The Candidate Information Package is now available and includes all required forms and supporting information for prospective candidates for the 2026 Municipal & School Board Elections. Prospective candidates will receive this package in person when they file their nomination.
Candidate Information
Who Can be a Candidate?
To run for office, you must be eligible to vote in the election. On the day you file your nomination, you must be:
- a Canadian citizen;
- at least 18 years of age or older;
- a resident in the City of Pickering or the owner or tenant of land there, or the spouse of such owner or tenant; and,
- not ineligible under the Municipal Elections Act or any other Act or otherwise prohibited by law to be nominated for or to hold the office.
Who Cannot be a Candidate?
The following people are disqualified from being elected to municipal office:
- any person who is not eligible to vote in the municipality
- an employee of a municipality who has not taken an unpaid leave of absence and resigned
- a judge of any court
- an MP, an MPP, or a senator
- an inmate serving a sentence in a penal or correctional institution
Offices to be Elected
Election Signs
All Municipal Election candidates are responsible for reviewing the regulations governing the placement of election signage to ensure that any signage erected on their behalf complies with the provisions of the applicable Sign By-laws.
Office Consolidation - Election Sign By-law 7591/17 Municipal Election Sign Regulations - Information Sheet
Campaign Finances and Campaign Period
Each candidate who runs in a Municipal Election must file a Financial Statement with the City Clerk. These statements will be made public. The prescribed Financial Statement - Form 4 issued by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing can be accessed below.
Your campaign period beings on the day the City Clerk receives your nomination.
In most cases, your campaign will end on December 31, 2026. Exceptions are if you:
- withdrew your nomination, your campaign ends on the date you informed the City Clerk in writing that you wanted to withdraw
- were not certified as a candidate and your name did not appear on the ballot, your campaign ends on nomination day (August 21, 2026)
- know you will not have any more financial activity, you can end your campaign at any time after voting day and before December 31, 2026
If you have extended your campaign to pay down a deficit, the end date for the extended campaign period will be the earliest of:
- the day you notify the City Clerk in writing that you will be ending your campaign and not accepting any more contributions
- June 30, 2027
Candidate Information Sessions
The Regional Municipality of Durham hosted two virtual Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Candidate Information Session for persons interested in running in the upcoming municipal election or registering as a third party advertiser. These sessions were held on March 25, 2026 and April 14, 2026. The recording of the March 25, 2026 session and presentation slides can be found below:
Recording of Candidate Information Session Presentation Slides
When you file your nomination in person at the City Clerk's Office, you will receive a copy of a Voting Subdivision map specific to the Ward you will be running in. This Map includes voting subdivision boundaries and street names. In addition, you will receive a ward-specific listing of street names.
You can download digital versions of the Voting Subdivision Maps and Street Name Listings by clicking on the links below:
An interactive map has also been created for candidates to use for the 2026 Municipal Election. To access the City of Pickering Interactive Ward Map, click here.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing - 2026 Candidates' Guide
ADM170-001 - Use of Corporate Resources for Election Purposes
Endorsement of Nomination - Form 2
Financial Statement - Auditor's Report Candidate - Form 4
Financial Statement - Subsequent Expenses - Form 5
Notice of Extension of Campaign Period - Form 6
Recording of Candidate Information Session - March 25, 2026
Candidate Information Session Slides
Election Sign By-Law No. 7591/17
Troubleshooting PDF Access
- When you attempt to download the file, does the file open directly in the Web Browser, rather than being saved as a file? If you are on a computer with a keyboard, you can try pressing and holding the ALT key on your keyboard while you click the “Download” button. This might help by overriding the browser’s default behaviour, and save the file to your computer.
- Are you receiving an Adobe generic message when opening a PDF form? You might be attempting to use a browser such as Chrome to open the PDF form, prompting the browser to try to use its proprietary document viewer and (in some instances) can not support the form.
Please follow the recommendation to open the form properly:
Click the “Download” button. (Do not click the form to open it in a browser). A pop-up “Downloads Page” opens.
Hover above the form you just downloaded, and click the file-icon to show in the folder location.
Highlight the form you just downloaded, right-click and select “Open With”.
From the list of choices, select the option “Adobe Reader” or “Acrobat Reader”
Do not double-click to open the downloaded form, as Adobe Reader might not be the default program to open PDF.
In the Reader application, you can complete the form.
Note: the functionality for each form may vary. Some forms must be filled and printed and cannot be saved with the data. Please carefully follow the instructions contained in the file. - Are you experiencing navigation issues with NVDA and JAWS screen readers? In some versions of these screen readers, the default settings may need to be adjusted to optimize your experience. We suggest you review the customization options associated with these tools:
You can view the 2022 NVDA user guide online or review the general help found within the NVDA application.
For general information about the free, open source NVDA text-to-speech software, please visit the NVDA Website.
You can access the JAWS user guide online, or review the general help found with the JAWS application.
For general information about JAWS, you can review the product information for JAWS on the Freedom Scientific website.
For more information and technical support, visit the Government of Ontario - Forms Help page.
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