How to Vote like a Feminist for the Municipal Elections
With the upcoming Toronto municipal elections, New Wave looks into which candidates support feminism to help you feel more informed before hitting the polls.
With Toronto’s municipal elections taking place today, it’s a great opportunity to brush up on the history of Canadian women’s right to vote and how women can continue to use their rights to shape political feminism for the next four years.
A brief history
Women didn’t always have the privilege to vote – in fact, it wasn’t until 2002 that all Canadian women had voting power. Manitoba spearheaded the suffrage movement, with other prairie provinces following suit shortly after. The campaign grew large support, drawing in over 40,000 signatures over three years for women in Manitoba.
In 1916, women won the right to vote in provincial elections in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, with Ontario and British Columbia following their lead in 1917. By 1918, white women had the right to vote in federal elections, but most provinces did not grant women the right to vote in provincial elections, and many minority groups were also denied the right to vote.
Canadian women were eligible to vote by 1960, including minority groups, but it took 40 more years for incarcerated women (and men) to be able to vote in federal or provincial elections.
Chantal Fahmi, a political science student at York University, believes that everyone with the ability to vote should use it.
“So the entire point of our system is that we are a representative democracy, which means if we are not taking up the mantle so that we can be represented, we’re leaving it to other people to do it for us,” said Fahmi.
How the election affects Toronto feminists
While some may assume that housing, accommodation, transit and addiction treatment aren’t directly connected to women’s issues, political science professor Erin Tolley begs to differ.
“There's a tendency to think of certain issues like childcare or recreational programming as ‘women’s issues,’ but that’s a mistake. All issues are women’s issues,” said Tolley in an email interview.
Tolley, who teaches at Carleton University and assumes the role of Canada Research Chair in Gender, Race and Inclusive Politics, pointed out women’s role in provincial spending.
According to her, the equation can be broken down into a few simple parts: women pay taxes, partake in city living, take transit or use garbage cans. The mayor and city council decide how to take the garbage out, how often transit should run and how to spend taxpayer money on city needs. Additionally, women make up more than half of the voting population in Toronto.
“Although we often think of the mayor and council as the city’s chief decision-makers, voters and elections are a consequential part of this equation because it is voters who choose who sits around the table,” said Tolley.
Talking about people not understanding which level of government has the legal power to work on specific issues in Canada, and how Municipal elections hold significant value in shaping our day-to-day lives.
Meet your candidates
Municipal elections take place on Oct. 26. There are 52 candidates running for the mayoral seat, but the leading contenders are current Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford. A recent poll by Liaison Strategies shows Bradford leading the polls at 49 per cent popularity among decided and leaning voters, meanwhile Chow follows at 47 per cent.
When Chow was elected in 2023, she made history as the first person of Asian descent and as the first woman to take the role since Metro Toronto amalgamated in 1998, according to the City of Toronto website.
She previously served as a New Democratic Party (NDP) member of Parliament and continues to be endorsed by the party; she has focused her campaign around lowering grocery bills, transit costs, expanding the pre-existing school food program and placing a moratorium on data centres.
On Bradford’s campaign website, there are three listed categories that he plans to target: crime, congestion and cost. If he were to be elected, he plans to “crack down” on e-bikes, hire 1,000 police officers and to take the mayoral seat on the Toronto Police Service Board.
When it comes to addiction treatment, Bradford has been vocal about what he believes to be the best approach. In a press release from August, he is quoted as saying that the city “needs mandatory treatment for the most severe cases”.
In comparison, Chow has expanded Toronto’s emergency services – with plans to hire over 150 firefighters, 361 paramedics, 720 police officers and 100 crisis workers. Regarding the unhoused population, Chow plans to create 600 more beds for drug treatment and mental health services. However, she also plans to reduce encampments.
Find out more voting information on the Elections Toronto website.
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