Ward 1 — Etobicoke North

Biography: Abraham Abbey is an intake worker at the Salvation Army Maxwell Meighen Centre, a homeless shelter and social services provider for men downtown, according to his LinkedIn. Abbey is also on the board of Rexdale Community Hub, a space that provides hot meals, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) clubs for youth, and a discounted grocery market.

In 2022, Abbey ran for council in Ward 1, and came 10th out of 16 candidates. He also applied to fill the position of city councillor left vacant by Michael Ford the same year, but lost to another candidate.

Platform: This candidate does not have a platform available online at the time of publication.

Biography: Ala’a Adib is the founder of the non-profit organization Smile for Sache, created in honour of Adib’s brother who was killed in a shooting at age 21. Smile for Sache provides programs in the GTA including girls’ basketball camps, drop-in sports, and March Break camps. The organization also offers “Feed the Fasting,” which provides meals to food-insecure families after their daily fasts during Ramadan.

She is also a board member at Elephant Thoughts, a non-profit organization focused on education resources for under-serviced schools. She has previously worked as a communications specialist at the House of Commons, according to her LinkedIn.

Adib is endorsed by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council and supported by Progress Toronto.

Platform: Ala’a says her priorities are improving city services, and supporting young people and families. She wants to further the city’s student nutrition goals, improve community spaces, build more affordable housing, and better enforce rental housing standards.

Biography: Saima Babar says she is a “community leader, entrepreneur, and advocate.” She is one of two Toronto vice presidents for the Ontario Women’s Liberal Commission, representing York, North York, and Scarborough.

Platform: Babar says that she wants to create safer neighbourhoods with cleaner streets and reliable transit, and mentions jobs and training for youth and free transit for seniors.

Biography: Chloe Brown is a policy analyst. As a member of the Toronto Youth Cabinet, Brown says she co-authored the framework for the Rexdale-Casino Woodbine Community Benefits Agreement. The agreement requires the owner of the Rexdale casino to hire local workers, procure supplies from local businesses, implement responsible gambling measures and provide space for child care and community events. Over half of the roughly 2,500 jobs created at the casino have gone to local residents or “equity deserving individuals,” the city says, and in 2025, $115.6 million has been spent at “diverse or local” businesses.

According to her LinkedIn, Brown previously worked in the office of former city councillor Pam McConnell, as well as at Toronto Metropolitan University and George Brown Polytechnic (formerly George Brown College).

Brown previously ran for mayor in 2022 and 2023. In the most recent contest, she placed seventh out of 102 candidates. In 2022, a Toronto Star columnist wrote that Brown’s campaign was “an astounding win” for its solid result on a shoestring budget.

Platform: Brown told the Toronto Star she wants to “drag Doug Ford into the ground.” She proposes installing bike lanes outside Ford’s constituency office in Etobicoke if elected.

Brown says she’d negotiate a deal with Woodbine Racetrack similar to the Woodbine Casino agreement that guarantees local jobs and infrastructure, including child-care centres and public grocers.

Brown has outlined detailed policy proposals for the ward’s arts and culture, transit and congestion, revitalizing vacant malls and storefronts,

On transit and roads, Brown wants to deploy traffic agents on major thoroughfares during peak hours, and use signal priority, dedicated bus lanes and expanded service hours to improvement streets in the ward.

She also wants to redirect money from the city’s mounted police unit to crisis services in Etobicoke, and install Toronto police “community hubs” in malls like Albion Mall.

Biography: Vincent Crisanti is the current councillor for Etobicoke North. Crisanti was elected three times to City Council before losing to Michael Ford, the premier’s nephew, in 2018. He subsequently returned to office in 2022. Crisanti is considered a political ally of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his late brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

The councillor has written articles critical of Mayor Olivia Chow in the Toronto Sun, arguing that her property tax increases have “made Toronto a more expensive city to live in.” He has called on Council to stop operating its bike-share program at a loss and to crack down on fare evasion on the TTC. He supports more policing and the return of police officers to schools. Crisanti has called for a “review” of bike lanes and said that Toronto taxpayers “should not be footing the bill” for a school food program. He has criticized Chow’s luxury home tax, saying, “the people who buy luxury homes also make very important investments, the types of investments that create jobs.”

