It's official: 102 candidates are running to become Toronto's next mayor

A total of 102 candidates will run for Toronto mayor in the June 26 byelection, the city said on Friday after the deadline for nominations.

The total is the highest number of candidates ever registered for mayor of Toronto after amalgamation, the city said in a news release on Friday.

The number surpasses the previous record of 65 candidates in the 2014 municipal election. Thirty-one candidates ran for mayor of Toronto in the 2022 municipal election.

By 2 p.m. on Friday, which was the deadline, a total of 102 candidates had filed their nomination papers. Toronto City Clerk John Elvidge certified all 102 candidates, the city said in the release.

The full list can be found here.

On March 29, city council declared the mayor's seat vacant and passed a bylaw calling for a byelection. The move followed an announcement by former mayor John Tory on Feb. 10 that he had an "inappropriate relationship" with a staff member and that he would step down. He officially resigned on Feb. 17.

In order to run for mayor, candidates must:

• File a nomination paper with original signature.
• Provide proof of qualifying address within Toronto.
• Pay a $200 nomination filing fee.
• Provide at least 25 endorsements of nomination from eligible Toronto voters with original signatures.

'Machine' needed to get elected, former candidate says

Former mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat, who ran unsuccessfully against Tory in 2018, said the sheer of number of candidates shows that people want change and they want to be a part of the change.

Keesmaat said she learned from her mayoral campaign that candidates need "a machine" to get elected in a city the size of Toronto.

"They don't all have a machine. They don't all have name recognition," Keesmaat told CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Friday. Nor do all candidates have funding, she said.

Keesmaat, also a former city planner, also said there may be a lot of engagement in the byelection because there is no incumbent.

She said she considers the byelection to be a "change election," adding residents are dissatisfied with a lack of investment in public infrastructure and concerned about people in distress on the streets of Toronto

'Every vote is going to count'

John Beebe, founder of the Democratic Engagement Exchange at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the number of candidates shows there are a lot of people who want to play a leadership role in the city. The exchange is an initiative under TMU's arts faculty designed to improve democratic participation.

Beebe said it's good for democracy that a number of candidates are putting forward "real ideas" but it is not so helpful that a large number of candidates is running.

The wide field will make it harder for voters to make an informed choice about who they want to lead Toronto, he said, adding it will be tough to sort through all of the candidates.

Engagement, however, is promising, he said.

"I am hearing way more interest in this race than I've heard in any municipal election across the board, among young people, among older folks in the city. And that's very, very encouraging," he said.

A "highly competitive election" is always good for turnout, he said. However, it's not clear yet who the front-runner is, he added. The debates will be critical, he said.

"Every vote is going to count in this election. That's for sure."