Why Toronto city council is getting a rare chance at renewal in the upcoming election

As Toronto's civic elections go, the 2022 vote will be a rare opportunity for dozens of candidates.

The most incumbents in recent memory — seven of 25 councillors — are calling it quits. 

That means Toronto is guaranteed seven new faces in the council chambers this fall. It's been made possible because these candidates will not face the profound disadvantage of squaring off against an incumbent.

Even some former councillors who have unseated incumbents themselves say the odds were not with them as new challengers.

"It's a tremendous advantage," Coun. Joe Mihevc said of being the local councillor running for re-election. "And I'll confess that, yes, I've benefited from that advantage, except, of course, for the very first time I ran."

The council veteran was first elected in 1991 when he bested a large field of candidates, including a scandal-plagued incumbent, to capture his seat on the pre-amalgamation City of York council. 

Mihevc went on to serve as a Toronto councillor until 2018 and recently re-joined council after he was temporarily appointed to fill a vacancy.

At the municipal level, where there is no party system to influence voters, a candidate's name recognition is key. Councillors have budgets to send out newsletters and are in constant communication with residents, he said.

"They know every corner of the ward," Mihevc said. "They have responded to dozens of emails over each and every day. And when you do the multiplier there, those are pretty big numbers."

Those same councillors also have a handful of employees who have an incentive to see their bosses win..

"When you have six to eight staff who are basically going to be rehired in the new administration, that is one heck of an inspiration to get out there and knock on doors with the incumbent," Mihevc said.

Kristyn Wong-Tam, a former Toronto city councillor who now serves as an MPP at Queen's Park, said often the only way to break through is to run when an incumbent finally quits. Wong-Tam ran in an open race in 2010 when the long-time councillor in her downtown ward retired. 

"Because you had 15 candidates at that time," she said. "It was a close race. There were 460 votes between me and the second runner up."

To unseat an incumbent requires a head start years before an election, something most people simply can't afford to spend the time or money on, she said.