Why Local Politics are Important
Nineteen percent.
That was the turnout for the municipal election in Lethbridge last year. By contrast, 70% of Lethbridge residents voted in the federal election just six months earlier. And 60% voted in the 2023 provincial election.
This is pretty typical. Canadians turn out in relatively high numbers for federal elections and decent numbers for provincial elections. But the turnout for local elections tends to be dismal.
Let’s reverse that trend – at least among Reformed Christians. Residents of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island (plus a few in Saskatchewan) can all vote in municipal elections later this year. Not only can we have a disproportionate impact in these low-turnout local elections, but local governments are increasingly promoting policies antithetical to biblical principles.
Municipal government
While local cities and towns, municipalities and districts, hamlets and villages don’t make criminal law or dictate health or education policy, local mayors and counsellors are increasingly forbidding speech that articulates biblical principles. And ARPA (with our Let Kids Be and We Need A Law campaigns) is increasingly embroiled in legal disputes with local governments over these restrictions on freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech
In 2024, ARPA challenged the City of St. Catharines in court after the City passed a bylaw banning the door-to-door distribution of flyers with any image of a fetus unless it was sealed in an envelope and labelled with a graphic image warning. Because the bylaw captured the delivery of ultrasound images — a key strategy We Need A Law uses to highlight the humanity of the unborn — the bylaw restricted a core part of ARPA’s outreach. The bylaw also forced ARPA supporters to lie by suggesting that ARPA’s flyers contained “graphic” and “disturbing” images.
Although St. Catharines repealed the bylaw later that year, similar restrictions remain in other municipalities. Last year, we launched litigation against the City of London over a nearly identical bylaw.
Also in 2025, ARPA launched a lawsuit against the City of Hamilton after Mayor Andrea Horwath ordered the owners of a billboard to remove a Let Kids Be advertisement that said, “Stop Medical Transitioning for Minors.” ARPA is not new to litigation with Hamilton. We successfully sued the City of Hamilton in 2023 for refusing to post a Defend Girls campaign ad on public transit.
And earlier this year, we intervened in the case of the Christian Heritage Party (CHP) versus the City of Hamilton. The City rejected the CHP’s advertisement that said, “Woman: An Adult Female,” an ad that the City considered hateful and discriminatory against transgender-identifying individuals.
Local governments are also infringing on the freedom of Christians to offer counselling that promotes a biblical view of gender and sexuality by adopting bylaws that prohibit advertising or providing what they consider conversion therapy. Vancouver, Edmonton, St. Albert, Strathcona, Beaumont, Spruce Grove, Rocky Mountain House, Calgary, Lethbridge, Strathmore, Wood Buffalo, Fort Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Regina, Kingston, and Kitchener have all banned or denounced conversion therapy. These municipal bylaws carry hefty fines that, like the federal conversion therapy ban, could catch pastors, elders, or biblical counsellors trying to help those struggling with their gender or sexuality.
Pride
Beyond censoring speech that promotes biblical principles, local governments commonly support ideologies contrary to God’s Word by posting pride paraphernalia on public property. Rainbow crosswalks and pride flags now often adorn local communities at the behest of the municipal government. This doesn’t just happen in progressive urban centers. Even remote communities like Smithers, British Columbia, are joining the parade. And communities like Emo, Ontario, are even sued when they attempt to opt out of the celebration of pride.
School boards
Not every province has elected public school boards. Quebec and all four Atlantic provinces have abolished (most of) their local school boards, but the remaining five provinces continue to elect local school board trustees.
Different provinces grant slightly different responsibilities to local school boards, but the general idea is the same. Provincial ministries of education lay out the curriculum requirements, funding levels, and structure of the education system, while local boards manage the more day-to-day functioning of schools.
