Here Are the Scarborough–Rouge Park By-Election Candidates

Biography: Shawn Allen is a businessman and mortgage broker who founded Matrix Mortgage Global, which was one of the fastest-growing financial services companies in Canada in 2018 and 2019. He served as the president of the Scarborough Business Association (SBA) until April 2025. During his tenure, Allen grew the SBA’s membership by 600 percent and hosted a business summit with 2,200 attendees, according to a post on the organization’s Instagram page. The annual summit is funded by Matrix Cares, which appears to be the charitable wing of Allen’s mortgage company (neither organization responded to our requests for confirmation) that also runs initiatives for Scarborough youth, local businesses, and in aid of unhoused people.

Allen says on his website that he is the vice-president of the Boys and Girls Club East Scarborough and has been a member of the local police division’s community liaison committee (CPLC). However, when reached by The Local by phone, a staff member at the Boys and Girls Club said the organization does not have a vice-president position. They did not respond to requests for more information about Allen’s involvement by email. In a written statement, Toronto Police Services (TPS) spokesperson Const. Blaise Kurucz said that Allen is not a formal member of the liaison committee, but “his ongoing contributions and support have been significant and greatly appreciated,” adding that Allen was essential to helping the TPS re-establish a substation at Scarborough Town Centre. Allen’s campaign team responded to The Local reiterating that he was a member of the CPLC and a vice-president at the Boys and Girls Club, but The Local was not able to verify their claims at the time of publication.

In June 2025, Allen made a deputation to the City’s Scarborough Community Council to advocate for a Boys and Girls Club affordable housing project. The organization is building 47 affordable housing units at the site of a community centre. “This isn’t just about shelter, it’s about…economic justice,” Allen told council. “This is our chance to rewrite history, where one cashier doesn’t have to just stock the shelves but could someday own [the store].” He also directly addressed a neighbour of the site who opposed the project, encouraging him to see its value.

Allen is endorsed by right-leaning City Councillors Brad Bradford and Jon Burnside.

Platform: Allen’s website lists his priorities as keeping taxes down, improving community safety, ending traffic congestion, providing services to seniors, and creating jobs—though there aren’t specifics as to how he’ll accomplish this. He has appeared on CTV News Toronto to call on the City to collaborate with the federal government to improve water quality at Rouge Beach, conduct daily E. coli testing like at other beaches in the city, and provide lifeguard services for safer swimming. He opposes bus-only lanes, and proposes opening them to car traffic during rush hour. Allen says he intends to serve Scarborough like former councillor Jennifer McKelvie, who was the deputy mayor and a close ally of former mayor John Tory, and is now a Liberal Member of Parliament.

Biography: Walter Alvarez-Bardales is a former civil servant working for the Canadian government. He is also a PhD candidate at Royal Roads University and has an educational background in business. He came to Canada as a refugee from Guatemala.

Alvarez-Bardales ran for city councillor once before in 2022, coming seventh out of 11 candidates in Don Valley East. He has also run for election to provincial parliament twice under the Ontario Liberals, in York–Simcoe in 2022 and then in Simcoe North in 2025. This year, he finished second to Progressive Conservative Jill Dunlop, now minister of emergency preparedness and response. In an interview with SUNonline, Alvarez-Bardales said the Liberals had asked him to run in Simcoe-area ridings, despite living in Scarborough, to bring a fresh perspective to the area. At the time, he said that he became a Liberal after a refugee friend who had been denied health insurance by the Harper government died of cancer. He previously volunteered for Liberal Gary Anandasangaree’s campaign, he told SUNonline. (Anandasangaree is now federal minister of public safety.)

Platform: Alvarez-Bardales says on his website that racial and socioeconomic equity are central to his campaign. As a councillor, he says he would oppose “unwarranted” salary increases for himself and other councillors while advocating for financial transparency and inclusive public spaces. Alvarez-Bardales describes his commitment to community work as being informed by his Christian faith.

Biography: According to her website, Anandarajan has a postgraduate degree in human resources management and is a longtime ward resident. She has previously worked as a workforce specialist/job developer at JVS Toronto, a non-profit staffing agency that helps people find employment. Anandarajan ran in Scarborough North in 2022 and 2025 for the Ontario Liberals, coming second to Progressive Conservative Raymond Cho.

