Who can’t vote in Toronto municipal elections?
Non-citizens who live in the city can’t vote for councillors and mayors even though non-resident residential and business property owners can. There are more than 200,000 permanent non-citizen residents in Toronto who cannot vote. These are people who live, work, own property, pay taxes, and use public transit, in the city. They are landed immigrants who must wait three years before they are eligible for Canadian citizenship, or who have been in for more than three years but have not yet completed the process to attain citizenship. Every year, the City of Toronto welcomes 50,000 newcomers. This suggests that in the foreseeable future there will continue to be thousands of permanent residents who play an integral role in the economy and social life of our city but who are excluded from a key part of the political process because they cannot express their voice through the basic act of voting.