For example, here are some responsibilities of school boards in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario:
- Articulate the school district’s strategic plan
- Set goals for and monitor school performance
- Set local school district’s policies
- Hire (and fire) educational personnel
- Determine local school district’s budgets
- Hear concerns from parents and student
- Represent the interests of the community in the local school district
Gender ideology
For example, in 2022, the Durham school board implemented progressive policies on race and gender. When school board trustee Linda Stone spoke out against these changes, her fellow trustees censured her. The board’s Integrity Commissioner investigated her social media posts on these issues and deemed her to have violated the board’s code of conduct. In response, the board banned Stone from attending board meetings.
In that same year, the Waterloo school board cut off a presentation by a teacher about sexually explicit books in schools. The board voted 5-4 to end her presentation there, instructed her not to express her concerns with colleagues or students, and investigated her actions.
Public school boards are also in charge of setting policies for their local districts. In 2019, we covered how the Toronto Catholic District School Board changed its code of conduct to include the terms “gender expression” and “gender identity.”
Every public school board in British Columbia did the same in the preceding years, albeit at the direction of the provincial government. The same public schools also exercised their authority over which teaching and learning resources may be used in the classroom to voluntarily incorporate SOGI in all 60 school districts.
Public schools also have discretion to (not) allow parents to opt their children out of classes on sensitive issues such as sexual education. In 2012, a Christian father sued his local public school board for refusing to notify him of any material that would conflict with his sincerely held religious beliefs or withdraw his children from those classes.
Christians should care about public school boards
A common, easy response to issues in public schools is to ignore them. After all, most Reformed Christians send their children to independent Christian schools or homeschool their children. While board decisions may not affect us directly, we should still be a salt and a light in our local public school boards for three reasons.
First, school boards influence and interact with provincial education policy. For example, in British Columbia in 2018, various trustee candidates ran on platforms that opposed the Ministry of Education’s requirement that schools include references to sexual orientation and gender identity in school anti-bullying policies. Ultimately, the policy decision was made by the government, but local school boards could still either support or push back and determine how it would be implemented locally.
Secondly, how school boards apply provincial policy and implement their own policies has a broader impact on our society. Take the example of literature in the Waterloo school board. Literature can have a direct impact on how we think about an issue, whether or not we realize that impact. Children are even more susceptible to this influence. If a child reads about gender transition being ‘cool,’ this will raise questions in his mind and affect the way he thinks about it. It’s not just about one book, but about the philosophy and worldview which the public schools promote to the next generation.
Third, when discussing education, we often consider parents’ roles. Part of the trustee’s role is to communicate with parents and to help provide transparency for school board policies and decisions. In the Waterloo school board, part of the concern was that the removal of books was not clarified to the public, and that the details of the meeting with the teacher’s presentation were not clarified.
And finally, public school boards spend your tax dollars. One trustee election guide explains that “A school board is not interested only in the opinions of families with children. A school board must recognize that all of society has a stake in public education.” Whether we like it or not, we pay taxes into the public school system, and we have a right and a duty to voice our concerns about that system. Out of love for our neighbour, we also have a calling to be concerned with the worldview and ideologies taught to our neighbours.
Consider running for office
We’re still months away from these local elections. British Columbia’s election falls on October 17. Ontario local elections are next on October 26. Manitobans go to the local polls on October 28. Prince Edward Islanders get their chance on November 2. Saskatchewan’s even-numbered rural municipalities have local elections on November 9.
But anyone considering running for local office needs to start getting their ducks in a row now. Prospective candidates need to get up to speed on local issues, find campaign volunteers, schedule days off work to campaign, develop a platform, consider how to raise money, and abide by the legal requirements and timelines for running for office.
Local government is also a great training ground for provincial or federal office. Many former mayors, counsellors, and school trustees transition to become MLAs, MPPs, or MPs after they’ve gotten a taste for campaigning and politicking at the local level.
Now, aspiring provincial or federal politicians should never simply consider a local government office to be a stepping stone to something else. They should genuinely want to care for and serve their local community at the local level. But this oft-neglected level of government does provide practical political experience for future endeavours.
So, consider running for local office. Or, tap your brother or sister in the pew to run. We are called to “seek the welfare of the city” where God has placed us (Jeremiah 29:7). And occupying the mayor’s chair, a counsellor seat, or a trustee’s position is a great way to do that.