Platform: Anandarajan lists her priorities as improving bus services to reduce traffic congestion, speeding up snow clearing and pothole repairs, improving public spaces like parks and community centres, and protecting workers and small businesses from the impact of American tariffs. She also says that she would “champion climate justice to achieve net-zero by 2040—by planting more trees, adding electric buses, and retrofitting buildings and stormwater systems.”

Biography: Darrell Brown is the former CEO of the Canadian National Exhibition. In March of 2025, the Toronto Star reported he and his wife Lyudmila Bezpala-Brown were fired without cause by the Canadian National Exhibition Association amid allegations of workplace harassment. Brown and his wife denied these allegations. Brown is also a lawyer.

Platform: Brown has committed to creating a platform based on the results of a survey he posted on his website, and encouraged the public to respond to. He voiced support for affordable and efficient public transit, a return to cooperative and not-for-profit housing supports, youth programs, and advocating for local businesses. Brown is also in support of instating term limits for city councilors. On his website, Brown also advocates for “true freedom of information,” promising to have the City “publish all contracts in full.”

Biography: Little information is available online about Kevin Cheatley. According to his LinkedIn profile, Cheatley has worked as a mortgage agent and labourer. He also spent three years as the director of business development at Factinate, his LinkedIn says, an infotainment company that publishes listicles and popular YouTube videos about historical figures like Old Hollywood actors and members of the British monarchy.

Platform: In an Instagram post, Cheatley said he’s running for councillor so that Scarborough can grow without destroying its environment. Rouge River in particular needs more protection, he said, because it is threatened by urban sprawl, pollution, a lack of tree cover and road development.

Biography: Zia Choudhary is a real estate broker and financial advisor. In 2022, Choudhary ran for school board trustee, coming third out of four candidates. He has also run as a Conservative party candidate for Scarborough–Rouge Park in the 2021 federal election, and for Toronto–Danforth in the 2019 federal election.

Platform: Choudhary is looking to lower property taxes, advocate for affordable housing, and improve road safety through advocating for safer driving practices, more consistent snow removal, and sidewalk repairs. He also mentions investing in youth programs to prevent crime in the ward and increasing funding for community infrastructure, such as parks and community centres.

Biography: On his website, Ashan Fernando describes having a background in customer service, hospitality, telecommunications, and office administration, and is currently studying to become a paralegal. He has served as a volunteer on the board of Surrey Place, a non-profit for people with developmental disabilities, since 2022. Fernando ran for city council in the ward in 2022, coming third out of three candidates. In 2016, Fernando was a candidate for the provincial Liberal nomination in the Scarborough–Rouge River by-election (ultimately losing to Piragal Thiru), although in survey responses to The Local during the 2022 election, he stated that he would align himself with the NDP if necessary. Fernando has previously told anti-abortion advocacy group Campaign Life Coalition that he is pro-life, supports the right to protest outside abortion clinics, and opposes public funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood Toronto that provide abortions. (He confirmed his stance in an email to The Local).

Platform: Fernando wants to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. In a letter to the prime minister that he posted on social media, Fernando called for a federal minister of disabilities and for a “livable financial benefit” for people with disabilities. He also says he wants to improve mental health and addictions services, invest in recreation centres, improve bus frequency, collaborate with police and community groups to reduce crime, and start community gardens.

Fernando’s previous campaign called for height restrictions on condos and a four-year freeze on property taxes, and opposed bus-only lanes in the ward.

Biography: According to his LinkedIn, Jamil Kerr is an iron worker at Advance Forming Inc., a concrete forming firm that has been involved in building high-rise condominium buildings, and has an educational background in social service work and sociology. Kerr also describes working as a bus driver for the Toronto Transit Commission for just under two years.

Platform: Kerr lists his priorities as community, transit, safety, and climate change. He wants to strengthen enforcement of speed limits in school zones and residential areas, increase bus frequency during rush hour, as well as improve flood drainage and build rooftop gardens, among other items.

