The city says that the byelection is expected to cost around $13 million
The byelection to replace John Tory as Toronto’s mayor is tentatively set for Monday, June 26, the city clerk confirmed Thursday.
The nomination period will run from April 3 at 8:30 a.m. to May 12 at 2:00 p.m.
From June 8 to 13, people can vote early.
In a news release on Thursday, the city said that the byelection depends on an upcoming meeting of city council. At that meeting, staff will discuss recommendations from the clerk to officially declare the office of mayor vacant and to pass a bylaw requiring a byelection for Tory’s replacement.
The release also said that the city clerk wouldn’t normally announce a byelection before a bylaw was passed, but that it was “in the best interests of the city” in this case.
By announcing the dates now, the release said, the clerk can start making plans, like hiring election staff and reserving places to vote.
The budget for the byelection is expected to be around $13 million.The total cost of the general election on October 24, 2022, was $14.5 million.
There may be a push to put off the byelection until the fall, which some councillors have talked about on CBC Radio’s “The Current.”Metro Morning.
In the last city election, only 30% of residents who were eligible to vote did so. This is typical of many municipal elections.
The news of the byelection comes less than two weeks after Tory said he was stepping down on Feb. 10. The Toronto Star reported that the 68-year-old mayor had an affair with a 31-year-old former staffer.
Tory told reporters that night that the relationship had ended voluntarily earlier this year. He called the affair a “serious mistake in judgment.”
At the time, the mayor had just begun his third term in office.
On February 17, Tory gave his official resignation, and Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie took over his job.
McKelvie has already said that she won’t run for mayor.