Photo: Gogerr · CC BY-SA 4.0Each seat on St. Catharines’ council stands for 11,840 residents, more than in 92% of Ontario municipalities
The October 2022 vote made Mat Siscoe mayor of St. Catharines, heading 13 seats. Ontario voted again on 26 October 2026, and the province hasn’t published that election’s open file yet, so these are the 2022–26 council’s names. In the House of Commons, St. Catharines gives its name to a riding (a federal electoral district, which elects one MP), whose MP is Chris Bittle (Liberal Party of Canada). Parts of St. Catharines vote in 2 different ridings for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: St. Catharines and Niagara Centre. Who sits as MPP for St. Catharines isn’t on an open record; the Legislative Assembly of Ontario has the current list.
What stands out in how St. Catharines is governed
Many residents per seat
St. Catharines council spreads its seats over a big population; the typical municipality in Ontario has one seat per 1,540 residents. Council size ↓
Turnout below the norm
St. Catharines council drew fewer of its electors to the polls in 2022 than the typical Ontario municipality (35%). How St. Catharines voted ↓
Split between ridings
88% of St. Catharines residents live in the riding of the same name; the other 12% vote in Niagara West or beyond. Member of Parliament ↓
A close federal race
The 2021 winner in St. Catharines finished 5.2 points ahead of the runner-up (Conservative Party of Canada), a closer race than 86% of Canada’s 338 ridings. How St. Catharines has voted ↓
Compared with the province’s municipalities of 1,000+ residents (2021 Census; MAMH, MMAH and Statistics Canada).
Three governments, and who does what
St. Catharines, a city in Ontario, shares the work with the province and Ottawa.
Local services, by-laws and property tax.
Spends most on social services and child care, then police, fire and protection (2024 return).
Schools, health care, highways, municipal law.
ola.org ↗Passports, pensions, EI, defence, immigration.
ourcommons.ca ↗Who to ask
Green: municipal. Gold: provincial. Grey: federal.
Two councils serve St. Catharines: its own, and that of Niagara Region, the upper tier.
From the council table to Ottawa
Every elected tier that speaks for St. Catharines, from the most recent elections.
- 1St. Catharines councilelected October 2022Mat Siscoe
- 2Legislative Assembly of OntarioSt. Catharines · Niagara Centre
- 3House of CommonsSt. Catharines · 88%
- 4House of CommonsNiagara West · 12%
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada
Who was elected to St. Catharines council in 2022
Everyone elected in 2022, with their votes; Ontario’s file gives each seat’s votes but not the ward’s name.
- Mat Siscoe
- Robin McPherson
- Dawn Dodge
- Carlos Garcia
- Matt Harris
- Joseph Kushner
- Greg Miller
- Bill Phillips
- Kevin Townsend
- Bruce Williamson
- Jacqueline Lindal
- Mark Stevens
- Caleb Ratzlaff
13 members and how they were elected
| Name | Seat | Votes | Share of the seat’s votes | On the last council |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mat Siscoe | Mayor | 17,808 | 69% | No |
| Robin McPherson | Councillor | 1,882 | 25% | Yes |
| Dawn Dodge | Councillor | 3,013 | 36% | Yes |
| Carlos Garcia | Councillor | 3,154 | 38% | Yes |
| Matt Harris | Councillor | 1,837 | 25% | Yes |
| Joseph Kushner | Councillor | 1,924 | 26% | Yes |
| Greg Miller | Councillor | 1,577 | 26% | Yes |
| Bill Phillips | Councillor | 3,013 | 36% | Yes |
| Kevin Townsend | Councillor | 1,700 | 33% | Yes |
| Bruce Williamson | Councillor | 3,149 | 38% | Yes |
| Jacqueline Lindal | Councillor | 1,343 | 22% | No |
| Mark Stevens | Councillor | 1,311 | 25% | No |
| Caleb Ratzlaff | Councillor | 1,767 | 23% | No |
Mat Siscoe became mayor on 69% of the votes cast. The mayor is chosen at large; everyone else on St. Catharines council answers to a ward.