Biography: Reza Khoshdel is the executive director of Community Centre 55, a community centre in Toronto’s east end jointly operated by the City and funded entirely through private user fees, donations, and fundraising. Khoshdel was also the president of the West Rouge Community Association, and has previously served as an advisor to the Ontario minister of research and innovation. In 2018, Khoshdel ran for city councillor in Scarborough–Rouge Park, and came sixth out of 11 candidates.

Platform: Khoshdel wants to decrease crime in the ward through funding community programs for youth, and improve law enforcement by targeting “high-risk offenders” through “enhanced data sharing, hotspot mapping,” and partnerships between the police and prosecutors. Khoshdel mentions expanding transit service in the ward, increasing bus service on underserved routes, and making transit free for seniors during off-peak hours.

Khoshdel also wants to create and expand the ward’s youth drop-in centres and seniors’ hubs. He proposes expanding housing support through adopting the Dunn House model—a social medicine housing project that began in Parkdale that provides affordable, supportive housing and on-site health care to unhoused Torontonians with complex health needs. Khoshdel is also looking to secure permanent funding for community food programs in the ward.

Khoshdel also expressed support for the ward’s small businesses and the protection of employment lands—areas zoned for factories, warehouses, and large commercial buildings—saying that they would prevent many residents from needing to commute out of Scarborough for employment. He is also looking to improve the ward’s shopping areas to improve foot traffic, and advocate for more markets and festivals supported by the City.

Khoshdel supports a two-term limit for all city councillors, saying that he would propose a motion mandating the limit if he were elected. He says he would step down after two terms as city councillor, to give newer candidates a chance to advocate for the ward.

Biography: No information could be found regarding Donna LaRush’s campaign or candidacy at time of publication. A local resident by the same name spoke to the Toronto Star about her interest in greater transparency and communication, and her efforts to meet with all 20 candidates, ahead of the 2016 Scarborough–Rouge River by-election for TDSB trustee.

Biography: Little information is available about Huy Lieu online. Lieu ran for school trustee in the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s Ward 9, Toronto, in 2022, finishing last out of seven candidates.

Platform: Lieu does have a platform and website, but much of the information on his website, including claims of royal lineage and sainthood, are unverifiable or have not been verified. He wants to improve arts programming in the ward, focus on safety measures focused on prevention, and expand transit access.

Biography: Brian Matthews is a realtor. On his campaign website, he describes being inspired to run for councillor after he got divorced and struggled to find adequate rental housing, saying the experience “solidified [his] conviction about the need for affordable housing, backyard suite homes, and a greater variety of housing options across the city.”

On Twitter, Matthews has shared posts from right-wing accounts like Libs of Tiktok, anti-Carney Conservative profile Canada Proud, and IntegrityTO, a frequent critic of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. Matthews’ retweets include criticism of DEI, misinformation regarding the murder of far-right media personality Charlie Kirk, and a tweet describing Canada’s job market as an “immigration invasion.”

Platform: Matthews says that he opposes Mayor Olivia Chow’s “wasteful spending on renaming streets, subway stations and in general items like that.” He also opposed Premier Doug Ford’s plans to move the Science Centre, build a tunnel under the 401, and remove City-built bike lanes.

Matthews has also said that he is concerned by gentrification and gun violence, arguing that the federal government should focus more attention on illegal gun imports from the United States. He supports policing and believes Canada currently takes a “soft-on-crime approach.” He does not support an increase in taxation.

Biography: Jose Moreno Garcia is a dental hygienist and the owner of a mobile dental clinic that provides dentistry at seniors’ homes, shelters for homeless people and women, Indigenous cultural centres, and to private clients. He has been commended for his pricing and for providing dental care access to communities in need. His practice was inspired by his own experience living in shelters when he first came to Canada as an asylum seeker from Nicaragua, Moreno Garcia said in a TVO Today video about his clinic.

