Municipal Socialist Alliance Candidates Earn More Than 14,000 Votes Combined Across Ontario in 2022 Elections

Socialist Action Canada was an integral part of the forming of the Municipal Socialist Alliance, in the lead-up to this year’s municipal elections. Among the candidates running for the office with the Municipal Socialist Alliance are numerous members of Socialist Action.

The Municipal Socialist Alliance is a coalition of socialists, labour unionists, community organizations, and social justice activists, who are presenting a team of candidates to fight for the interests of workers, tenants, women, LGBTQIA2S+ folks, racialized people, seniors, and all who seek a city and world without exploitation and oppression.

The fledgling Municipal Socialist Alliance exceeded most expectations by garnering 14,870 votes across Ontario, despite getting almost zero coverage in the commercial mass media, amid a very low voter turnout to boot (about 29 percent in Toronto). Official Municipal Socialist Alliance candidates ran for city council, school board, and, in one city, for the office of mayor.

Municipal Election Results Across Ontario on October 24, 2022

Municipal Election Results Official candidates:

Candidate	Ward	Votes	%
Wali Abro – Councilor	Toronto-Danforth – Ward 14	1,982	7.22%
Kiri Vadivelu – Councilor	Councilor – Scarborough Center – Ward 21	1800	9.97%
Miguel Avila – Councilor	Councilor – Toronto Centre – Ward 13	1044	4.85%
Corey David – Councilor	Councilor – Scarborough Southwest – Ward 20	598	2.57%
Adam Golding – Councilor	Councilor – University-Rosedale – Ward 11	478	1.97%
Daniel Tarade – TDSB, Trustee	Trustee – TDSB, Parkdale-High Park – Ward 7	500	2.2%
Sarah Szymanski – Councilor	Councilor – Mississauga – Ward 3	350	3.74%
Mark Freeland – Councilor	Councilor – Mississauga – Ward 7	580	6.45%
Sandra Griffith-Bonaparte – Trustee	Ottawa/Carleton – Zone 12	3879	31.76%
Danny Drew – Mayor	Guelph	3659	12.8%

Total number of votes cast for MSA candidates: 14,870

Other candidates endorsed by Municipal Socialist Alliance:

Chloe-Marie Brown for Mayor of Toronto: 34,821 votes,   6.31%

Thomas Yanuziello for City Councillor Ward 2  – Etobicoke Center: 2,653 votes,  10.33%

Walter Alvarez-Bardalez for City Councillor Ward 16 – Don Valley East: 592 votes,  3.39%

Total number of votes cast for independent candidates endorsed by the MSA:  38,066

Further on the vote results, two things: 

1. We are inspired by the achievements of Vote Socialist Vancouver whose candidates obtained an amazing 49,000 votes in all in the 2022 Vancouver municipal elections.

2. While we note that independent candidates endorsed by the Municipal Socialist Alliance attracted over 38,000 votes themselves, it would be a stretch to claim those ballots for the Municipal Socialist Alliance, especially given the lateness of the endorsement. At the same time, the process is very promising in that it may lead to ongoing collaboration on the ground.  Hopefully, other socialist and working-class organizations will follow suit and join the Alliance.

From every angle, nearly fifteen thousand votes for an explicitly socialist platform in Ontario are pretty positive.  Let’s now build on the gains we have made.