Biography: Jon Burnside has represented Ward 16 — Don Valley East since 2022, and represented Ward 26 — Don Valley West from 2014-2018, under the city’s 44-ward model. Before entering politics, he was a Toronto police officer for 10 years, then ran a meal-delivery business. He also worked in the office of the Deputy City Manager on issues including the city’s encampment response.

This past term, he unsuccessfully tried to delay making the ActiveTO Yonge St. Cycling Network Expansion permanent, and voted against the RapidTO Surface Network Transit Plan. In the 2024 budget, he moved to ask the TTC to consider saving money by increasing fares, which failed, and crack down on fare evasion, which passed. This year, he voted against asking the province to allow the unhoused to receive and accumulate the shelter portion of their benefits to be used to cover housing costs, like rent deposits.

Burnside also unsuccessfully tried to exempt townhouses and low-rise apartments from being permitted on Sloane Avenue. In response to a 2024 incident where a construction bin illegally blocked a bike lane and led to a cyclist being killed by a dump truck driver, Burnside passed a motion asking the City to look into the ability to set and lay maximum fines for offences.

Other successful motions include trying to crack down on speed racing on expressways, supporting Mayor Chow’s youth community service initiative, prioritizing removing encampments near schools, daycares and playgrounds, and banning foreign flag raisings at City Hall in response to the Palestinian flag-raising in November 2025.

Platform: Burnside’s platform includes revitalizing the Ontario Science Centre site and prioritizing “road maintenance, parks and emergency services” rather than taking on “provincial/federal duties,” by which he may mean social services. He pledges to improve safety on the TTC and says that while the TPS is well funded, “our City’s police leadership must do better” at ensuring public safety.

Biography: Sinan Erdemir is the co-founder of an immigration consultancy firm, he says on his website. He says he’s been recognized as a supportive community member by the Toronto police and has served in executive roles at the Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations and Turkish Culture and Folklore Society of Canada. Having lived in Sweden, he wants to bring “pratical Scandinavian approaches” to the ward.

Platform: Erdemir says he’ll focus on basics like making neighbourhoods safer by working with police to address crime and disorder, maintaining sidewalks, and decreasing dangerous speeding on roads. He wants to lower the cost of living by better managing city spending, which he says will pass on fewer costs to residents. He also wants to create a “cleaner Toronto” by pushing the city to provide faster road repairs, better snow removal, and well-cared-for green spaces.

Biography: Didi Moffat is a vlogger and livestreamer who discusses her experiences with Christianity.

Platform: Moffat prioritizes clear communication with constituents in her platform. She additionally says she will build more affordable housing while ensuring that growth benefits existing residents, support shelter housing, use traffic calming measures to make streets safer, and advocate for better TTC service. She wants to improve tenant services and invest in community spaces for seniors, youth, and Indigenous people. She also says she’ll take a “broad approach to safety,” using responsive policing, safer streets, better lighting, and more support for people experiencing withdrawal from drugs and alcohol.

Biography: Stacey Moffatt is an office manager in North York, according to her LinkedIn.

Platform: On her website, Moffatt mentions safer and more connected neighbourhoods, improved city services and infrastructure, and support for small businesses.

Biography: No information could be found online about this candidate at the time of publishing.

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

Biography: According to his LinkedIn, Ibrahim Hatia recently graduated from George Brown Polytechnic and is currently working as an electrical field engineer. He is listed as the colleges and institutes representative for the Canadian Federation of Students.

Platform: Hatia’s platform includes advocating for clearer communication, creating opportunities for students to voice opinions, and pushing for a “more transparent, equitable approach” to school funding. He wants to advocate for more hands-on learning opportunities for students.

Biography: No information could be found online about this candidate at the time of publishing.

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

Biography: No information could be found online about this candidate at the time of publishing.

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

Biography: Little information is available online about Dewitt Lee III. He was a Toronto mayoral candidate in 2010 and 2014, and previously ran for the TDSB in 2022, losing to Shelley Laskin.

