In October, a majority of Canadians will face the choice of electing new city councils across Canada. Of this majority, only a fraction will actually make the trek to the schools, churches, and legions that host polling stations. Characterized by perpetually low turnout — often hovering around 30 percent — Canadian municipal elections attract far less engagement than their provincial and federal counterparts.

One possible explanation for this disengagement is the limited power of Canadian municipal governments. Canadian municipalities exist in an oddly subordinate position. As “creatures of the provinces,” they possess only those powers provincial governments grant them. As a result, municipal decisions are often downstream of what provinces allow — and can be overturned almost at will. Conservative provincial governments have in fact made it routine practice to attack the autonomy and decision-making capacity of cities. Doug Ford, current Conservative premier of Ontario and brother of the infamous former mayor of Toronto, has, in his time, forcefully cut the size of Toronto’s city council and decided that specific municipal bike lanes (on his route to work) were illegal and ordered them torn up.

City councils have historically been parochial institutions: the domain of landlords, businessmen, and the occasional bleeding-heart liberal. But this time around, there is a groundswell of socialists running across Canada. And some are serious contenders.