Only one-third of Montrealers voted in the last municipal election. Will 2025 be any different?

Experts are hopeful but not optimistic that voter turnout will dramatically improve in the November municipal election in Montreal.

When it comes to municipal elections, Montrealers don’t seem to really care about exercising their democratic right.

The last time Montreal electors headed to the polls in 2021, just over one-third of them cast a ballot. The 38 per cent voter turnout was actually a decrease from the previous election in 2017, when 42 per cent of the eligible population voted.

In Laval, the situation was much worse in 2021, when voter turnout was just 28 per cent.

Will the next municipal election on Nov. 2 be any different?

Experts say they are hopeful, but not overly reassured we will see a higher turnout in 2025.

The average in Montreal over the last 10 municipal elections was 43 per cent, with the highest happening in 1998 when the city just barely breached 50 per cent. The lowest was 34.9 per cent in 2005.

Samantha Reusch, executive director of Apathy is Boring, a voter mobilization group, says people of voting age don’t seem to have the same connections with their local governments or consume local media like they did a generation ago, which can explain the low numbers.

“But on the other side, I think it’s really important to remind people that our municipal governments are the ones that are closest to us in so many ways, and so whether you’re talking about things like garbage pickup or your local roads, or the services that you have access to in your city, municipalities are extremely important and yet we pay the least attention to them in so many ways in 2025,” Reusch said.

There are also a couple of reasons why so few voters went to the polls in Montreal back in 2021. First, it was the second year into the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a barrier to getting the vote out, she said. Election fatigue could have also been a factor since the federal election was held less than two months earlier.

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This election cycle, local candidates have to compete with an onslaught of federal and international news flooding their feeds, making it more difficult for them to stand out to voters.

“They see it as more consequential. They tend to see municipal politics as pertaining to unimportant, petty affairs. There is no denying that international politics is more consequential – one only needs to consider Trump’s threats to annex Canada,” said Harold Chorney, a political science professor at Concordia University.

Voter registration process a significant barrier: experts

Both Chorney and Reusch agreed that the structure of elections in Quebec itself can be a significant barrier to voter turnout.

Unlike in federal elections, voters can’t just simply show up to their polling station on election day and register to vote. Voters need to be registered two weeks prior to the municipal election. The deadline for registration in the Montreal election has already passed, on Oct. 16. Voters can check on Election Montréal’s website to see if they are registered.

“I don’t think we can understate the fact that that also has an impact on whether or not people turn out,” Reusch said.

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It’s not just voter registration and distractions that can lead to low turnout — sometimes it’s the lineup of candidates.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is not seeking re-election this year. And most of the major parties running are either brand new parties or have brand new leaders. Chorney says in this election, there is no one with sufficient name recognition.

“No one in the race seems to be particularly well-liked or hated,” he said. “Take the fact that Plante isn’t running. She is quite disliked by a segment of Montreal, and I suspect some who may have made sure to come out to vote against her might not feel the need to vote at all, now. Her supporters could also feel discouraged, which could also impact turnout and hurt Projet Montréal.”

As the saying goes, every vote matters. And it can be the difference between a candidate whose party wants to, for example, audit all bike lanes in the city versus a candidate whose party has promised to invest more in them.

In 2021, Projet Montréal incumbent Lisa Christensen won the election in the Pointe-aux-Prairies district, defeating her opponent, Ensemble Montréal’s Vincent Girard, by just 13 votes.

Christensen was one of a handful of candidates who won by 70 or fewer votes in the last election.

There was even a closer race in the 2025 federal election last April, when the Liberal candidate in Terrebonne, Tatiana Auguste, won by just a single vote, defeating Bloc Québécois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné. The election result is now part of a legal challenge.

How to get more people to vote?

So what candidates do to encourage more people to vote?

According to Chorney, it comes down to restoring “idealism and trust in the system.”

“They need bold ideas to give people a sense that they are voting for something. People, particularly young people, need to be inspired or they don’t feel motivated to engage,” he said.

On an institutional level, he said it’s also important to make voting as easy as possible, whether it’s through same-day voter registration, boosting the number of polling stations, and introducing a mixed proportional system to help people feel like their voices are heard.

“We could also benefit from more civic education initiatives which promote the importance of voting and the impact of local governance,” he added.

“Materials can be distributed by mail, email, and promoted on social media. Increased social media presence in particular could have a positive impact on youth engagement. This should be done even outside of the election cycle, at least to some extent.”

By the numbers

• Voter turnout in 2021 municipal election (Montreal): 38.3 per cent
• Voter turnout in 2021 municipal election (Laval): 28.76 per cent
• Voter turnout in 2021 municipal election (Longueuil): 47.91 per cent
• Voter turnout in 2021 municipal election among 18-24 year-olds (Montreal): 21 per cent
• Voter turnout in 2021 federal election (Montreal): 57 per cent
• Borough with highest voter turnout in 2021: Outremont (56.3 per cent)
• Borough with lowest voter turnout in 2021: Saint-Laurent (28.9 per cent)