During the prelude to last month’s provincial election, political analysts lamented over the lack of participation amongst eligible young voters, specifically college and university students.

Next Monday, all of Ontario’s municipalities including the city of Toronto will hold a municipal election and the percentage of qualified student voters who will actually mark a ballot will likely be even less than in the provincial election.

Some students who choose not to vote may point to the fact that they are only on campus, and by extension, in Toronto for only eight months of the year. However, because municipal elections are held once every three years, an 18 year old in his or her first or second year has an opportunity to decide how Toronto will function and develop throughout most of his or her four undergraduate degree years.

In the past month, Toronto’s five mayoral candidates, David Miller, Barbara Hall, John Nunziata, John Tory and Tom Jakobek, have hotly debated with each other on how best to solve some of the city’s major issues. Throughout the campaign, different ideas have been presented with the goal of resolving Toronto’s garbage disposal methods, improving the city’s financial position and cleaning up the environment. These and other municipal matters are relevant to students.

City councillor Olivia Chow, who represents the university’s ward, Trinity-Spadina, notes that, “student housing, public transit and defending tenants’ rights” are topics that are definitely relevant to students. For example, she comments that at the municipal level, city councillors can effectively help renters locate tenants organizations to protect themselves in disputes with landlords.

During Tuesday’s night’s Toronto Star/Toronto1 mayoral debate, reporter Sarika Sehgal stated that rent has increased 25 per cent just in the last five years. Therefore, every student who has experienced the arduous struggle to find reasonably priced housing for the school year should pay attention to each mayoral candidate’s position on ways to increase the number of affordable housing units in Toronto, maintain clean and safe building conditions and ways to keep rental prices within the reach of students.

Every student who invariably uses public transit should decide which candidate has the best plan to ensure stable funding for the TTC so that the cost of single fares and monthly passes do not absurdly increase.

Every student who has walked off campus and observed the environmental appearance of Toronto should carefully contemplate which candidate places value on cleaning city streets, city parks and city recreational facilities.

Every student who possesses critical thinking skills needs to debate in his or her own mind whether a bridge to the Toronto Island Airport would be economically beneficial-or irreparably damaging to planned efforts to revitalize the waterfront.

Clearly, all these issues demand decision making by Toronto residents. Since the University of Toronto is a geographic and educational centrepiece of Toronto, these issues demand decisions by its students.

Every eligible citizen must participate in this most fundamental of democratic exercises. If thousands of students can electronically vote for their favourite Canadian Idol, then surely these same people can take a few minutes, literally, out of their day to cast a vote for mayor, city councilor, and school trustee in their respective area.

For those who commute to school from communities outside Toronto, contact your local city hall for details. For Toronto residents, visit www.toronto.ca/elections for complete information on the municipal election process.

On Monday, November 10, make an informed choice about the future of Toronto, its suburbs and the community that your university is a part of.

Adrian Fung graduated from the University of Toronto in 2003 with a degree in radiation therapy.