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OPINION: Seek the welfare of our city

Find out who is running for mayor and for council in your ward, learn where they stand, and vote.

Published Sep 29, 2026  •  Last updated 36 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Sheryl Saperia. Photo by Supplied Photo

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At the start of the school year, my children’s school brought the student body together to convey a message: get excited and curious about what the year would bring, but also give thought to what you, the student, can bring about in the year ahead. It was a twist on JFK’s “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Each child was infused with agency to bring good things into existence.

With Toronto’s municipal election on October 26, this is a task for the rest of us too.

A community is more than a group of people who happen to live in the same place. It needs tending, the way a garden does, with respect for the social soil in which it grows. So how can we make Toronto thrive?

We can start by becoming informed about the candidates for mayor and city councillors and then voting in the upcoming election.

Roughly 30% of eligible voters took part in Toronto’s last general municipal election, in 2022. The 2023 mayoral by-election drew 38.5%. By comparison, about 69% of eligible Ontarians voted in last year’s federal election, and 45% in the provincial election.

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Yet of our three levels of government, it is municipal jurisdiction that touches our daily lives most directly. The water from our tap, the collection of our garbage and the condition of the roads are all city responsibilities. So is the bus or subway we take to work. If we call 911, a Toronto police officer or city paramedic responds. The parks where our children play, the libraries we visit, the permits for our renovations, the shelter system and the bylaw officer who answers a complaint all fall under City Hall.

This election also carries more weight than earlier ones. Until 2022, Toronto’s mayor had one vote on a council of 26 and had to build coalitions to get things done. The province has since given the mayor “strong mayor” powers. The mayor now prepares the city budget, can veto council’s changes to it and can hire and fire senior city staff. On provincial priorities such as housing, the mayor can pass bylaws with the support of just one-third of council. This means that whoever wins this fall will have more direct control over the city than any Toronto mayor before them.

How, then, should voters decide? Urban planners often say that a city that works well for children will work well for everyone. Perhaps this is a useful paradigm here.

Could a 12-year-old ride the subway alone and feel safe? Walk to the neighbourhood park and find it clean and usable? Get to school, synagogue, church, mosque or community centre without facing intimidation? When today’s children grow up, will they be able to afford a home in the city where they were raised? Will the water mains, roads and flood protection built by earlier generations be maintained for them? Each voter should answer these questions honestly, based on what they see every day.

Some of the answers are hard to ignore. Toronto food banks recorded 4.1 million visits in a single year, a record and a 340% increase since 2019. One in four food bank clients is a child. Only 62% of TTC riders say they feel safe on the subway, and slow zones, which peaked at nearly three dozen in 2024, have returned this year. Reported hate crimes across the city rose 40% in the first months of this year, with Jewish residents now 14 times more likely than others to be targeted.

The job of City Hall is to set priorities, manage money carefully and deliver what was promised. That applies to the mayor and to the councillors who approve the budget, vote on bylaws and, under the new powers, serve as the main check on the mayor’s authority. Voters are entitled to judge every candidate on whether they have a credible plan and the ability to carry it out. If the city is not working as well as it should, the next four years should look different from the last few.

The Biblical prophet Jeremiah urged people to seek the welfare of the city where they live, because in its welfare they would find their own. Young citizens of ancient Athens swore an oath to leave their city greater and more beautiful than they found it. Toronto voters have the same opportunity.

My kids’ school asked its students what they could bring about this year. On October 26, every eligible Torontonian gets to answer that question for the city.

Find out who is running for mayor and for council in your ward, learn where they stand, and vote.

—  Sheryl Saperia is CEO of Pearl Strategic Counsel, a Canadian-based security advisory firm, and a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. She has a long career in public policy and lives in Toronto with her family. 

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