Who Can Be a Candidate?

Candidate must be:

• A resident of the municipality or a non-resident owner or tenant of land in the municipality or the spouse of such non-resident owner or tenant;
• A Canadian citizen
• At least 18 years old;
• Not legally prohibited from voting; and not disqualified by any legislation from holding municipal office.

Each candidate needs 25 signatures on their nomination form and must pay a fee of $100 ($200 for mayor).

When you think about candidates for federal or provincial elections, you usually think about the political party that each candidate represents. In municipal elections in Ontario, candidates are not elected to represent a political party.