This message is being sent to all staff on behalf of City Manager Paul Johnson. Managers and Supervisors: Please share this message with staff who do not have access to a computer at work.

Last night, the unofficial results showed Olivia Chow as the successful candidate for Mayor of the city of Toronto. City Clerk John D. Elvidge is expected to certify the official results, as required by the Municipal Elections Act, no later than Wednesday, June 28.

This by-election for mayor was the largest ever held in Canada and included a record number of candidates post-amalgamation with 102 registered to run. Putting together a by-election this large took an incredible effort by the City Clerk’s Office, under the leadership of City Clerk John D. Elvidge and Deputy City Clerk Fiona Murray. Many other divisions, including Technology Services, Strategic Public & Employee Communications, Office of the CISO and CREM to name a few, stepped up to provide support and ensure we had another successful election.

I would particularly like to thank City staff who filled more than 2,500 positions at voting locations and showed your commitment to the public service. I know the days at the voting locations can be long, so I greatly appreciate your contributions to Toronto and its residents, ensuring democracy was upheld.

Here are a few quick (and interesting!) by-election facts:

• After six days of advance voting, election day and mail-in voting, over 700,000 ballots were cast for mayor.
• Thousands of City staff filled positions during advance vote and election day in voting locations across the city working as information officers, accessibility officers, tabulator officers, ballot officers, revising officers and managing deputy returning officers.
• 52 voting locations were fully or partially adopted by City divisions or units as part of the Adopt a Poll program.

At her request and subject to the certification of the official results, the Mayor-elect will take office on July 12, 2023 after making the Declaration of Office with the City Clerk. We will share details about the Declaration ceremony when they are confirmed.

I am sure Mayor-elect Olivia Chow will want to hit the ground running to ensure priorities continue to move forward and I want to thank all of those involved in this transition process.

Thanks again to all of you who participated in this exciting by-election. I continue to be in awe of how dedicated and engaged the Toronto Public Service truly is. And, please join me in congratulating Olivia Chow, our new Mayor-elect.

Paul Johnson
City Manager