Platform: Moreno Garcia’s priorities are youth employment, mobile and accessible health care, affordable housing, and economic justice. He wants to establish an apprenticeship fund in the ward to connect young people with employers, unions, and trade schools. He supports increasing affordable housing and development, and protecting renters and landlords. He wants to foster small businesses, focus on crime prevention policies, and commit to transparency in governance. He says he has written to Parks Canada and the City of Toronto about cleaning up Rouge Park after finding it littered with garbage. Moreno Garcia also advocates for permanent housing over temporary homeless shelters.

Biography: Zakir Patel is the vice-chair of the Toronto District School Board. Patel has been a TDSB trustee since 2018 and he was reelected in 2022. He has taken on many roles within the TDSB, including on the Finance, Budget and Enrolment Committee and as a member of the board’s Negotiations Steering Committee. In May, Patel pushed back against Education Minister Paul Calandra’s threats to take over TDSB operations, saying his comments were “not helpful”.

According to his trustee page, Patel has been a real estate broker for over 15 years. Patel told the CBC he believes Scarborough has been underserved by City Hall, and has heard from the ward’s residents that they are finding it difficult to access employment due inadequate transit in the ward.

Platform: On his campaign website, Patel supports community-based policing, and promises to expand youth and after-school programs. He seeks to help housing affordability by championing housing initiatives like modular homes—prefabricated housing built offsite and transported and assembled at the site. Patel wants to address the ward’s transit issues by advocating for more express bus service and pushing for more equitable access to transit, including the subway, across Scarborough. Patel also looks to improve community spaces and programs in the ward, including expanding fitness and recreational programs at local community centres, upgrading playgrounds, and taking measures to protect the ward’s ravines and Rouge National Urban Park.

Biography: Dianna Robinson is a real estate broker with Toronto’s Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty. Robinson ran for Ward 22 school board trustee in 2022, coming second out of four candidates. Little additional information was available at the time of publication.

Platform: Robinson does not appear to have a public platform, website or social media presence, though her contact information is listed on the City’s election page. But she appeared on CTV News Toronto, speaking briefly about her candidacy. “Like many other people, I’m just tired of what’s going on, and I’d like to get in there and see if I can help,” she said.

Biography: Little information was available online about Gregory Rodriguez at the time of publishing. In 2022, Rodriguez ran for Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee for Ward 3, coming second out of two candidates. He ran for Toronto District School Board trustee in Ward 20 in 2018, coming third out of four; at the time, he said he was concerned about red tape and the influence of special interest groups in the school system. He described prior volunteer experience with Out of the Cold, an organization dedicated to helping unhoused people, and St. John Ambulance, a first aid charity. According to his Linkedin profile, Rodriguez works for a company that provides security guard services. On Instagram, Rodriguez posted a campaign video praising far-right personality Charlie Kirk
in which Rodriguez likens Toronto to “Sodom and Gomorrah, or Gotham City,” and
says that he wants to “lead unapologetically, as a proud Catholic.”

Platform: Rodriguez’s website does not provide a clear platform, but mentions “a strong sense of community” and “the development of inclusive policies that aim to uplift and support every member of our ward,” including improving local services, small business supports, and affordable housing. He emphasizes the importance of transparency and engaging with constituents. He says he believes in traditional family values and “equal opportunity, not equity-driven ideology.”

Biography: Neethan Shan has served as a school board trustee and city councillor at various points since 2006, and has been the chair of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) since 2024, after former chair Rachel Chernos Lin won that year’s Don Valley West city council by-election. As TDSB Chair, Shan voted against the TDSB’s most recent balanced budget, which was tens of millions short in funding and contained a $9.5-million cut to operating expenses. (The board is obligated to pass a balanced budget at the risk of being taken over by the province; a takeover has since occurred despite the budget passing.) He has been vocal in his criticism of the province’s cuts to education and the school board takeover, accusing them of trying to cover up “chronic underfunding.” Shan was also the TDSB trustee for Ward 21 from 2016 to 2018, and a Toronto city councillor from 2017 to 2018 for Scarborough–Rouge River. He began his political career as a York Region District School Board trustee in 2006, but took leave after less than a year on the job to run for MPP in Scarborough, where he came third out of six candidates, after which he returned to the York school board. Shan has also worked extensively with the NDP. He has been nominated by the NDP to run for MPP in 2016 and 2021, and was elected president of the Ontario NDP in 2012. Outside politics, Shan is the executive director of Urban Alliance on Race Relations, a non-profit organization that provides research and educational programs for racial equity. He is endorsed by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council in this election.

