Ward 20 — Scarborough Southwest

Malik Ahmad describes himself as a small business owner and entrepreneur, with a background in computer engineering. He is co-founder of the International Indian Film Festival Toronto. His campaign is centred around increased transit funding and infrastructure in Scarborough, better bike lanes, COVID recovery planning and support for small businesses, among other issues.

Sharif Ahmed has an engineering background and some community engagement experience through a brief stint on the Community Police Liaison Committee from 2007 to 2010. His priorities are community engagement, the timely completion of community projects, and improved transit service for Scarborough Southwest. He previously ran for city councillor in 2006 and 2014, and in the 2021 by-election.

Lorenzo Berardinetti started his political career in 1988 at age 26, as a city councillor in pre-amalgamation Scarborough. He continued to serve as city councillor in Toronto until 2003, when, running under the Liberal party, he was elected MPP for Scarborough Southwest. He served as MPP until 2018, when Doly Begum won the seat. His platform includes freezing property taxes, improving community consultation on property developments, and attracting jobs to the ward.

Gary Crawford is the incumbent councillor for Ward 20 and has held office since 2011. During his term, Crawford has served as budget chair and served on various committees, including the mayor’s executive committee.

As budget chief since 2014, Crawford has carried out Tory’s low-tax mandate, delivering eight years of budgets with residential property tax increases below 3 percent (a rate last seen in the Miller years). While he votes closely with the mayor, like many other conservative councillors, he did not have much appetite for opposing the province’s council cut in 2018.

Prior to city council, he served as the TDSB Trustee for Ward 18 — Scarborough-Southwest from 2003-2010. He is passionate about arts and culture, being an artist and a drummer himself, and was instrumental in increasing funding for the arts, most notably amalgamating the three Civic Theatres.

Crawford is endorsed by Mayor John Tory.

Corey David is a member of Socialist Action Canada who ran in the 2021 Ward 22 by-election. He placed 15th with 79 votes. While David’s current platform isn’t available, his priorities from 2021 include affordable and regulated hoising, anti-racism, police defunding, and advocating for the elimination of private schools.

Parthi Kandavel is the incumbent TDSB Trustee for Ward 18 and has held office since 2014. Kandavel is a longtime resident of Scarborough-Southwest and an advocate for public education, serving on the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association as a director since 2014 and later, vice president from 2016 to 2017.

Philip Mills is an 11-year resident of southwest Scarborough and a concierge supervisor at a downtown condominium. He cites affordability as one of his key concerns for the city, proposing a municipal minimum wage that reflects the city’s higher cost of living relative to the rest of Ontario. His platform also includes decreased funding to the Toronto police, increasing TTC funding with the intent of reducing fares, and improving parks and recreation facilities.

Kevin Rupasinghe is a community advocate with a background in electrical and cities engineering. He is the former campaigns manager for Cycle Toronto, an organization that educates city cyclists and advocates for safer biking infrastructure in Toronto. Rupasinghe’s campaign includes affordable housing, road safety and climate policies. He is a resident of Cliffside, within Ward 20, and emphasizes the importance of having elected leaders be from within the areas they represent. Rupasinghe is endorsed by Progress Toronto.