One ongoing project Crisanti supports is the redevelopment of the Woodbine Racetrack, which would reportedly bring more than 20,000 units of housing to the area. On his website, Crisanto lists the fixes his office has participated in this term, including improvements to infrastructure.

This year, he asked the city to address residents’ concerns about energy consumption and noise associated with Microsoft’s proposed data centre at 48 Lowe’s Place.

In May, a Toronto Star columnist reported that Crisanti had missed more council meetings than all but one of his colleagues, having been absent for 332 votes since 2022.

Platform: Crisanti says he is running to bring “experienced and proven leadership that delivers real results and stands up for our community’s priorities.” On his map of completed and ongoing projects, Crisanti mentions advocating for the addition of a new GO station in the community, connecting the Finch West LRT with Woodbine GO, and making state-of-good-repair investments in community spaces.

Biography: According to his website, Norman Hamilton is the owner of a truck repair company in Etobicoke North, Truck Repair Hotline Inc.

Platform: Hamilton says his policies will revolve around specific demographics of his future constituents, including youth, seniors, mothers, immigrants, people in need of a job. He says he’ll focus on violence prevention, mentorship, and skills training for young people, as well as support for small businesses and practical resources for newcomers.

Biography: Joseph Martino is currently the TCDSB trustee for Ward 1, a position he’s held since 1986, when the board was the Metropolitan Separate School Board. Martino was the Chair of the Board from 1998-1999 and again in 2020-2021.

Martino supported a motion in 2019 to amend the Board’s code of conduct to include 2SLGBTQ+-inclusive language like “gender identity” and “gender expression” to its Code of Conduct. In 2021, he voted in favour of a motion for the TCDSB to recognize June as Pride month and fly the Pride flag at schools.

During the 2022 municipal election, Martino won by just one vote.

Platform: This candidate does not have a platform available online at the time of publication.

Biography: Nathen Masri (who spells his name as Mazri in his campaign material) was the co-founder of GarfieldEATS, a former chain of Garfield-themed restaurants in Toronto that closed in 2021.

In 2025 Mazri announced that he was running as the People’s Party Candidate for the federal election, specifically for the MP seat in Toronto Centre. He told Toronto Today that he faced extensive trolling when he launched GarfieldEats, which he says partially contributed to him aligning with the far-right party. Mazri ended up placing fifth out of eight candidates.

He says he plans to run for Mayor of Toronto in 2030.

Platform: If elected, Mazri says he will “roll back recent hikes” on property tax for properties in Ward 1. He also says he will lock the rate at zero percent for four years. He says he would introduce a “one-unit maximum” for residents who wish to register a unit for “short-term rentals.” He wants to create a levy for resource-intensive tech businesses establishing offices in Ward 1, and cycle those funds directly into the community.

On his campaign website, Mazri also says he will advocate for transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Biography: According to LinkedIn, Hard Parmar is a customer service supervisor at gas company Esso. His LinkedIn also says that he’s had internships at the Region of Peel and Metrolinx, with a background in civil engineering.

Platform: Some of the goals on Parmar’s campaign website include ensuring that potholes and street infrastructure are repaired within 30 days, speeding up approvals to build more homes and small businesses, and demanding Metrolinx provide an opening date for the anticipated Woodbine GO station. Parmar wants to streamline the building process for transit.

Biography: Little information is available online about Kristian Santos. He ran for councillor in 2022, and came in seventh of 16.

Platform: According to his website, Santos’ platform prioritizes better neighbourhoods, which includes safer streets and support for homeowners and seniors. He wants stronger community spaces and resources, and more opportunities within the ward. He also wants to improve road and sidewalk maintenance and increase flooding prevention measures. Santos also points to getting a North Rexdale community recreation centre built as a priority—the proposed centre has been identified as a community need since 2004.