Surranna Sandy
Toronto is about to choose its next mayor, city councillors, and school trustees. Nominations opened May 1. The race is already taking shape. And if the past is any guide, many of the people this city depends on most will remain furthest from the process.
That is not just a voter turnout concern. It is a civic design problem.
The civic infrastructure of this region, our coalitions, roundtables, reports, leadership programs, and summits, has built real capacity. But too often, it has built capacity among people who already know how to enter the room.
It has not always reached the teacher in Scarborough who cannot afford to live near the school where she works. The PSW in Brampton commuting two hours each way. The young person in Hamilton who has done everything right and still cannot find a way into the economy.
That gap matters.
When the people most affected by regional decisions are least connected to the processes that shape them, we do not just get lower turnout. We get policy that misses. We get solutions designed at a distance from lived reality. We get a civic sector that can produce strong reports and still struggle to move systems.
CivicAction’s workforce housing research makes this visible. The GTHA needs roughly 15,000 affordable workforce housing units a year. It is producing fewer than 5,000. That is not because the region lacks studies, panels, or good intentions. It is because we have not yet built the kind of civic muscle required to move from agreement to implementation.
The same pattern shows up in elections.
The candidates who run, the issues that dominate, and the platforms that get written often reflect the priorities of people who already have a relationship with civic life. People who have been asked before. People who know where to show up. People who can see themselves in the process.
But through our work with emerging leaders across the GTHA, we see something different.
Young people are paying close attention to what is happening in their communities. Newcomers have deep insight into what our systems are actually delivering. Residents from underrepresented communities understand the consequences of decisions they often had no hand in shaping.
These are not disengaged people. Many have simply not been meaningfully invited in.
An election campaign is one of the few moments when the region is paying attention. Candidates are listening. Issues are being named. People are being asked what kind of city they want to live in.
That window does not stay open long.
At CivicAction, we intend to use this election cycle to bring more people into the conversation, especially emerging leaders, residents, and cross-sector partners who can help shape a civic agenda grounded in real regional experience.
The question I want to put on the table is simple:
Who is civic engagement actually for?
If the honest answer is that it has mostly worked for people who were already engaged, then this election is an opportunity to change that.
The region is watching. More importantly, the region needs to be invited in.
Surranna Sandy is CEO of CivicAction, a catalyst for civic leadership and action across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.