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Maps Politics Toronto

Voter turnout in the 2022 municipal election

Ever since John Tory was elected mayor of Toronto in 2014, voter turnout in municipal elections has been in decline. In 2010, the year Rob Ford was elected mayor, turnout was 50.4 percent. Four years later, 54.7 percent of all eligible voters went to the polls to elect a new chief magistrate. However, in 2018, […]

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About me Politics Toronto

Sean’s strong mayor agenda for a new era

Who knew, just two weeks ago, that Torontonians would be returning to the polls to elect a new mayor of Toronto? Looking back on John Tory’s last eight-and-a-half years in office, the biggest disappointment might have been that he spent so little of the political capital that he had accumulated after decades as a backroom […]

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Election Maps Toronto

Mapping the 2022 municipal election

This coming Monday, October 24, Ontarians will be electing new city councils. In Brampton, Ottawa, and Hamilton, the mayoral races should prove to be interesting. For Ottawa in particular, with Jim Watson stepping down, voters have a clear choice (and I’ll be cheering for Catherine McKenney). Though Gil Penalosa offers a new vision of a […]

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Canada Election Ontario Politics Toronto

Wards and ridings: not quite representation by population

With the release of the 2021 Census population data, the disparities within federal ridings and City of Toronto wards become quite stark

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Brampton Development Transit

A new twist in the story of a downtown parking lot

A nearly-completed GO Transit parking lot in Downtown Brampton may never open, as Rogers eyes the site.

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About me Infrastructure Roads Toronto Walking

Signs of recognition

New road signs and universal sidewalk snow clearance are big wins for pedestrians in Toronto.

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Brampton Cycling Infrastructure Ontario Roads Walking

Room to share: How cities can make physical distancing work

For my latest TVO article, I spoke with Councillor Shawn Menard in Ottawa, Councillor Rowena Santos in Brampton, and Ryerson University epidemiologist Anne Harris about how cities in Ontario are reallocating road space for pedestrians and cyclists during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or why they may be hesitant to do so. In Brampton, five kilometres […]

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About me Politics Toronto Walking

On right turns, advocacy, and civic democracy

On Wednesday, March 11, I deputed to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee at Toronto City Hall in support of a motion by Councillor Mike Layton to have city staff examine and report back on expanding right turn on red (RTOR) restrictions in the City of Toronto. Though I had the time and willingness to attend […]

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Election Maps Politics Toronto

Voter turnouts in the 2018 Toronto municipal election

2014 was a watershed year for municipal voter turnout in Toronto. After a disastrous four years of Rob Ford as mayor, 54.7 percent of all eligible voters went to the polls, electing John Tory. That was the highest voter turnout in decades, even higher than 1997, when Torontonians elected Mel Lastman to lead a newly […]

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Election Maps Politics Toronto

Mapping the Downtown city council races

At the end of 2014, despite some disappointing results in that year’s municipal election, I was feeling optimistic about 2018. In 2014, there were a number of great candidates running for city council, and I expected many would try again in 2018. After council finally approved the recommended 47 ward model for the 2018 election, […]