Something strange happened in Toronto in 1969.
asserted
Something → happen → 1969
That year, municipal political parties were introduced to the city.
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parties → introduce → city
Liberals, Trotskyists, New Democrats and others pitted their candidates against each other, breaking more than a century of tradition and turning the Toronto election into a team sport for the first time.
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Liberals → pit → time
That’s not the weird part.
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That → ’ → ?
You can find political parties on ballots in countless global cities: Vancouver, Montreal, New York, Istanbul, Seoul and São Paulo, to name just a few.
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You → find → few
The odd and fascinating thing about the 1969 election is that it didn’t set a precedent in Toronto, like it might have anywhere else.
uncertain
it → set → Toronto
Instead, the local parties that spun up that year dissolved and were largely forgotten.
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that → spin → ?
That might all be changing.
uncertain
That → change → ?
If history were written in verse, the 1969 and 2026 elections might be the rhyming ends of two stanzas.
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elections → write → stanzas
Some would argue political partisanship is back in the city and more influential than ever.
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partisanship → argue → city
Ascendant “municipal advocacy groups” today perform some of the key functions of a party without naming themselves as such, including drafting policy, presenting slates of candidates and recruiting volunteers to help campaign for them.
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groups → perform → them
The most powerful of these outfits, Progress Toronto has, so far, helped incumbent mayor Olivia Chow and seven members of council get elected since 2022.
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Chow → help → 2022
This year, it’s facing challenges from new, competing groups that say the city could benefit from a little more partisanship.
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city → face → partisanship
For the first time in almost 60 years, Toronto seems to be getting another referendum on political parties.
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Toronto → seem → parties
Does Toronto hate parties?
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Toronto → hate → parties
Proponents of the party system say it helps voters by clearly denoting which of the many candidates share their values.
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which → say → values
Parties should also hold their politicians accountable, in order to preserve public image and support for the organization.
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politicians → hold → organization
“Once a political system becomes large and complicated enough, you need political parties,” said veteran political journalist John Michael McGrath.
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McGrath → become → parties
Parties would, I believe, make it easier for voters to know who they are hiring to run that machine.”
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they → believe → machine
McGrath, who has argued that municipal advocacy groups are essentially parties already, said in absence of a partisan system, candidate name recognition ends up winning elections.
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recognition → argue → elections
This, he said, makes incumbents and former federal or provincial politicians nearly unbeatable, which doesn’t always “give us the best governance results.”
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which → say → results
Parties, he said, would be able to loudly criticize incumbents and propose alternatives.
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he → say → alternatives
Ontarians, for the most part, don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze at the city level.
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juice → think → level
Opinion polling shows a strong preference for the municipal nonpartisanship status quo, with respondents saying they value what they consider to be a more meritocratic system that uplifts independent thinkers.
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that → show → thinkers
“Ontario stands out among advanced democracies in the depth and consistency of its commitment to municipal nonpartisanship,” reads a 2024 study by Canadian political scientists that surveyed thousands of Ontarians.
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that → stand → Ontarians
“Across nearly all relevant subgroups of the public, antipartisan sentiment predominates.
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sentiment → predominate → public
Still, the surveyors found that more than a third of respondents had no opinion on the matter.
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third → find → matter
A pro-party politician could try to persuade these undecideds, but they would “do so in the face of a skeptical public” and incur “substantial risk” upsetting their constituents, about half of whom are “resolutely opposed to municipal partisanship.”
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half → try → partisanship
Local opposition is so ingrained that politicians in the city use accusations of party affiliation as a cudgel.
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politicians → use → cudgel
Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford frequently calls Chow the “NDP mayor” in statements and criticizes the former New Democrat MP for retaining her party membership after becoming mayor in 2023.
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Bradford → call → 2023
Federal or provincial parties ties might still be gauche for local politicians, but many would still welcome help from the special interest groups that mimic them.
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that → welcome → them
Progress Toronto’s founder, Michal Hay, became Chow’s chief of staff after she was elected.
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she → become → staff
She’s now working on her re-election campaign.
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She → work → campaign
According to reporting in The Local magazine this month, Bradford privately encouraged the creation of one of the conversative answers to Progress Toronto, called ABC Toronto, after he lost the 2023 mayoral byelection.
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he → accord → byelection
Bradford did not respond to a request for comment about this from the Star.
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Bradford → respond → Star
Where do these groups see themselves heading?
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themselves → see → ?
The Star asked the three main municipal advocacy groups whether they aspire to become parties.
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they → ask → groups
Progress Toronto said it did not and disagreed with the notion that it behaves like one already.
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it → say → one
ABC said having parties at the municipal level would benefit the electorate, but that becoming one is not its “focus.”
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becoming → say → one
IntegrityTO, a group that is further right on the political spectrum, said it’s “too premature” to try to legislate municipal parties now, but “we’ll see how things play out after this election.”
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things → say → election
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
