This questionnaire was created by a group of local community organizers with Green Orillia, with questions contributed by 12 local community organizations. We also crowdsourced question ideas through multiple call-outs to the broader community. It is intended to bring together a broad range of local perspectives and give Orillia residents a clearer picture of where candidates stand on issues that will shape the community over the next four years and beyond.

This is the second municipal election questionnaire produced by Green Orillia. During the 2022 Municipal Election, Green Orillia crowdsourced 32 questions with contributions from approximately a dozen local organizations and put them to all 30 registered candidates. All candidates were given one month to respond, and the completed responses were published publicly, giving residents a month to review candidates’ answers before Election Day. 15 of the 30 candidates completed the questionnaire, including seven of the nine candidates who were ultimately elected (see here).

Candidates will have one month, from August 26 to September 26, 2026, to review and respond to this questionnaire. All submitted responses will then be published unedited and in their entirety on the Green Orillia website, social media platforms and email newsletter, which reaches nearly 1,000 engaged local subscribers. The community organizations that contributed questions will also be encouraged to share the completed questionnaire with their networks, which we estimate could collectively reach more than 5,000 community members. This will give residents approximately one month to review candidates’ responses before Election Day on October 26, 2026.

This questionnaire covers a range of topics, many of which are ongoing Council items, and all are likely to arise during the next term of Council. In the interest of transparency and accountability, constituents must know where their candidates and future mayor and councillors stand on the given issues before they are elected. Despite there being 32 questions in this questionnaire, there are still many issues left unaddressed and questions we did not include for brevity. At the end, candidates have an opportunity to add additional thoughts.

Green Orillia will not edit, grade, judge or offer commentary on individual candidate responses. Candidates’ responses—or lack thereof—will speak for themselves.