The 2018 Toronto municipal election operated in two distinct phases. Phase 1 (47-ward model) was approved on appeal by the Ontario Municipal Board[1] and was in effect from the beginning of the election through to August 14th, 2018.
The province of Ontario ordered a change midway through the election cycle initiating a second phase (25-ward model) which ran from August through to election day. Phase 1 candidacy and campaign finance[2] remain a matter of official public record, however it is the results of phase 2 that decided the final composition of the 2018 -2022 Toronto City Council.
Councillor and school trustee races which relied on ward boundaries as a condition were substantially affected. Mayoral races which covered the city as a whole were administrated differently in terms of polling methods, but were otherwise less affected.
History
Toronto municipal ward boundaries were significantly modified in 2018, passing through three models (44-ward, 47-ward, and 25-ward). Ultimately, for the purposes of administering the 2018 election, the 25-ward structure was used and later upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2021.
From 2014 to 2017, the City of Toronto engaged in a ward boundary review[3] evaluating the city's previous 44-ward model.[4]
Based on this, and in preparation for the 2018 municipal election, the City of Toronto added 3 new wards to create a 47-ward model.[5] This model was in effect at the opening of the 2018 municipal election.
The 2018 Toronto municipal election ran from May 1, 2018, to October 22, 2018, and while underway[6] the provincial government introduced the Better Local Government Act, 2018, S.O. 2018, c. 11 - Bill 5. The act was assented to on August 14, 2018.[7]
The immediate effect of this act was to eliminate all previous ward models, and replace them with a 25-ward model[8] designed to align with the provincial and federal ridings boundaries in effect at that time.[9]
The timing of the boundary change was controversial, and the City of Toronto sued the province contesting the provisions' constitutionality. In the absence of an injunction, and with the pending threat of the province invoking the notwithstanding clause[10] which would defeat any constitutional challenge, the election continued under the 25-ward model.[11]
The nomination period originally scheduled to close on July 27, 2018, was extended to September 14, 2018.[12] This allowed new candidates to run, and existing candidates to either withdraw or to reassign their candidacy to a different constituency.[13]
In a judgment rendered October 1, 2021,[14] the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the constitutionality of the provisions,[15] and the 25-ward model remained in effect for the 2022 Toronto municipal election.
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