incumbents) spend money or not, they have the same likelihood of winning again. For non-incumbents, the spending can make a difference. It doesn’t necessarily overcome the incumbency advantage but in order to win, non-incumbents do have to spend money and mobilize volunteers whereas those in office can usually coast into re-election.”    

Nearly one in every 11 municipal candidates in Ontario was acclaimed in the 2022 election. About 8.7 per cent of all candidates won their seats without opposition, up from 7.2 per cent in 2018, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Thirty-two of Ontario's 444 municipalities had entire councils acclaimed, meaning no municipal election was required in those communities. They all had populations under 10,000 and 22 were located in northern Ontario.

EZT had the most acclaimed municipal candidates in 2022 with three, while Perth East had one and Wilmot had none.

Horak said there are some solutions to get more people on the ballot for municipal elections

“You can increase remuneration, but people are often reluctant to go down that road. I chaired the council compensation task force here in London last year and we recommended a significant salary increase, partly to attract really good quality people to run, but the public didn’t like it.”

He added more people tend to run in places where good local media coverage exists and people actually know what’s happening at the municipal government level. The same can be said in municipalities where a scandal has occurred.

“People then sense an opportunity when there is a lot of attention being paid to a race. It brings out not only candidates, but more voters.”

Horak noted there are some countries which have made voting mandatory, including Australia.

Voter turnout during the 2022 election was much higher locally than the provincial average, which sat at 32.9 per cent.

See graphic pictured below.

The nomination period ends on Aug. 21 at 2 p.m.