As TDSB chair, Shan supported an initiative to rename schools named after figures like former prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald, who was an architect of the residential school system. “This work is not about erasing history or wasting money,” Shan said at the time. “It’s about acknowledging harm and ensuring that public institutions reflect the values of equity and belonging.”

He was also one of two councillors who led the charge for an anti-Islamophobia strategy and has written extensively about racism in the Toronto Star.

The TDSB chair also co-signed a letter in January 2025 calling on the City to invest tens of millions of dollars in youth jobs and after-school activities to tackle increasing violence, food insecurity, and unemployment.

Platform: Shan’s platform includes building more community spaces and investing in programs for children and youth in the neighbourhood. He wants to bring more jobs to local neighbourhoods and lower the cost of living for residents, though he has not elaborated on specific plans to carry out these initiatives. Shan is also looking to improve transit and street safety in the ward, as well as end gridlock.

Biography: No information could be found online about Shemar Shirley’s campaign and platform at the time of publication. A LinkedIn profile under the same name lists experience as a maintenance worker with Metrolinx and an information officer with Elections Canada, and a background in video production and marketing.

Biography: Shean Sinnarajah describes himself as a home builder, business owner, and community volunteer. He is the partner and managing director of construction firm Altona Group, which he described in a phone call to The Local as a small-scale house construction firm that has built dozens of homes in Scarborough. In 2023, a real estate brokerage that he co-owns in Markham joined Royal LePage, according to a post on a company website. Sinnarajah had more than two decades of experience as a broker and owner, the post said.

Sinnarajah has previously sought nomination to be the provincial Progressive Conservative candidate in Scarborough–Rouge Park in 2016-17, according to his social media. Tamil-language media outlet Uthayan reported late last year that Sinnarajah was seeking the Conservative party nomination for Pickering–Brooklin, but he was unsuccessful. Sinnarajah has described himself as living in both Pickering and Scarborough in prior campaigns; when asked for clarfication, he says he has lived in Scarborough for two decades but has also previously lived in Pickering and manages properties in both regions.

Platform: In a campaign video about his priorities, Sinnarajah says he wants to lower property taxes and provide free transit for seniors. His website mentions improving safety through policing and crime prevention programs, more efficient city services like snow clearing and garbage collection, and local job creation through economic development and initiatives for youth and small businesses.

Biography: Anu Sriskandarajah is the incumbent Toronto District School Board trustee for Scarborough–Rouge Park, a position she’s held since 2018. She is also an associate professor at York University’s children, childhood and youth program in their department of humanities.

Sriskandarajah voted against the TDSB’s most recent budget, citing its cuts to outdoor and special education programming. She has publicly disagreed with the Ford government’s assertion that the TDSB is financially mismanaged.

At the board, Sriskandarajah supported a measure that would’ve required schools to contribute one percent of their fundraising to a common fund for all schools. The measure—which was ultimately rejected—would have redistributed funds from schools in affluent neighbourhoods to schools in lower-income neighbourhoods.

Sriskandarajah sat on the City’s Board of Health committee in her capacity as a school board trustee. In 2021, she also co-led a motion on COVID-19 recovery at the board, which highlighted the disproportionate impact it had on marginalized students, including those from racialized or lower-income backgrounds, and students with complex learning needs.

Platform: Sriskandarajah says she wants to focus on “community-driven development” for Scarborough. The trustee has spoken about the “alienation” felt by residents of Scarborough and said that residents’ tax dollars should go toward their own neighbourhoods, not other parts of the city. “In Scarborough, we pay our property taxes, but we often don’t feel that those investments come back to us,” she said in a campaign video. Her campaign includes a commitment to consultation with local residents.

On her website, Sriskandarajah’s priorities include making city services like snow removal more reliable, improving programs for youth and seniors, safeguarding parks, supporting community policing, and implementing road safety measures, though she does not elaborate on how she’d enact these changes.