With residents in 444 Ontario cities and towns deciding who will lead them for the next four years, today is Canada’s busiest day in municipal politics.
asserted
today → decide → politics
While many municipalities have their niche issues — like the cleanup of former General Motors land in St. Catharines or Mississauga’s Ridgeway Plaza — the topics most important to voters are consistent: taxes, transit, housing, homelessness and local infrastructure.
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topics → have → voters
And like so many urban centres across Canada, public safety is also paramount to deciding whether a candidate’s proposed policies will meaningfully address the issue of rising crime rates and increased public drug use.
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policies → decide → rates
Most eyes are sure to be locked on Toronto’s results, but here are three other adjacent races worth watching.
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races → lock → results
Incumbent Carolyn Parrish and former mayor and Ontario Liberal Party Leader Bonnie Crombie are the central figures in this closely watched contest, but councillor Alvin Tedjo has emerged as a potential spoiler.
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Tedjo → watch → spoiler
Parrish, a long-time city councillor and former four-term Liberal MP, is seeking her first full term, having replaced Crombie when she left municipal politics for provincial politics in 2024.
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she → seek → 2024
Crombie, also a former Liberal MP, failed to win a seat in the 2025 Ontario general election and announced her intention to reclaim the mayoralty.
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Crombie → fail → mayoralty
During a leaders’ debate on Oct. 1 at Food Banks Mississauga’ warehouse, Parrish and Crombie got into a heated back-and-forth, shouting at one another at times and launching personal barbs.
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Parrish → get → barbs
Parrish called Crombie a “blonde bombshell,” and Crombie accused her successor of being a mayor who “just sits behind her desk,” the National Observer reported.
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Observer → call → desk
“She can be very Trumpian,” Crombie said of Parrish to the outlet.
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Crombie → say → outlet
“I took her to task on her comments, but I never resorted to name-calling.”
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I → take → calling
Parrish reportedly said she may have lost her “cool a bit,” but doesn’t “believe anyone behaved particularly well.”
uncertain
anyone → say → cool
Damerla, meanwhile, told the Bramptonist that the debate “felt like it was kindergarten” at times, and Tedjo said bickering “is part of the problem,” City News reported.
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News → tell → problem
Both said it showed a need for change in leadership.
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it → say → leadership
Criminal offences in the Mississauga and Brampton area have been on a downward trend since 2023, according to the Peel Regional Police website, but a 2025 annual report shows drug violations were up 14 per cent since the year prior.
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violations → accord → website
The candidates’ approaches vary on police staffing, funding for law enforcement, the use of surveillance technology and the role of mental health and social service workers in responding to drug-related issues.
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approaches → vary → issues
That same poll indicates a three-way race between Crombie (26 per cent), Tedjo (25 per cent), and Parrish (22 per cent), with 16 per cent still undecided.
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cent → indicate → Crombie
A Liaison Strategies poll last week, however, finds Crombie leading with 35 per cent among decided and leaning voters, followed by Tedjo (31 per cent) and Parrish (28 per cent).
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Crombie → find → Tedjo
The nation’s capital also has 14 people on the mayoral ballot, among them incumbent mayor Mark Sutcliffe and his main challenger, longtime progressive councillor Jeff Leiper.
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capital → have → Sutcliffe
Two other candidates likely to pinch votes from either include Neil Saravanamuttoo, an economist and regular critic of City Hall, and homebuilder Alex Lawson, a political outsider vowing top-down reforms.
“
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candidates → pinch → reforms
It’s a competition of ideas.
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It → ’ → ideas
It’s a competition of agendas.”
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It → ’ → agendas
In July, Sutcliffe stood by fundraising and endorsement emails from two former Ontario politicians — former MPP and provincial cabinet minister Madeleine Meilleur and former MPP, MP and cabinet minister John Baird — that framed his opponents as radicals, CBC reported.
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CBC → stand → radicals
Meilleur said Leiper and Lawson represent the “ideological extremes of the political spectrum,” while Baird’s labelled the former as a “hard left, ideological and out of touch candidate.”
In response, Lawson called it “petty name-calling,” and Leiper argued, “malicious American-style politics has no place in our municipal politics.”
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politics → say → politics
Citywide crime as of Aug. 17 is up eight per cent over the same period last year, according to the Citizen.
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crime → accord → Citizen
Sexual violations are up 24 per cent, assaults are up five per cent, instances of violent crime grew four per cent and property crime inched up six per cent.
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crime → grow → crime
“The increase in the vulnerable population is overwhelming the social agencies that manage them.
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that → overwhelm → them
People aren’t feeling as safe as they used to with some of the social disorder and the open drug use and whatnot,” Ottawa Police Service Chief Eric Stubbs told the Citizen late last year.
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Stubbs → feel → Citizen
All the candidates’ platforms differ in how they balance police staffing and budgeting, enforcement and response to drug addiction and mental health crises.
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they → differ → addiction
Sutcliffe, first elected in 2022, has been the frontrunner since the get-go, but recent polling suggests his lead over Leiper has slipped to single digits.
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lead → elect → digits
An Oct. 19 Quorus Consulting Group poll put him at 28 per cent among all respondents, Leiper at 24 per cent, Saravanamuttoo at seven per cent and Lawson at four per cent.
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poll → put → cent
Hamilton
Incumbent Andrea Horwath, the former Ontario NDP leader, faces 12 challengers, including former chamber of commerce president Keanin Loomis and councillor and businessman Rob Cooper, who have arisen as her chief opponents.
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who → face → opponents
Horwath won the election in 2022 by defeating Loomis.
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Horwath → win → Loomis
The negativity was evident during a disorderly debate earlier this month that included allegations of Donald Trump-style politics, religious discrimination and candidate citizenship, the Hamilton Spectator reported of the occasionally raucous event featuring 12 of the 13 candidates.
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Spectator → include → candidates
Horwath went after her primary challengers, labelling Cooper a “hatchet man” and Loomis a “nowhere man.”
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Loomis → go → challengers
They countered that Horwath was spending too much without delivering the necessary public services.
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Horwath → counter → services
Cooper, an avowed Christian, was challenged on his abortion stance and forced to defend his faith, while Loomis, who moved to Hamilton from Washington, D.C., in 2009, had to pull out his Canadian passport when facing questions about his American roots.
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who → challenge → roots
The debate also featured an informal vote against the participation of candidate Paul Fromm, a self-described white nationalist.
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debate → feature → Fromm
Statistics Canada data released in July shows that crime rates in Hamilton over the past five have consistently stayed below provincial and national averages, but Hamilton Police Service Chief Frank Bergen said there’s a gap between the numbers and how people say they feel.
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they → release → numbers
Cooper and Loomis have put forth different strategies to deal with the spike in downtown incidents, the Spectator reported, while Horwath wants to create a new police substation incorporating other services.
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Horwath → put → services
The Aporia
