Ward 19 — Beaches-East York

Biography: Jaana Syeda Ali describes herself as having a background in business, and according to her LinkedIn is a key account manager at Saudi Airlines.

Platform: Ali says that she would advocate for more accountability from the TTC and more “financial perks” for transit users. She also promises to fight for safer intersections, better pedestrian crossings, reduced speeds, better traffic management, and dependable transit.

On housing, Ali says that she supports “responsible” development that respects a neighbourhood’s character, as well as consultation for new developments.

Ali’s other priorities include cleaning up parks, beaches, and other public spaces, supporting local businesses, and being a timely and communicative councilor, if elected.

Biography: James Dann was the City of Toronto’s waterfront parks manager from 1999 until 2024. According to Dann’s website, he’s worked on a number of city projects in Ward 19 like the restoration of the Kew Gardens Bandshell and streetscape, washrooms in Tommy Thompson Park, and the Martin Goodman Trail, among others.

Platform: Dann’s platform is broken up into four pillars: transportation, growth, better infrastructure, and climate.

On transportation, Dann wants to “fix the 501” by transferring streetcar service at Queen and Kingston to a bus service. Dann supports bike lanes and the repeal of Bill 212, the controversial law that allows the provincial government to remove bike lanes in the city. He would fight the province’s plan to expand Billy Bishop Airport.

On growth, Dann says that he would support building affordable housing quickly, including community and public housing. He would also encourage laneway, garden, and garage units to make better use of existing land for housing. He also says that he would support tenants’ bargaining rights and hold landlords accountable for negligence. He also says that infrastructure (like schools, sewer work, and community centres) needs to be added alongside housing so that new residents will be supported.

Dann also supports a pause on AI data centres until there are clear rules, proper land-use fit, and community consultations.

He would support an official Bangla Town designation in Ward 19.

While Dann says he doesn’t support clearing encampments without providing an alternative, he would support using bylaw and police enforcement to move encampments and provide those living in encampments a “real housing offer.”

Dann says that he would push for more energy-efficient standards for new homes, plant more trees, and continue pushing for the Beaches’ Blue Flag status, which stands for clean water.

Biography: Nathaniel Erskine-Smith is a lawyer who represented Beaches–East York as a Liberal MP from 2015 to 2026. He says Mayor Olivia Chow asked him to join her team at city hall. Before announcing his municipal run, Erskine-Smith unsuccessfully tried to secure the Ontario Liberal Party nomination in Scarborough Southwest for a byelection, and came second in a prior run for the leadership of the Ontario Liberals.

Erskine-Smith served a short stint as a cabinet minister in Trudeau’s government — responsible for housing, infrastructure and communities — but was removed from the post by Carney. Erskine-Smith said it was “impossible not to feel disrespected” by the demotion. Erskine-Smith has gained a reputation for speaking more candidly than most politicians do, and hosts a podcast and Reddit “Ask Me Anything” sessions alongside blogging on Substack As an MP, Erskine-Smith was called a “maverick” for voting against his own party more than anyone else in Parliament. He supported Carney’s spending on infrastructure, the military, and tariff relief, but opposed his subsidies for the LNG industry, cuts to international assistance, and what he called “stalled climate action.” He has called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” and publicly called on the foreign affairs minister to take further action on the issue. He has called for a “public health approach” to substance use instead of criminalization, arguing that substances like heroin could be tightly controlled through prescriptions, but also said he’d try to summon Meta executives to explain why its social media platforms Instagram and Facebook allowed ads for drugs like cocaine and oxycodone. As housing minister, Erskine-Smith said he wanted provinces to protect tenants’ rights to keep pets, and gave grants to municipalities building libraries and housing.

Erskine-Smith is endorsed by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council.

Platform: Erskine-Smith named housing and climate change among his priorities at city hall. He says his former job as minister will be an asset as he works on zoning reform, community housing, tenant protections, and addressing homelessness. He promises to defend Toronto’s public waterfront and “reimagine” Woodbine Beach. He also says he’ll make sure city services like snow removal and lead pipe replacements are effective and easy to access.

Biography: Fatima Ibrahimi says she’s a health-care professional working in dentistry, and an internationally trained nurse.

Platform: Ibrahimi says her policy priorities are safer streets, more reliable public transit, better winter services, housing, and a 72-hour turnaround time for city services. She says she will use traffic-calming measures to make streets safer for children, seniors, and people with disabilities. She wants to push for clearer timelines for road maintenance work, and prioritize sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, transit stops, school routes, and senior facilities for snow clearing in winter. She aims to shorten wait times for affordable and rent-geared-to-income housing.

