Catch up on the Toronto mayoral byelection
CBC
There are Torontonians who have been glued to city hall politics since John Tory resigned and triggered a mayoral byelection in February — and there are Torontonians who haven't heard there's a byelection at all.
This story's for the latter group — and you should feel no shame about that because, for one thing, the sun's finally out again and life's already hectic enough in this city.
Friday is the last chance for would-be leaders to join the 76-candidate deep competition. CBC Toronto will be ramping up its coverage in the coming weeks once the final field is set.
Read on for a breakdown of the race so far and where it's going as the June 26 byelection nears.
The City of Toronto's rules state that election signs can't go up until June 1.
Some have also asked for a full list of mayoral debates. While there's work underway to organize debates, many are on hold until the final list of candidates are in.
Here's the city website where you can find the full list of candidates and, for some, their campaign material.
CBC Toronto's municipal affairs reporter Shawn Jeffords has been filing a weekly breakdown for just over a month. Here are his files to help you catch up (although, he once used "whopping" to describe the field when it was at just 46 candidates, so shows what he knows.)
Week 1: Political scientists predicted a fiery campaign and laid out what it'll take to win.
Week 2: Candidates sparred over cell service on the TTC amid safety concerns on the transit system.
Week 3: Ontario Place and the Science Centre became the hot topic.
Week 4: Housing emerged as a focus — and with sky-high prices to buy or rent, expect it to remain a top issue.
Week 5: Congestion, construction and how the [expletive deleted] Torontonians are supposed to get around.
Most of the highest-profile candidates in the race haven't released full platforms, and are instead releasing policies plank-by-plank.