Glossary

City-hall jargon, one plain sentence at a time.

BIA (Business Improvement Area): A stretch of shops and businesses where the owners pay an extra levy to improve and promote their own main street. London has five, including Downtown and the Old East Village.
CIP (Community Improvement Plan): A city plan that lets London offer grants and incentives to property owners who redevelop in targeted areas, like the core.
Development Charges (DC): Fees the city collects on new construction to help pay for the roads, sewers, and services that growth requires. The idea: growth pays for growth, instead of existing taxpayers.
Strong-mayor powers: Provincial powers that let London's mayor propose the city budget directly. Council then has 30 days to amend it, and the mayor can veto amendments within 10 days.
"Deemed adopted": How a budget passes under the strong-mayor process: once the amendment and veto windows close, the mayor's proposed budget automatically becomes law. Council never holds a single yes/no vote on the whole thing.
MMP (Mobility Master Plan): London's long-range plan for how people get around: transit, driving, cycling, and walking. It guides transportation projects and spending; council approved the final plan on July 22, 2025.
UGB (Urban Growth Boundary): The line around London's built-up area: inside is land planned for city growth, outside is farmland. Council adopts expansions, but they only take effect once the province approves them, which shapes where new subdivisions can go.
HAF (Housing Accelerator Fund): A federal program that pays cities to speed up housing approvals. London signed the first deal in Canada ($74M, September 2023); as amended it offers up to $81.5M tied to 2,371 additional housing units between 2024 and 2026.
Whole of Community System Response: London's coordinated plan for responding to homelessness, built around service hubs and focused on people with the highest needs. Community agencies deliver it alongside the city, not the city alone.
eSCRIBE: The online system where the City of London publishes council and committee agendas and minutes. The recorded votes this site's scorecards are built from live there.
Integrity Commissioner: An independent officer who investigates complaints that a council member broke the code of conduct. They recommend penalties; council then votes on whether to apply them.
Recorded division / roll call: A vote where each council member's yes or no is written into the minutes, rather than a show of hands. It's the only kind of vote where you can see exactly how your councillor voted.
Advance vote: Days before election day when you can cast the same ballot early. London's 2026 advance voting days are October 1, 3, and 5–10.
Nomination day / certified list: The deadline to file papers to run for office: August 21, 2026, in London. After that, the City Clerk reviews the filings and certifies the official candidate list.
Third-party advertiser: A person or group other than a candidate that registers with the city to spend money on ads supporting or opposing candidates during the election.
Ward: One of the 14 geographic areas London is divided into, each electing one councillor. The 2026 election uses new ward boundaries, so your ward may have changed.
Trustee: The person you elect to your local school board. Trustees set the board's budget, decide where schools open and close, hire the Director of Education, and make local policy like busing and the calendar, but not curriculum, teacher contracts, or the funding formula, which are the province's. Each of London's four school systems elects its own.
School support designation: The box on your property assessment that says which school system your education taxes fund: English public, Catholic, French public, or French Catholic. It decides which trustee race is on your ballot. Ontario sets it to English-public unless you actively choose otherwise; you can check or change it through MPAC.
School board supervision: When the province judges a school board has lost control of its finances, it can appoint a supervisor who takes over the board's decisions from the elected trustees. Thames Valley DSB has been under supervision since April 23, 2025. The elected trustees remain, but hold reduced power until it lifts.
Structural deficit: When regular spending is built in above regular revenue, so the gap comes back every year instead of being a one-time shortfall. Closing one takes permanent cuts or new money, not waiting for a better year. It's the term the province's investigation used for Thames Valley's finances.
Director of Education: The senior staff person who runs a school board day to day, hired by and reporting to the elected trustees. Trustees set direction and budget; the Director carries it out.