The city’s municipal history has been marked by fiscal restraint since the railway failures of the 1850s. For 80 years after 1861, a Town Trust Commission managed its finances.

Peterborough has usually favoured a ward system and has resisted provincial efforts to abandon the township/county system for regional government. Since 1905 provincially and 1911 federally, the constituency with rare exceptions has been Conservative. However, in swing elections the riding has generally swung with the winning part at both levels. With the shift to 3-year elections, the city’s council has nursed some long terms for politicians, notably Jack Doris (since 1967) and Sylvia Sutherland (since 1984).