Ontario is currently caught up in two unlikely elections, provincial (in June) and Toronto’s municipal event in the fall. But no matter who wins, sharply divided electorates are likely to follow.

That’s because most of the candidates seem determined to push their agendas to the limit, regardless of voter support. From Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s interventionist agenda – despite her government’s minority status – to Conservative contender Tim Hudak’s plans to arbitrarily slash 100,000 public-sector jobs, party leaders seem out of touch. Then there’s Andrea Horwath’s inexplicable decision to reject the Liberals’ budget, bulging with concessions to her NDP wish list, thus triggering an election that’s likely to see her party get pulverized.

And with the debacle that is Toronto politics, following four years of tragic dysfunction under the bizarre regime of Rob Ford, it seems that any winner (likely to be a contest between the gaffe-prone John Tory and the strongly left-leaning Olivia Chow) will have to spend as much time putting the city’s house back in order as moving forward in any meaningful way.

With such extremes, it seems likely that the winners at both levels will be driving a bus that’s more than half-empty, with most voters unhappy with the results.

All may not be lost, however. Ontarians seem increasingly inclined to press on with the type of local action that signals a deep commitment to the functionality of their communities. Take this year’s Jane’s Walk, an initiative that has burgeoned from a few guided walks in Jane Jacobs’ downtown Annex neighbourhood in 2007 to mark the urban visionary’s death at 89, to walks in more than 100 countries. There were 140 in Toronto alone. If that’s not a clarion call to be heard at the local level, what is?

And these aren’t just neighbourhood strolls. On a walk in the west-end Kingsway neighbourhood – a corner of Ford Nation, no less – many neighbours showed up to show support for the preservation of their towering oak trees, some possibly dating from the era when British engineers went through, culling the best specimens for their navy. A residential underground parking pad and backyard swimming pool were blocked in this very affluent and conservative neighbourhood – to save the trees.

Down at the waterfront, dozens braved a cold, windy drizzle to hear about how high-tech marshes and flood- prevention channels are being used to build a natural setting in the new and very dense West Don Lands neighbourhood; a pair of mallard ducks and clouds of gnats accompanied the walkers over formerly toxic land now reclaimed for the Pan Am Games in 2015, as well as for parks and condos when the Games are over. A few years ago, Ford and his brother, Doug, ran into a brick wall of grassroots dissent when they tried to derail years of planning in this district in favour of a U-turn involving a ferris wheel.

A disunited province and its capital won’t be good for Ontario’s future. But while Ontarians wait out what looks like several more years of divisive government, local action may end up building a more prosperous and workable province than all the politicians put together.

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