Councils: Ontario 2022 Municipal Election data, MMAH (OGL-Ontario)
St. Catharines voted less than most of Ontario in 2022
Turnout in the October 2022 municipal elections, beside nearby municipalities; the tick is Ontario’s median.
When St. Catharines council was chosen on 24 October 2022, just 26% of electors took part, under the provincial median.
How St. Catharines voted: same source as Councillors, above.
When St. Catharines votes
The last and next general elections at each level; a by-election can come in between.
| Election | Last | Next |
|---|---|---|
| St. Catharines council | 26 October 2026 | 28 October 2030 |
| Legislative Assembly of Ontario | 27 February 2025 | – |
| House of Commons | 28 April 2025 | – |
Parliament was last elected on 28 April 2025, and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on 27 February 2025. 28 October 2030 is the next council election in St. Catharines, fixed by the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 for the fourth Monday in October every four years. The 2025 results are left out because elections.ca’s terms forbid commercial reproduction; the open catalogue’s latest is 2021.
Election dates: the legislatures, MMAH and MAMH
St. Catharines spans 2 ridings for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Provinces and territories run schools, health care and municipal law; each riding elects one MPP.
MPP: see the legislature’s list
ola.org ↗MPP: see the legislature’s list
ola.org ↗Southern Ontario’s ridings are the 2013 federal ones by statute, which is how this page places the town. Every one of them sends a separate MPP to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and each covers part of St. Catharines.
Southern Ontario ridings: the 2013 federal boundaries (Representation Act, 2015), Statistics Canada
St. Catharines has 2 MPs
Each riding elects one MP to the House of Commons; the general election of 28 April 2025 chose the 45th Parliament.
St. Catharines · Liberal Party of Canada · first elected 2015 · 88%
en.wikipedia.org ↗Niagara West · Conservative Party of Canada · 12%
en.wikipedia.org ↗- Liberal Party of Canada71
- Conservative Party of Canada50
As Wikidata records them.
With Chris Bittle, the Liberal Party of Canada counts 71 of the 122 MPs elected in Ontario.
The MP’s record
On today’s boundaries, the 2021 vote in St. Catharines would have gone to the Liberal Party of Canada with 38%, and Chris Bittle kept it for them in 2025. Chris Bittle has sat in the Commons since 2015, now for the 4th Parliament.
MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada · MPs’ records: Wikidata (CC0), positions held and party memberships, read 8 November 2026
In 2021, St. Catharines re-elected Chris Bittle of the Liberal Party of Canada
St. Catharines as it stood from 2013: the 2019 and 2021 counts, before the riding was redrawn for 2025. It held 84% of St. Catharines’ residents.
Turnout in St. Catharines reached 65% in 2021, against 63% nationally. 40% had elected Chris Bittle there in 2019. Chris Bittle won the 2021 race in St. Catharines for the Liberal Party of Canada, polling 38% and beating Krystina Waler (Conservative Party of Canada) by 3,051 votes.
All 5 candidates in St. Catharines, 2021
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Bittle | Liberal Party of Canada | 22,069 | 37.8% |
| Krystina Waler | Conservative Party of Canada | 19,018 | 32.6% |
| Trecia McLennon | New Democratic Party | 12,294 | 21.1% |
| Rebecca Hahn | People's Party of Canada | 3,860 | 6.6% |
| Catharine Rhodes | Green Party of Canada | 1,091 | 1.9% |
Federal results: Elections Canada, 43rd and 44th general elections and the 44th’s transposition to the 2023 ridings, via open.canada.ca. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada
St. Catharines council spends less per resident than most
The 2024 financial return: spending by service and revenue by source, per resident, compared only with Ontario’s lower-tier municipalities.
Spending per resident by service, 2024
What pays for it
Shares of revenue, town and province.
