Acclamations, good for candidates not so much for democracy

October 27, 2026

By Michael Riley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

During this current municipal election cycle, as in others over the years, there have been a number of seats that have been acclaimed, such as the deputy mayor seat in Faraday, all the councillor seats in Carlow Mayo, the mayor seat in Tudor and Cashel, and a councillor seat in South Algonquin. Acclaimed means that the candidates for their respective councils are running unopposed and will win their place at the council table uncontested come Oct. 26.

Now that’s not to say that the candidates who are acclaimed into their positions are unqualified, or bad choices necessarily. Time will tell that over the next four years. But having that choice for voters when they go to the ballot box on Oct. 26 is hugely important for our democracy and for offering choices and differing viewpoints that make each municipal council work well and function properly, meshing everyone’s disparate ideas and worldviews as they represent their respective townships over the next four years.

While it rarely happens federally or provincially, acclamations tend to happen more often in the northern territories and in municipal elections. The last instance of it happening federally was back in 1957 when George Doucett was acclaimed in a byelection following the death of his predecessor William Gourlay Blair.

Acclamations generally hurt democracy by bypassing the competitive voting process, undermining core democratic principles by having no voter input with an acclaimed candidate, lack of mandate and acclamations tend to silence dissenting voices and minority viewpoints as there’s no alternative candidate with opposing views. Also with acclamations, there is generally no campaign scrutiny, potentially a lack or less community dialogue about important issues and potentially less accountability over the course of their term. Acclamations can also over time lead to voter apathy, and entrenched incumbencies (where high name recognition and established networks discourage fresh faces and ideas from running against them).

While in Bancroft, there were no acclamations, and all the candidates got back to The Bancroft Times with their responses to your questionnaire about their running for council and what they’d like to achieve over the next four years, some of the acclaimed council members did not do so, missing the opportunity to connect with their constituents leading up to this election and reappraise them of what they’ve done over the past four years and what they’d like to achieve going on to 2030. However, to their credit, some of the acclaimed council members in some of the townships around Bancroft did in fact get back to us, so kudos to them for that.

The Canadian Municipal Barometer, established in 2019, provides municipal researchers and practitioners with reliable data on municipal policy preferences, local democratic engagement, and practical solutions to shared democratic challenges. It’s co-led by Professor Jack Lucas with the University of Calgary and Professor Sandra Breux with INRS and includes more than 25 researchers and eight scientific advisors across Canada and around the world. Their website is at www.cmb-bmc.ca.

Reed Merrill is the CMB’s partnership coordinator and is also their expert on acclamations.

“In my opinion, acclamations are not a sign of poor democratic health. If people want a change in representative, then our democratic system is designed to let that happen, and the most popular candidate wins. So, in general, I take acclamation as a sign of satisfaction, or at least of disinterest by the public,” he says.

If satisfaction as Merrill claims, that’s fine, but disinterest by the public, or voter apathy as already mentioned, is an ongoing concern and that should alarm everyone. People need to get involved in their local political landscape, if not running for office, then at least engage in other ways by attending regular meetings in person or online, and having discussions with fellow residents and council members, again in person or online, about the issues that matter to you. These are your tax dollars and these folks running for council work for you. Always remember that. Also, in the last election, abysmally low percentages of voters cast their ballots in the elections in Bancroft and the surrounding townships, either with early voting or on election day at the polls. According to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, there was only a 32.9 per cent voter turnout across the province in the 2022 elections, down from 38 per cent four years earlier. Hopefully this election coming on Oct. 26, will reverse and record numbers get out and vote and have their say on the future of their town or municipality. X marks the spot folks; get out and vote and make the change and difference you may want to see!