The questionnaire

On September 3, 2026, every mayoral and ward candidate on the City's certified list gets the same five questions by email. Every school board trustee candidate, on every board, gets five of their own. Answers are published word for word on each candidate's page, next to every other candidate's. Nothing is edited, scored, or summarized.

Mayor and ward councillors

Identical for all 81 candidates. There is no separate set for the mayor.

1. Q1

   What is the one thing you most want to have changed in London by the end of this term? Tell us what a resident would be able to see in 2030 that shows you did it, and what you would be willing to give up to get it.

2. Q2

   A councillor is one vote of fifteen, and staff write the reports council votes on. Tell us about a time, in any part of your life, when you needed a decision from people who mostly disagreed with you and got it. Who did you have to bring around, what did you change in your ask, and what did you give up?

3. Q3

   Name one thing the people you'd represent will ask you for that city council cannot actually decide. Say plainly what you would tell them, who does hold that decision, and what you would do to move it anyway.

4. Q4

   Pick the issue you most want to be known for. Where do you feel torn on it, and what is the strongest argument against your own position?

5. Q5

   Point us to one thing you have already done for people in London, before this campaign, that a reader could check and that shows how you would do this job. A web address is welcome.

School board trustees

Identical for all 29 trustee candidates across Thames Valley, the London District Catholic board, Viamonde, and Providence. Supervision is mentioned once, as context, and only Thames Valley is under it.

1. Q1

   What is the one thing you most want to be different for students in your zone by the end of this term? Tell us what a parent would be able to see in 2030 that shows it happened, and what you would be willing to give up to get it.

2. Q2

   A trustee is one vote on a board, and at Thames Valley, under provincial supervision, not even that for now. Tell us about a time, in any part of your life, when you needed a decision from people who mostly disagreed with you and got it. Who did you have to bring around, what did you change in your ask, and what did you give up?

3. Q3

   Name one thing parents will ask you to fix that a school board trustee cannot actually decide. Say plainly what you would tell them, who does hold that decision, and what you would do to move it anyway.

4. Q4

   If a school in your zone were slated to close or have its boundary redrawn, what would you actually do, step by step, from the day you heard about it to the day of the vote?

5. Q5

   Point us to one thing you have already done for students or families in London, before this campaign, that a reader could check and that shows how you would do this job. A web address is welcome.

How answers are published

• Answers are published exactly as sent. No editing, no commentary, no scoring, and nothing is ever trimmed.
• Candidates are asked to keep answers to a reasonable length, no more than 150 words each. An answer over the limit is never shortened by the site; it is held back whole and the candidate is asked for one within the limit.
• There is no deadline. The first batch of answers goes up one week after the send, then more as they arrive, right through election day.
• Until a candidate answers, their page says "No response received yet." That is a fact, not a judgment.
• Every answer set shows the date it arrived. A candidate can replace their answers at any time, and the newest version is what shows, with its date.
• In the rare case an answer is not published, the candidate's page says so and names the rule. The seven publication rules are below, and on the methodology page.

What the questions are built to do

• No question carries a statistic or a loaded premise. Each asks what the candidate would do, never why their opponents are wrong.
• Each asks for one checkable particular: a thing a resident could see in 2030, a decision they actually won, something they already did that a reader can verify.
• Incumbents and challengers can both answer. A record helps on the last question. A checkable plan helps on the first.
• The first question is deliberately the seed of a promise tracker. Whoever wins, their own words become the ledger they are measured against.
• The issue-specific questions, on encampments, housing, policing, taxes, and empty buildings, live in each Hard File's ask-your-candidates list, not here.

The answers only count if you vote