Taxes on property make up 47% of what comes in, more than the province-wide 42%. Debt St. Catharines council owes over the long term came to $98.9M, $723 a resident, higher than the median of $440. On top of that comes Niagara Region: $2,474 a resident across its area, led by social services and child care. Each resident’s share of St. Catharines council’s 2024 spending came to $1,692, where the middle of Ontario’s lower-tier municipalities sat at $1,901. More goes to recreation and culture than to anything else: $480 a resident, 28% of all spending. Full-time staff number 782, about 5.7 to every thousand residents.
Spending per resident nearby
Every service line, 2024
| Service | 2024 | Per resident | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recreation and culture | $65.7M | $480 | 28% |
| Water, sewers and waste | $61M | $446 | 26% |
| Police, fire and protection | $45.6M | $333 | 20% |
| Roads and transit | $31.7M | $231 | 14% |
| Planning and development | $13.4M | $98 | 6% |
| General government | $9.1M | $67 | 4% |
| Public health and paramedics | $3.5M | $25 | 1% |
| Social services and child care | $1.5M | $11 | 1% |
Money: Financial Information Return 2024, Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
St. Catharines council beside its neighbours
Residents (2021 Census) per council seat, head of council included, beside nearby municipalities; the tick is the provincial median.
The bars put the headline’s figure for St. Catharines council next to nearby councils, the tick marking the provincial median.
Residents: 2021 Census; seats: the province’s council list
Having a say in how St. Catharines is run
Check or update the federal list.
elections.ca ↗Every MP lists an office.
ourcommons.ca ↗Ridings, registration and voting dates.
elections.on.ca ↗What this data can and can’t tell you
- Council money. The 2024 Financial Information Return, totals after adjustments by service, per resident with the return’s own population. A lower tier’s figures leave out its county’s or region’s spending, so lower tiers are compared only with lower tiers.
- Council size. Residents per seat divide the 2021 Census population by every council seat, the head of council’s included.
- Election results. The 2019 and 2021 figures are Elections Canada’s official counts on the ridings drawn in 2013; the “today’s boundaries” figures are its transposition of the 2021 vote onto the 2023 ridings, an estimate built from polling divisions.
- Which riding. Each place is put in its ridings by where its 2021 Census residents live; a riding holding 5% or more of them is listed.
- Who holds each seat. MPs come from Wikidata’s records of the 45th Parliament, which can lag a resignation or a by-election by some days.
- Not on this page. Band councils, and which party runs the council: the open lists carry no party, and most councils have none.
Questions about how St. Catharines is run
Who is the MP for St. Catharines?
St. Catharines has more than one: Chris Bittle (Liberal Party of Canada) for the riding of the same name, and Dean Allison for Niagara West.
Which party won St. Catharines in the 2021 federal election?
In 2021 it was Chris Bittle (Liberal Party of Canada), who represents St. Catharines still.
Who is the MPP for St. Catharines?
That depends on where in St. Catharines you live: St. Catharines and Niagara Centre each have their own MPP in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Who heads the council in St. Catharines?
In October 2022, Mat Siscoe won the post of mayor for St. Catharines council’s 2022–26 term.
How much does St. Catharines council spend?
In 2024, St. Catharines council spent $231.5M in all, for some 136,803 residents, of which $65.7M went on recreation and culture, the biggest line.
Which regional body is St. Catharines part of?
The council of Niagara Region sits above St. Catharines’s and runs region-wide services, police and water among them.
How is St. Catharines council elected?
By ward for councillors and at large for the mayor, on St. Catharines council.
What was the turnout in St. Catharines?
It was 26.3% for St. Catharines council in 2022, with Ontario’s municipalities at a median of 35.5%.
Sources: MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada · Southern Ontario ridings: the 2013 federal boundaries (Representation Act, 2015), Statistics Canada · Councils: Ontario 2022 Municipal Election data, MMAH (OGL-Ontario) · Money: Financial Information Return 2024, Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · Next municipal election: the province’s municipal election act · Municipality types: Statistics Canada census subdivisions · Federal results: Elections Canada, 43rd and 44th general elections and the 44th’s transposition to the 2023 ridings, via open.canada.ca. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada · MPs’ records: Wikidata (CC0), positions held and party memberships, read 8 November 2026. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).