Number of Ontario communities with acclaimed candidates rising
Difficult conditions in smaller locales cited as reason for increase
As communities across Ontario gear up for municipal elections later this month, a growing number of candidates face no competition at all.
Figures from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario indicate an uptick in the number of councillors acclaimed in their positions, meaning they’re named as winners because no one chose to run against them.
The association says the number of acclaimed heads of council, such as mayors or reeves, stands at 120 this year compared to 103 during the last provincewide municipal campaign in 2014.
In 26 of Ontario’s 444 municipalities, residents won’t have to cast ballots at all on Oct. 22, as entire councils in those communities have been acclaimed — up from 18 four years ago.
The association says the total number of council candidates acclaimed this year stands at 477, up from 390 in 2014.
Observers say the increase in acclamations is not a sign of weakening civic engagement but reflects the difficult conditions at play in smaller communities, where uncontested candidacies are most common.
AMO executive director Pat Vanini said the bulk of municipal council positions are part-time, poorly compensated roles that must be juggled on top of fulltime work.
Municipal duties, moreover, must be carried out in an increasingly emotionally fraught climate made more complex by social media.
While acclamations can indicate that residents are largely satisfied with the status quo, the emerging trend suggests there may be other factors at play, Vanini said.
“There’s a real sense of civic responsibility and giving back to the community,” she said of those who choose to run. “But it’ll be interesting to see over time whether some of these other influences really dampen that interest. The acclamations could be simply because there is no one that wants to do that job.”
Vanini said the average council salary in small communities is between $12,000 and $15,000 a year, a figure that would put councillors well below the poverty line if they relied solely on those positions for a living.
Despite the modest compensation, Vanini said many councillors have to conduct town business off-hours in order to slot the job around other commitments.
Kevin Marriott, the soon-to-be three-time mayor of Enniskillen, Ont., is familiar with the balancing act.
He has served on the township’s council since 1994, on top of working as a full-time farmer and occasional financial adviser.
Marriott said he consistently had to run campaigns to hold on to his position as a councillor, but he has been unopposed as mayor for the past seven years.
That is set to be repeated again this year as Enniskillen prepares to join the ranks of municipalities where all council positions are acclaimed, a rarity in Marriott’s experience.
He said the consequences of losing a race can be magnified in small communities where residents are tightly interconnected. Those consequences, he said, can make unsuccessful candidates less likely to mount repeat campaigns, unlike in urban centres, where perennial candidates are not uncommon.
Marriott said he’s also seen a shift in the tone of discourse in many locales, noting people seem more likely to level sharp critiques than they were when he was a rookie councillor. The charged nature of most political debate on social media does little to cool flaring tempers, he said.
Candidates are usually driven to seek office by contentious issues that galvanize the population, Marriott said. The current lack of political drama in Enniskillen, he said, can be seen as a sign of comparative contentment in the municipality of roughly 2,700 residents.