Biography: Natalie Johnson is a former CTV News city hall reporter, and before that was a producer on CTV’s Question Period and a field producer for CTV’s parliamentary bureau. Johnson also serves on the board of directors for Beaches Sandbox, a local non-profit community centre.

Johnson is endorsed by Stephanie Smyth, the Liberal MPP for Toronto-St.Paul’s and former councillor Karen Stintz.

Platform: Johnson argues for more proactive community policing in Beaches-East York, and a zero-tolerance policy for open drug use. She wants to rebuild the ward’s Gardiner’s ramps at Cherry Street. She also wants to expand traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps and curb extensions and support Vision Zero speed limits and enforcement.

She proposes quarterly scorecards for service deliveries in the Ward, measuring against 311 standards. Johnson also proposes extra litter bins in high-traffic spots and seasonal service level increases for amenities like washrooms.

Johnson says that she is opposed to expanding the island airport.

Biography: Kevin Morrison was elected as a trustee in the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s Ward 9 in 2023 (though trustee roles have since been eliminated in the Ford government’s takeover of key school boards). He says he’s a communications strategist and consultant.

As a trustee, Morrison advocated for more child-care spots in schools. He is a fierce critic of Premier Doug Ford, arguing that he has made life harder for young people by cutting OSAP and failing to make life more affordable, and criticizing the Ford government’s takeover of school boards as hurting local democracy and allowing the province to undercut education funding.

Platform: If elected, Morrison says he will fight against expansion of Billy Bishop airport, make sure that snow removal is compliant with Ontario’s rules for accessibility, and increase the frequency of buses and streetcars. He also says the neighbourhood at Main Street and Danforth Avenue needs a new school, community centre, and services as 7,000 new residential units are being built in the coming years. He wants to expand child-care availability. He proposes eliminating homelessness by creating new supportive housing, and says he wants to “stand up to developers,” who he says should be expected to create green space and community space as part of their building plans.

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: Mohammad Shabani says he is a business management consultant who is trained in the sciences. He was the co-chair of the Taylor-Massey Residents Wellness Council, a group that works to improve the health and social outcomes of residents of the neigbourhood, until 2025. During his time on the council, he helped bring health care to seniors who couldn’t leave their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shabani ran for council in 2017 in Ward 42, which no longer exists, and placed 19th out of 29 candidates. During that campaign, Shabani said that Scarborough was neglected and needed to fight for a larger share of Toronto’s budget for transit and services.

Platform: If elected, Shabani says he will improve life in high-rises by using a bylaw to force building owners to fix broken elevators within 48 hours and mandate they eradicate bed bugs and other pests. He wants to create outdoor “smart charging hubs” for e-bikes. In the Crescent Town-Secord-Dawes area, he proposes reducing car speed limits to 10 km/hour and prioritizing other road users like pedestrians, particularly children, over cars. He wants to reclaim parking spots and wide lanes for community gardens and public spaces, use energy audits to transition buildings to clean energy, and make sure that community events don’t create garbage. He suggests creating an official designation for “Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities”. His other ideas include creating “nature corporations” to protect Lake Ontario and the Don River; and creating a municipally owned credit union to act as a public investment bank.

Biography: Adam Smith works in visual effects and animation for film and television. He previously ran for council in Beaches–East York in 2022, coming in third out of seven candidates.

Smith has been the administrator of a community garden that grew food for a local food bank. With the Greater Beach Neighbourhood Association, he fought a development that ended up blocking the view of a historic firehall. He also says he’s helped improve safety on Martin Goodman Trail as a member of a city councillor’s transportation committee.

In videos posted to Instagram, Smith has spoken about the threat posed by climate change and said that Canada needs to transition to a circular economy.

Platform: Smith’s platform planks are providing a voice for the ward, safe and efficient transportation, and responsible development. He promises to consult constituents in a meaningful way before making decisions; improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety by updating crosswalks; and fight to force developers to follow urban design guidelines. On housing, he says Toronto’s public housing agency should become its own developer, and that the city should not have to entice developers to include affordable units in their buildings, but, rather, they should be a legal requirement. To prevent the contamination of recycling with garbage, Smith says the city needs strong enforcement and hefty fines. He also says it should be illegal for grocers and restaurants to destroy unsold food. The only new bike lane he would support as councillor would be on Danforth Avenue. Smith is opposed to expanding Billy Bishop airport.

Biography: Austin Vieira is a teacher at a Montessori school who says he led the drive to unionize his workplace. He opposed the involvement of American ICE agents in Toronto during the FIFA World Cup, has said he’s opposed to expanding Billy Bishop airport, and has praised online Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum.

