Last month, Toronto held its largest by-election ever to elect new mayoral leadership.
Being Mayor of Toronto is a significant civic leadership role, not only for the region but for the country and globally – Toronto is Canada’s largest city and the fourth largest in North America. Toronto is also at an important stage, facing many challenges that include affordability, health equity, homelessness, youth unemployment, and more against a backdrop of a challenging fiscal climate with an anticipated $1.5 billion deficit in the municipal budget.
As rising leaders involved with CivicAction’s Emerging Leaders Network, we were interested in sparking dialogue on what we wanted our incredible city’s collective future to be – and how we can leverage the collective strength, ingenuity, and excellence in craft and thinking in Toronto to realize that vision.
In partnership with several organizations, including Regent Park Community Health Centre, Toronto Global Impact Network, and The Neighbourhood Organization, we hosted a panel discussion followed by an ideation and networking session on Thursday, June 22nd, 2023, at the Centre for Social Innovation on Spadina. It was an inspiring night, and the feeling of hope was palpable in the air.
Our brilliant moderator, Toronto-based journalist Olivia Bowden, posed thought-provoking questions that had panelists and audience members dreaming of the possibilities for Toronto’s future. And specifically, what leadership competencies people were hoping to see in Toronto’s next mayor.
Panelists shared insightful answers:
- Kowmitha Satkunarajah – Director of Organizational Development at the Toronto Youth Cabinet, outlined the ‘need for empathy’ and ‘someone who can return to their roots’ so they can center marginalized communities.
- Jin Huh – Executive Director of Social Planning Toronto, shared the importance of ‘deep listening skills’ to demonstrate genuine care, compassion, and commitment to communities most negatively affected by the ‘wicked’ challenges of our time.
- Sarah Baldeo – Innovation Partner at CGI and a CivicAction Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) Executive, emphasized the desire for a mayor who had a ‘bias for action’ and would move on the most significant challenges confronting our incredible city.
- Eric Meerkamper – Co-Founder of the Toronto Global Impact Network, highlighted the opportunities we have with a mayor who has a global mindset and wants Toronto to become a more ‘globally connected’ city.
By The Numbers
On June 26, Toronto headed to the polls to elect a new mayor. When it was all said and done, this was an election for the history books: Over 100 candidates put their names forward, vying to be the next mayor of Toronto.
On election day, there were 1,445 polls across the city.
Over 720 000 ballots were cast with a 38 percent voter turnout, an increase over the 29 percent turnout from the 2022 municipal election.
We also saw that nearly 70% of the votes were for two immigrant women: Mayor-elect Olivia Chow and runner-up Ana Bailão. An important milestone for Toronto given we are a city of immigrants and women make up over half of our residents.
As Anjum Sultana wrote recently in the Toronto Star, alongside CivicAction Fellow Victoria Kuketz, and public policy and advocacy specialist Ramina Ghassemi, ‘Immigrant women have shown they are a force to be contented with at the ballot box – as viable candidates and astute community organizers.’
Toronto needs all of us to act
At the end of the day, the Mayor of Toronto is an important role, but that is just one person in a city with over 3 million residents. What matters just as much, and perhaps more, is what each of us as individuals, communities, organizations, and networks do to make our city better.
The Toronto we want is just around the corner: a city that is affordable, globally-connected, healthy, inclusive, sustainable, and youth friendly.
Anjum Sultana is a public affairs strategist, a Board Member of Regent Park Community Health Centre, and a member of CivicAction’s Emerging Leaders Network. Aleem Punja is a registered Social Worker, current National Operating Officer for the Aga Khan Council for Canada, and ELN Executive Committee member. Sarah Luca is the Program Manager of the Emerging Leaders Network. Wes Iqbal is the former Executive Advisor/Chief of Staff to the Deputy Solicitor General of Ontario (currently enjoying his paternity leave!), and ELN Executive Committee Co-chair.