Why I care about municipal elections…

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I’m privileged to be living in a fairly walkable, bikeable neighborhood, but most weeks I still take the bus or the streetcar to go to a dance class, see a concert, play Dungeons & Dragons (stay tuned if you want to play too!), or grab some coffee with friends on a patio. I work from home most of the time, but when I need a break from my office corner, I can go hang out at my local library one block over. Last year, I took a sewing class at the community centre, something I had been wanting to do for years. Now I can sew my own clothes (not very well though; maybe I need to take another class!). I’d walk to the community center through a park, and it was always packed full with people of all ages using the soccer and the track fields, or just hanging out. 

While I’m often preoccupied with big, province or country-wide questions like healthcare, education, or international trade and relations, there is so much of my day-to-day life that is affected by decisions made right here, by my local government, at the municipal level. Public transportation and infrastructure, business and development, zoning regulations, community services and programming, parks & recreation, there literally isn’t a day that goes by without municipal themes popping up. I’m still leaving out things like garbage management, snow removal, local law enforcement, and more. 

2026 is a huge year for municipal elections, with local governments being elected in NB, ON, MB, BC, PEI, SK and NT. What local governments take care of may vary a little province to province and community to community, but it’s always about quality of day-to-day life – the quality of YOUR life, as a young person living, working, spending money and time in your community. Yet, voter turnout in municipal elections is on average the lowest of the three levels of government (municipal, provincial, federal). In some wards (aka electoral districts in a local government election), it is abysmal, with as low as 2.5% turnout in some communities (NB 2022 Local Government Elections Report). 

At New Majority, we think you should be part of shaping what your daily life looks like. And who your councilors are, who your mayor or reeve is, the policies they’ll support and the decisions they’ll make at city council; that’s going to have an impact on your daily life. We’ll never tell you who to vote for: you should be making that decision for yourself. What we’ll do is help you make a plan to vote, figure out the logistics together to make it super smooth sailing for you to go vote and have your say on these municipal matters.

Can’t vote yourself, or want to go the extra mile? 

• Remind 3 eligible friends about the election, or pre-apply for our Community Connector program to be the first to hear when it starts back up! Community Connectors get paid to chat with their network about the election and make a non-partisan plan to vote.
• Look up your local government’s budget and project consultation process. Many cities and towns have ways for you to weigh in on what resources the annual budget should be allocated to, and will ask the public what they think of certain construction or community projects. Searching “budget consultations + your city name” online should help you find relevant links. 
• Work for your local electoral institution or with New Majority!

Héloïse – New Majority