The 2006 Toronto municipal election campaign is underway. The deadline for the registration of candidates closed on September 29th, 2006 and there are 38 candidates running for Mayor and 275 candidates running for the 44 council positions. The future of the Toronto Bike Plan will rest in the hands of the Mayor and the 44 Councillors who are elected this November 13th, 2006. They will be responsible for setting the budgets, approving the bike lanes and deciding on the fate the programs that are called for in the Bike Plan for the next four years.

This is a critical campaign and if the cycling community wants to see real progress in implementing the Bike Plan over the next four years they have to get active in this campaign. There are three ways to get involved in the election and show your support for cycling: voting for candidates who support cycling, working for those candidate's campaigns, and contributing money to those candidate's campaigns.

The question is then which candidates support cycling and the measures outlined in the Toronto Bike Plan. The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) www.TorontoCAT.ca, a coalition of cycling, pedestrian, health and environmental groups, is trying to do just that by conducting a survey of all candidates in the municipal election to gauge their level of support for Active Transportation, walking and cycling. TCAT will start posting the results of the survey in mid-October. You can see a copy of the survey questions at the following web pages: Mayoral Candidate Survey, Ward Councillor Candidate Survey. Part of the Ward Councillor Candidate surveys is a question on the support of the candidates for the Bikeway Network Projects in the ward. You can see the lists of projects for all the wards at the following page TCAT - Ward Info. You can see the candidates that are running in your ward at www.whorunsthistown.to

You can support the work of TCAT by asking candidates who call on you if they support the TCAT plan for Active Transportation and cycling. Tell them you do. Ask them if they have filled out and sent in the TCAT survey. Go to all candidates meetings, ask the candidates questions from the survey. Ask them if they support the bike lanes planned in your ward.

Once you know the candidate in your ward that best supports Active Transportation, work to get them elected. This could mean handing out flyers, making phone calls on their behalf, going door to door canvassing with them, helping out in their campaign office or working to get the vote out on election day.

The third way to support a candidate is to make a donation to their campaign. There is a rebate for a portion of the contribution to those who make contributions of over $25. You can see the rules governing contributions at the following page Toronto Vote 2006 Contributor Information.

2007 will be the 6th year of the 10 year Bike Plan. This council will be in power till 2010. Toronto will only see progress on the Bike Plan if the next Mayor and council make it a priority. To make it a priority after the election it has to be made an issue during the election. A coalition is building to see that happen. Your involvement will add to that momentum.

Martin Koob
tcc-rep@tbn.ca