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

Biography: Little information is available online about Christine McGirr. She previously ran as the Conservative candidate in Trinity-Spadina in the 2008 federal election and in St. Paul’s in the 2011 provincial election. She later ran for TDSB Trustee in the 2018 municipal election for Ward 11, losing to Rachel Chernos Lin.

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

Biography: Farzana Rajwani has been a TDSB trustee since 2022, representing Don Valley East. According to her LinkedIn, she has taught fundraising management at Humber Polytechnic, and held leadership roles at a number of institutions including the University Health Network Foundation, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Michael Garron Hospital, and the Aga Khan Museum.

As a trustee, she has been a member of the Program and School Services Committee, the Finance, Budget and Enrolment Committee, and the Alternative Schools Advisory Committee. She lists accomplishments like advocating for increased funding from the province, supporting special education, math, and literacy, and strengthening mental health and addictions initiatives. Rajwani has been endorsed by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council, and by Toronto Education Workers/Local 4400, a division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Platform: Rajwani’s platform includes calling for an end to provincial supervision, investing in aging school infrastructure and accommodating growing communities, and pushing for increased funding from the province to adequately fund operations and address the structural deficit. She wants to foster both strong student achievement and well-being.

Biography: Angela Kennedy is the incumbent Trustee for Ward 11, a role she’s held since 2000. She was the chair of the board from 2008 to 2010 and from 2015 to 2017. She has been a nurse since 1969.

Kennedy has previously opposed abortion rights, at the time some city councillors did not want Kennedy on the City’s Board of Health because of her history of voting against gay-straight alliances in schools, HPV vaccinations for female students, and abortion stance. However, Kennedy has publicly changed her stance on Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum—she was previously opposed to it, but changed her mind after learning from her son that he had been sexually abused as a child and would have benefited from the things taught by the curriculum. At the time, in an interview with Toronto Life, she also said she also “wasn’t really opposed” to gay-straight alliances. In 2022, she said that she advocated for enhanced safety measures during COVID and was a member of the TCDSB’s first 2SLGBTQ+ committee.

In 2022, Kennedy ran in the provincial election as a Progressive Conservative, placing third of nine candidates.

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

Biography: Little information is available online about Anton Perera. He ran for Ward 11 TCDSB trustee in 2022, finishing last. At the time, in a biography published in Beach Metro, Anton Perera says that he is an ophthalmic assistant for an eye surgeon.

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

Biography: Benoit Fortin is the incumbent trustee for Conseil scolaire Viamonde Ward 2 – Toronto Est, having held the role since 2018. He is running unopposed for the Viamonde ward, and is therefore elected by acclamation. He was previously elected by acclamation in 2022.

Fortin is also a founding member of SkyPower, a global solar energy company, where he is vice president of development for Africa and India. He is listed as a board director of L’Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario and the chair of the Conseil scolaire Viamonde.

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

Biography: Rhea Dechaine was elected trustee for Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir Ward 4 in 2023. Before that, she spent eight years on the parent council at Georges-Étienne-Cartier elementary, including four as co-president. Dechaine says she has 10 years of experience in finance, has organized numerous community events, and attended a MonAvenir school herself.

Platform: Dechaine says she has helped make “significant progress” on the project to bring a French-language Catholic high school to east Toronto, and will keep working on it if re-elected. She commits to listening to parents before making decisions, supporting families as they navigate the school system, and defends the French-language Catholic school system. Dechaine emphasises that students need more than academic achievement to succeed, and wants to make schools places where all students can feel “safe, welcomed, respected, and supported.”

Biography: Little information is available online about Clescadine Gustave. In a candidate survey conducted by Toronto Public Library in French and machine translated to English, Gustave said she has children who have attended MonAvenir schools.

Platform: Gustave said in the library survey that her first priority as a trustee would be to promote the Catholic faith within schools and to ensure students start and end each day with prayer. To fight bullying and discrimination, Gustave said schools need better training for principals and staff. She supports class size caps, saying classrooms should have one teacher for every 21 students, or one teacher and one teaching assistant for every 27 students.

Biography: No information could be found online about this candidate at the time of publishing.

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