Do the Homework Before You Ask for the Job
Here’s the honest truth: most candidates think the hard part is winning the election. Yes, winning an election takes effort, but effective governance takes hard work and discipline. After election day you’re expected to make informed decisions on multi-million-dollar budgets, land use disputes, and the safety of an entire community… all within weeks of being sworn in.
I’ve sat at the council table long enough to know this: the candidates who thrive aren’t always the most charismatic, they’re the ones who took the time to understand how municipalities actually work before election day.
So if you’re running, or even thinking about it, here’s what I believe you need to start learning now.
Before election day, get familiar with:
Zoning By-laws
What is permitted, and why it matters when a developer comes forward with a proposal that doesn’t quite fit.
Official Plans
Your municipality’s long-term vision. Every decision you make should align with it, or deliberately justify why it doesn’t.
Provincial Planning Statement (PPS)
Issued by the Province, this document sets the rules of the game. All your local decisions must conform to it.
Site Plan Control
The details: parking, landscaping, drainage, building placement. This is where good developments become great, or it becomes problematic.
Committee of Adjustment
Minor variances, severances, and the decisions that often feel anything but “minor” to residents.
Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT)
If a planning decision of council is appealed, this is where it ends up. And yes, your decisions can be overturned. Attendance at the OLT requires Lawyers and Planners, which makes poor decision making a very expensive endeavour.
Planning is where you’ll feel the push and pull between growth and preservation. You need to understand both sides before you’re in the chair.
Municipal Finance: It’s More Complex Than “Keep Taxes Low”
Every candidate says they’ll be fiscally responsible. Few understand what that actually means in a municipal context.
Here are a few places to start:
Property Taxation
Municipal property taxes are annual levies imposed by the municipality on property owners, based on the assessed value of their land and buildings.
Development Charges
Growth should pay for growth. Development charges are one-time fees imposed by municipalities on developers and homebuilders to fund the capital costs of infrastructure, such as roads, water, sewers, parks, and fire services needed to support new housing and commercial growth.
Reserves and Reserve Funds
Saving accounts for infrastructure, emergencies, and long-term planning. Underfund them at your peril.
Debentures (Municipal Debt)
It is important to learn when borrowing is appropriate, and when it becomes a burden on residents. Knowing municipal interest rates matters.
Operating vs. Capital Budgets
Municipalities use operating budgets for day-to-day, short-term expenses like staff salaries and utilities, while capital budgets fund long-term, high-cost investments in infrastructure like roads, buildings, and machinery. It’s also important to know what new initiatives and what new staffing requests are being requested for council to approve.
Asset Management Planning
Roads, bridges, facilities are all aging. Understanding lifecycle costs is critical.
If you don’t understand municipal finance, you won’t be making informed decisions, you’ll be reacting to them and that has dangerous and expensive outcomes.
Community Services: The Fabric of Daily Life
These are the services residents feel most directly and it is where expectations are often highest.
Now is the time to dig into:
Libraries
More than books, Libraries are community hubs that provide digital access, and lifelong learning.
Childcare and Early Years Programs
A growing pressure point for families and municipalities alike.
Housing and Homelessness Supports
Increasingly urgent and increasingly complex. What has been done, what level of government funds this work, and how can you make positive changes in our community.
Seniors Services
Aging populations require thoughtful planning and resources.
Social Services Delivery
Often delivered in partnership with upper-tier municipalities or the province.
These services define our quality of life. They’re also where demand often outpaces funding.
Recreation: Not just a “Nice to Have”
The value of recreation is often underestimated. Municipal recreation assets and programs provide profound health and wellness benefits by fostering physical activity, improving mental well-being, enhancing social connection, and generating long-term economic savings.
It is important to understand:
Facilities (Arenas, Pools, Community Centres)
High-cost, high-demand infrastructure with significant lifecycle expenses.
Programming
From youth sports to adult fitness to inclusive programming, it’s important to know the costs and benefits of recreational programs.
Parks and Trails
Maintenance, expansion, and balancing environmental protection with access.
Recreation helps to build community. It also builds expectations you’ll be asked to meet.
Engineering & Public Works: The Backbone You Don’t See
If something breaks, this is where the pressure lands, rather quickly.
You will need to understand:
Roads and Bridges
Condition, maintenance cycles, and replacement costs.
Water and Wastewater Systems
Highly regulated, expensive, and essential.
Stormwater Management
Increasingly important with climate impacts and extreme weather.
Fleet and Equipment
Snowplows, graders, service vehicles are all critical and extremely expensive. How do you get the most out of each piece of equipment?
Capital Project Management
Timelines, cost overruns, and public scrutiny.
Public works is where small interruptions and delays can become big and expensive political problems.
The Protection of People
At the end of the day, council is responsible for keeping people safe. That’s not abstract, it’s operational, financial, and immediate.
Learn the fundamentals of:
Policing
Governance models, budgeting pressures, and community expectations.
Fire Services
Volunteer vs. full-time models, response times, and training requirements.
Paramedic Services
Often upper-tier, but deeply connected to local outcomes.
Emergency Management
Preparedness, response, and recovery planning.
Public Health
Partnerships with health units and the realities of funding constraints.
These decisions carry weight because they affect lives directly.
Final Thoughts: This Is a Job You Prepare For
This role demands a working knowledge of law, finance, infrastructure, and human services. And you don’t get months to ramp up, you get a few weeks, and then you’re debating and voting.
If you want to serve well, start learning now. Read your municipality’s budget. Review the official plan. Sit in on council meetings. Ask questions, because by the time you take your seat, your community won’t be looking for a candidate anymore.
They’ll be counting on a councillor.