Ward 22 — Scarborough-Agincourt

Biography: Madhuri Azad is a licensed Ontario lawyer and a community volunteer. She is also the Ward 20 representative of the Parent Involvement Advisory Committee within the Toronto District School Board, and a member of the Criminal Lawyers Association.

Platform: Azad says her campaign is about “building a safer, stronger, and more connected Ward 22.” Her campaign website lists cost of living, transit, small businesses, affordable housing and safe communities as her priorities.

Biography: Bill Chan is a former police officer. His website says he worked with the Toronto Police Service (TPS) for nearly 15 years. He also says he was the executive director of what’s now called The Cross Cultural Community Services Association, an organization that helps newcomers to Canada settle in the GTA. He is listed as the president of the ForPeople Community Support Association, a nonprofit that provides services to the Chinese community in Canada.

Chan is currently endorsed by David Lowe, president of the International Police Association – Canada Section’s northern Ontario chapter and Dave McCormack, a retired superintendent of TPS.

Platform: Chan’s campaign website lists six priorities: communication, housing, accessibility, neighbourhood, growth, and environment.

Biography: Jackson Ho is a cameraman for TFO, an educational channel in French. Ho’s LinkedIn says he’s also the founder of an upholstery company specializing in marine vessels.

Platform: In an Instagram post, Ho says his campaign is about “safer streets, better transit, thriving local businesses, and a City Hall that listens to residents.” He wants to see more investment in the suburbs of Toronto, better regulation of e-bikes and scooters, more affordable housing units created out of existing housing stock, and prioritizing the Sheppard subway extension. He wants more community engagement from police to improve trust.

Biography: Serge Khatchadourian is the owner and lead technician of Sterling Auto Centre, a car repair shop that has been in Scarborough for decades. In 2021 he ran for the Ward 22 Councillor seat during the by-election, and subsequently ran for the same seat in 2022, coming in fifth place out of six candidates. During the election campaign season he told the Scarborough Mirror that more police should be involved and should show up for the “small stuff.”

Platform: Khatchadourian’s campaign website lists safety, improving transit and its infrastructure, affordable housing, and investing in youth and senior programs as his priorities.

Biography: Rakhee Kotecha is a real estate agent, and, according to LinkedIn, a support manager at Canada Post. She also cites a decade of experience on her condo board.

Platform: On Kotecha’s campaign website, she says she prioritizes reliable transit, safer streets, growing infrastructure, and responsible public spending.

Biography: Little information is available online about Aaron Lal. In June 2022, he spoke to Scarborough Community Council criticizing the city’s plans to demolish rental housing on Silver Springs Boulevard to build rental buildings and town houses, saying the city didn’t adequately consult with the residents, and that local trees and wildlife would be affected. At the time, he said he and the community would want the city to reduce the maximum building heights from 22 to 10-12 storeys, and to preserve the existing trees. City council approved the development plans in July 2022.

Lal has also advocated to “speed up” construction of the Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre.

Platform: On Facebook, Lal says he will provide transparency on what’s happening in Ward 22, and advocate for fairer housing conditions.

Biography: Dan Lovell says he’s a teacher at Bur Oaks Secondary School in Markham and a member of the teaching trade union the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. In 2025 he ran as the NDP candidate for the same ward during the federal election, placing last out of three candidates.

Lovell is currently endorsed by the Labour Toronto and York Region Council, and former NDP MPP David Warner.

Platform: If elected, Lovell says he will freeze property taxes, make the TTC free for youth and seniors, create a public grocery chain to make groceries more affordable, and build public and affordable housing. He also says he would push city council to restore the Bridletown Neighbourhood Centre, while posting quarterly updates to keep residents informed.

When it comes to snow clearance, Lovell says he would advocate to cancel “shoddy private contracts” and hire city employees to remove snow on sidewalks.

Lovell says bike lanes need to be “separated from traffic” to ensure safety for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers.

On his campaign website, Lovell also says he would eliminate Toronto’s “bubble zone” bylaw that prohibits certain demonstrations within 50 metres of places of worship, school, and daycare centres. He describes the bylaw as a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He’s also a proponent for reducing the city’s police budget and reallocating funds to supportive housing systems, afterschool, youth and job programs, which he believes would prevent crime.

Biography: Nick Mantas, a former staffer for councillor Jim Karygiannis, was first elected in a 2021 by-election after Karygiannis was removed from office for violating spending rules in his 2018 election campaign. Mantas was re-elected in 2022 with nearly 50% of the vote. He had previously worked as a Senate policy advisor.

On Council, Mantas was briefly on the TTC board; he currently sits on the Economic and Community Development Committee and the boards of the Toronto Zoo and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

Mantas has generally been in favour of densification and affordable housing motions, although he voted against permitting mid-rises on streets designated as Avenues. He voted against establishing rooming house regulations and grants for rooming house renovations to bring them up to code. He was one of the few councillors to vote against objecting to the province’s plan to remove bike lanes, and the only councillor to vote against reimbursing the churches and community groups who stepped up to temporarily house refugee claimants turned away from City shelters.

In 2023, he racked up over $16,000 in expenses for a trip to a sustainable cities conference in Torino, Italy; Council eventually voted to reimburse him. In 2024, he successfully moved to declare December “Christian Heritage Month.” He also successfully put forward a motion to identify the steps necessary to deal with the City’s tree maintenance backlog.

Mantas is endorsed by Jean Yip and Aris Babikian, respectively the current MP and MPP for Scarborough—Agincourt.

Platform: Mantas has not released a detailed policy platform at the time of publication. On his website, he mentions safer neighbourhoods, better parks, and more opportunities for youth.

Biography: Little information is available online about Donny Morgan. He says he is a small business owner. In 2022 and 2025, Morgan ran for provincial parliament as part of the Ontario party, a party formed to be further right than the Progressive Conservatives.

Platform: Morgan says he would donate the equivalent of $33,000 of his salary to monthly community food drives. The number comes from the councillor salary increase city council approved in 2025.

He wants to tackle community safety through improved preventative infrastructure, and take a compassion-driven approach to homelessness.

Morgan also says he supports affordable housing and tenant protection, including a rent freeze for two to three years. On his campaign website, he says he’s a proponent for reliable transit, supporting local businesses, and safe neighbourhoods.

In an Instagram post, Morgan says studies and consultations need to be done before building more bike lanes.

Biography: Little information is available online about Sindia Vijayarajan. She was most recently listed as a student at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2022.

Platform: Vijayarajan is against property tax increases. She wants to restructure the TTC’s spending, beginning with the Ontario line expenses—however, that project falls under the province’s mandate and is not paid for by the city. She proposes extended library hours, expanding flood mitigation programs run by the city, and defunding the police.