Ward 17 — Don Valley North

Biography: Little information is available online about Jethro Adir Kavod. He describes himself as an entrepreneur with experience in transportation and property management.

Platform: Kavod wants to expand outreach to unhoused people and improve cleanliness on city streets. He lists long-term care home wait times as a priority; they fall under the purview of the provincial government, and Kavod says he’ll advocate for more beds, better services for caregivers and more transparency regarding wait times. To reduce traffic congestion, he says he’ll push for better coordination of construction projects and make GO service faster (GO also falls under provincial jurisdiction through the agency Metrolinx). To help young entrepreneurs, Kavod says he’ll create a point of contact and explore creating financial funding opportunities. He also mentions expanding child-care spaces, improving TTC reliability, and developing affordable housing fit for families.

Biography: According to his LinkedIn, Jeffery Adamson is a project management professional and founder of a cloud computing company.

Platform: Adamson lists affordable housing, an improved transit network, and neighbourhood cleanliness as priorities. At City Hall, wants to keep budgets balanced and improve transparency and responsiveness. He also mentions wanting to prevent the over-concentration of cannabis retailers.

Biography: Shelley Carroll is a longtime municipal representative, elected to the new Ward 17—Don Valley North in 2018, and prior to that serving the old Ward 33—Don Valley East since 2003. She is currently chair of the Budget Committee and the Toronto Police Services Board, vice-chair of the Economic and Community Development Committee, and a member of Executive Committee.

Carroll has long been an enthusiastic proponent of participatory budgeting and advocate for new revenue tools such as sales tax. Under the new “strong mayor” legislation, which drastically restricts councillors’ say in the municipal budget, her role has been to move an omnibus motion allocating a few million dollars to various “emergent priorities” including shelter, housing, and community associations.

In 2019, 2022, and 2023, Carroll voted against various colleagues’ motions attempting to reallocate police funding to areas like libraries, climate strategy, shelters.

This term, she has successfully requested a maximum indoor temperature bylaw and a report into improving derelict vacant lots. She also seconded Paul Ainslie’s motion to rename the Centennial Park stadium after Rob Ford and Chernos Lin’s motion to crack down on illegal tree removals.

Carroll is endorsed by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council.

Platform: Carroll’s platform includes investing in public services and community spaces like parks, libraries, and community centres, as well as flood and stormwater infrastructure. She is also in favour of more housing, access to childcare, and long-term care.

She promises to “hold property taxes in line with inflation” by finding savings and efficiencies.

She plans to address public safety concerns by continuing the police hiring plan and having more Community Police Officers, shopping mall Safety Hubs, and Neighbourhood Watch programs.

Biography: Hassan Mubarak Noor Mohamed is certified translator who ran his own consulting firm until this fall, specializing in translations between Tamil, Sinhala, and English. According to his LinkedIn, he also runs a hotel in Sri Lanka and worked in education administration, among other jobs.

Platform: Mubarak’s priorities are safety, affordability, and improvements to transit and the economy. He says that seniors deserve stability, not higher property taxes. After a torrential rain storm that caused flooding on Sept. 5, he said the “chaos” highlighted Toronto’s need to take proactive action on climate change. He has also said people in Don Valley North are increasingly concerned about drugs, and that the city needs “stronger community safety” and more addiction recovery programs. If elected, he wants to remove unnecessary barriers for small businesses.

Biography: Roy Samathanam says he has worked in operations for 20 years, been involved in a tenants association, and participated in development consultations for Sheppard Avenue.

From 2007 to 2010, Samathanam was imprisoned in Sri Lanka in a case that a UN committee said violated international agreements on political rights. Samathanam was allegedly tortured and forced to sign a false confession. Lawyers have argued that Samathanam was only imprisoned because of his Tamil ethnic identity.

Samathanam is a critic of city spending and describes the municipal system as “dysfunctional” and wasteful. He falsely claims that incumbent councillor Shelley Carroll collects both her salary and an ongoing pension from when she briefly stepped down from council in 2018 before returning to the job. The Local has not been able to find any truth to this claim, and Carroll’s office told The Local that Carroll’s 2018 “severance” payment, applied to councillors who exit office, was a one-time payment and has a lifetime cap.

On social media, Samathanam has shared photos of himself with mayoral candidate Brad Bradford and conservative leaders like Premier Doug Ford and Pierre Poilievre.

Platform: Samathanam says his priorities are not increasing property taxes, preventing crime, and improving transportation. He says he’ll tackle crime by strengthening neighbourhood watch programs, increasing police presence, supporting “auxiliary volunteer patrols,” and installing infrared security cameras, which capture clear footage in the dark. He also wants to make TTC service more reliable and improve snow clearing.

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: Sabrina Zuniga has a background in management consultancy; according to LinkedIn, she is a former teacher of high school and adult education, and the founder of an English as a second language (ESL) school and private career college. She sits on the board of trustees of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., and has previously been on the board of Breast Cancer Canada. Zuniga ran as a Conservative in the 2021 federal election in Don Valley North, coming second place behind the Liberal candidate.

Zuniga is critical of incumbent councillor Shelley Carroll, saying she has overlooked residents’ concerns in the ward; she also supports Premier Doug Ford’s plan to rip out bike lanes, calling it “common sense.”

In 2015, Zuniga ran in Spadina—Fort York for the Conservatives; during that campaign, while arguing in favour of pipelines, she was criticized for suggesting that oil spills are not dangerous because “oil is a natural substance… so spilling into the environment, the land will absorb it because that’s what oil is…It’s just, when there is too much [oil] at once, that’s when the difficulty comes in.”

Platform: Zuniga say she will bring “trust and respect” back to city hall. She says rising crime has made seniors feel insecure, that road repairs go ignored for months, and that drug use is rampant on the TTC. She is opposed to safe consumption sites, bike lanes on main streets, and trans-inclusive bathrooms. She also promises to protect neighbourhoods from “unlawful, disruptive” protests. Zuniga calls homeless encampments “‘awfulizing’ illegal takeovers of public spaces.’” She says she’ll protect Torontonians from U.S. tariffs by conducting a “core service review,” spending tax dollars “wisely,” and preventing tax increases.