Why your vote really, really matters in this Toronto mayoral byelection

With Torontonians heading to the polls, John Beebe is watching the city's mayoral byelection closely.

The founder of the Democratic Engagement Exchange, whose mission is to foster democratic participation,said last fall's municipal vote was a wake-up call. With a record low 29 per cent voter turnout, his organization has been hard at work during this campaign doing outreach and providing free tools, resources and training to community groups.

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As for the reasons for the low turnout, Beebe said the impact of the pandemic, the strength of then-incumbent John Toryand the lack of a single predominant issue all were likely factors.

"In the last municipal election in Toronto, we clearly didn't have a competitive election," he said ofTory's sweeping re-election. "There wasn't a galvanizing issue and that was certainly a factor."

WATCH | How did we get here? Here's the timeline of this mayoral byelection:

Your Toronto mayoral byelection timeline

1 year ago

Duration 3:38

From John Tory's surprise resignation to a crush of 102 candidates (and a dog) racing to replace him, here's what's happened in the Toronto mayoral byelection. Election day is June 26.

To try to address that, this time around, his group has been working with community organizations to engage with voters across the city, he said.

But with 102 candidates and a crowded field of top-polling challengers releasing reams of policy, this campaign has potential to engage voters, he said.

"Overall, I think we've had, in many ways, a great campaign," Beebe said. "We have a lot of serious candidates, plenty of debates. And we are seeing in the field (higher)levels of engagement."

'Time to pay attention'

Beebe said Toronto's advance polling numbers are also an encouraging sign nearly 130,000 people came out to cast a ballot during the six days of early voting. That's a 12 per cent increase over last fall's advance vote, which had two more days of polling.

"I was actually surprised as many people voted because it's such a crowded field, people are still making up their minds," he said. "That indicates that people have made up their minds, that they were confident enough to know that thatwasn't going to change."

But Beebe is quick to caution that while those figures are good, nothing guarantees Torontonians will show up in large numbers on election day to elect a new mayor. He continues to urge people to get out and vote.

"At the end of the day, voting is the lifeblood of democracy," he said. "And if people don't engage it, democracy does start to erode and wither away."

Toronto Metropolitan University politics professor Myer Siemiatycki said this vote will shape the future of the city. He's hopeful that because of that, voter participation will jump.

"This is a turning point election, this is a very competitive election, there is a whole spectrum of candidates offering a variety of options and choices," he said. "And this is the time to pay attention."

'Incredibly important' to cast ballot

With a billion-dollar budget gap, a housing affordability crisis and transit and transportation challenges across Toronto, the person leading the city will make pivotal choices, he said.

"Decisions that are going to be made in the next three and a half years could really set the direction for the city for a long time to come," he said. "So, I would say this is a significant moment."

Andrew Tumilty, a senior consultant with Enterprise Canada, said campaign teams will be pushing their get-out-the-vote operations into high gear on Monday.All of their organizational prowess will be put to the test and every last vote will count, he said.

"It's incredibly important, particularly in an election like this where a few points here and there could ultimately be the difference," he said "We haven't seen a race like this, with this many sort of top-tier campaigns, still hanging around on election day in a long time."

Tumilty, who twice ran Tory's election war room, said whenever he's confronted by someone who doesn't believe their vote matters, he tells them it's worth the small investment of time it takes.

"It is absolutely worth it to get out there on election day and vote," he said. "If you're a little bit more cynical and if you don't vote, you don't get a reason to complain."