Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Now that three out of four major party campaigns have offices up and running, our focus has turned to the meat and potatoes of campaigning: the canvass. If you live in Toronto Centre and you haven't yet heard......

It's election day today! So go vote. If you don't vote, nobody will ever truly love you and you will die alone and unmourned. This is a statistical fact. In further Ontario election news, the party leaders all make their final claims as to why you should vote for their party here, and none of them make the argument that they deserve your vote for being the whitest guy in Ontario, because all of them......

Provincial and federal elections in Canada are largely determined by quirks of geography. That is, the number of seats each party receives in the legislature is rather independent of the popular vote and has more to do with the way people of particular political leanings are concentrated (or not) within arbitrarily-drawn districts. This makes pre-election polling an interesting exercise in extrapolation; a particular percentage of popular support could translate into quite a range of......

Election day is tomorrow, which provides a good opportunity to look back at how election ads were handled in the past. Today's selections come from the 1955 campaign, which Premier Leslie Frost's Progressive Conservatives won in a landslide on June 9th (83 PC, 11 Liberal, 3 CCF, 1 "PC Independent"). The "Big Blue Machine" was firmly entrenched, remaining in power for the next 30 years. York Centre was a new riding for the 1955......

You've probably heard by now that Ontarians will be asked to cast a second ballot on election day. That is, unless you're among the 47% of Ontarians who, according to a recent poll, are completely unaware of the upcoming referendum question on whether to replace the existing first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system with a proposed mixed-member proportional (MMP) system. Whether this is the first you've heard about it—which seems unlikely since Torontoist has mentioned it......

It's the dawn of election day, so Torontoist assumes that our readers are doing their proper diligence with some last-minute cramming on who's running for school trustee in their respective areas. The Toronto District School Board website isn't going to be of any help, however: it's been hacked by a group of Brazilian script kiddies who go by the name Un-Root Crew. Un-Root Crew, aside from not having girlfriends and using the usual circa-2001......

This week, we wandered about the city and did a design analysis of election signs. This post doesn't exactly constitute voting advice -- unless you're often swayed by snazzy typography. At the same time, it's our belief that a terrible sign can tank an otherwise promising candidate and vice-versa. So what about the hotly-contested mayor's race? We have to admit that Pitfield's fiery red-on-yellow has an energy and passion that's missing from Miller's way-cool blue.......

Toronto officials are currently engaged in a last-ditch effort to save the 2015 World's Fair. Is it just me or would the Expo be a colossal mistake? In semi-related news, Christopher Hume doesn't think Toronto is on the road to a better future. With election day fast approaching, David Miller makes his final campaign pledges. A Richmond Hill man, missing for 28 hours, turns up at a police station. I'd been counting down this......

Election signs are a bit like Christmas lights, after the big day they quickly lose what little charm they had to begin with. Campaign signs are even worse because with Christmas lights arguably no body loses, but having a Tony Ianno, Marilyn Churley or Peter Kent sign on your lawn can serve as a constant reminder of electoral defeat and that you might've had too many drinks watching the results come in on CBC. So......

The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. The day that will put an end to all the laughable debates and the bickering about 'attack ads' (honestly, if Torontoist never hears the phrases "attack ads" and "working families" again it will be far too soon!) and the boring campaign scandals (for a few months, at least). It's finally Election Day. Personally, we love voting. Exercising our democratic right and duty makes us feel......