Platform: Vieira’s policy priorities are child care, transit and bike lanes, housing, parks, prosperity and public safety. He says he wants to start diaper banks for parents and end child care deserts across the ward by requiring developers to build child care spaces when they build high-rise t buildings, turn vacant TTC lands into child care centres, fast-track the approvals process for non-profit child care centres in Danforth Village, and pay grants to workers who work at centres in underserved neighbourhoods. He wants to use transit signal priority and RapidTO bus lanes, which Mayor Olivia Chow has begun implementing, to ease transit bottlenecks on key corridors. He also says he’d have protected bike lanes on a section of Kingston Road, extend existing bike lanes on Cosburn Avenue, and add new cycling infrastructure elsewhere. On housing, Vieira says he would help lower the costs of laneway and garden suites for homeowners by eliminating city building fees for those types of units; push the city to act more often as a public developer; unlock vacant units above stores; and provide grants to small landlords. He also says he’ll push for police officers in all TTC stations, protect swimmers from “reckless jet ski operators,” upgrade community centres and pools, support new business improvement areas (BIAs), and ensure that trails are usable in winter. Vieira proposes adding a new tax on homes sold for more than $3 million, which Chow has already brought in.

Biography: Jeff Wahl says on his LinkedIn that he has worked as a marketing and project manager at cannabis and sales companies, and has managed retail stores.

Platform: Wahl says he will “represent the entire ward, with far greater emphasis on the EY [East York] of BEY [Beaches–East York].” His platform planks are housing, road safety, and city services. On housing, he promises to strengthen Mayor Olivia Chow’s new rules on “renovictions” by bringing in strong enforcement, fight for city funding for tenants’ rights organizations, create dedicated bylaw officers to inspect rental housing, use vacant lots for city-built housing, fight for more co-ops, and prioritize affordable and mixed-income developments over luxury condos. Wahl wants to “advocate loudly” for the province to bring back speed cameras, create bike lanes that are separated from traffic with physical barriers, and make sure that road repairs also make roads safer for all types of users. If elected, he says he’ll vote against any proposal to privatize city services, invest in well-paid, union jobs for city workers, and fight the province when it tries to download responsibilities onto municipalities. He wants to bring back safe consumption sites and protect public spaces like libraries.
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Biography: According to his LinkedIn, Devin Wilkins is a recently graduated student. He says he has volunteered at community events like the Beaches Jazz Festival, Toronto Beaches Lions Easter Parade, and the ward’s Canada Day Picnic.

Platform: Wilkins’ platform is based on public transit, housing policy, and community spaces. On transit, he promises to improve the TTC by expanding dedicated bus and streetcar lanes. He wants to create an east-west cycling corridor from Victoria Park Avenue to downtown, prepare for the Ontario Line, and turn Main Street Station and Danforth GO Station into “true multimodal” hubs. He says he will rezone neighbourhoods for more medium-density housing, reduce property taxes for parents of children, and add rent control to all residential units; the latter is actually a provincial power. On public spaces, Wilkins says he will improve pedestrian infrastructure, beautify the ward with murals, and “encourage neighbourhood retail and small businesses.”

Biography: Jennie Worden is currently on leave from her job as communications and program manager at the Canadian Journalism Foundation, an organization that provides fellowships, bursaries, and awards to journalists, and that produces events about media and journalism. She previously worked as the executive director of Orchestra Toronto and in professional roles at other arts organizations like Hot Docs, according to her LinkedIn. Worden has been involved in supporting tenants at 500 Dawes Rd., an apartment building where a justice of the peace said the “slumlord” owner “preys on vulnerable tenants.” Worden has also been part of community groups like tenants’ advocacy group ACORN, and East Enders Against Racism. She ran for city council in Beaches–East York once before, in 2022, and came second.

Platform: Worden says her campaign is based on accessible leadership, community-led planning, thriving main streets, and public transit. On her website, Worden outlines ten priorities if she gets elected, which include starting a feasibility study for a rebuild of Secord Elementary School and Secord Community Centre, getting repairs at 500 Dawes Rd. and other “problem buildings,” protecting the waterfront by refusing jets at Billy Bishop Airport, and improving lighting on Martin Goodman Trail. She wants to reduce the number of vacant storefronts in the ward, establish transit signal priority for streetcars, and adjust parking spot and patio placement. She also mentions safer streets and wants to add Glen Stewart ravine and Taylor Creek to the Toronto Ravine Strategy. She attended an Aug. 28 “Critical Mass” rally of cyclists who are opposed to Premier Doug Ford’s plan to rip out bike lanes.