Ward 5 — York South-Weston

Biography: Sharmarke Ali is a graduate student at the University of Toronto, currently pursuing a master’s degree in economics.

Ali’s campaign website says he has a background in computer science.

Platform: If elected, Ali says he will work on creating stable housing and increasing affordability. His campaign website says that he will quicken the pace of creating affordable housing, including rental housing, and support policies that protect tenants.

Ail also says that he supports small businesses, and promises to simplify city permits and licensing. He wants to make local transit frequent and reliable, and support safe street design for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Ward 5 candidate also aims to plant more trees in urban areas, invest more in parks and recreation, and work on building more mentorship programs and employment for youth.

Biography: Matthew Boateng’s campaign website says he’s a reverend and a music teacher.

Platform: If elected, Boateng says he will advocate for affordable rental housing within the ward, be tougher on illegal rent increases, unfixed repairs and renovictions, and support fair TTC fares.

When it comes to community safety, Boateng says he will aim to be preventative by funding youth programs, including late-night recreation programs. He also says he will fix public infrastructure like street lights, Toronto Community Housing buildings, and neglected public spaces. Boateng also says he will increase mental health crisis response services.

The Ward 5 candidate says he will also invest heavily in stormwater and flood mitigation within the Rockcliffe-Smythe neighbourhood and other flood-prone areas.

Biography: Daniel Di Giorgio is the chair of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, and trustee for Ward 10. In 2022 he was cleared by the board’s integrity commissioner in an investigation following complaints of alleged misconduct. They found that Di Giorgio made offensive remarks about social justice policies backed by other school trustees in an Italian-language newspaper in late 2021. The integrity commissioner quit, believing that the school board violated its own policies and the Education Act when it moved into a private session during a special meeting to defer its investigation report.

Di Giorgio ran for MPP as a Liberal in York South-Weston in the 2025 provincial election. He came in second place out of six candidates, losing by a margin of 0.5% per cent.

In January this year, Di Giorgio criticized the city’s plan to close down Weston Lions Arena and replace it with an MLSE launch pad, arguing that the city did not consult the ward’s residents and that it “would have never happened in a more affluent area of the city.” He also claims that the province and the city could fund both the arena and the MLSE launch pad.

Di Giorgio also started a petition earlier this year that opposed the city’s plan to allow the redevelopment of the Keele North Park Plaza into a mixed-use space with mid-rise buildings, residential units and a public park.

In June, Di Giorgio said he’s in support of mayoral candidate Brad Bradford.

Platform: If elected, Di Giorgio says he will fund more police, with a goal to hire 1,000 new officers over four years.

The Ward 5 candidate says he would also bring a commercial parking levy for retail plaza owners and large parking lots.

According to his campaign website, Di Giorgio says he will prioritize “rising crime,” traffic, transit, property taxes, parks and public spaces, and “thoughtful” development.

Biography: Little information is available online about Maryama Farah. Someone of the same name was a representative of the Black Law Students’ Association of Osgoode Hall Law School for the 2024-2025 academic year. She is listed as a “student-at-law.” at a Toronto-based law firm and a student member at large within the Ontario Bar Association. The Local was not able to confirm that this is the candidate in question.

Platform: Information about Farah’s platform is not available at this time.

Biography: Little information is available online about Ahmed Mawel. His campaign website says that he works as a legislative assistant at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. His name was mentioned in a 2023 parliament session report, where he is referred to as the assistant to the now-former Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod.

Platform: Mawel’s campaign website says that he will push for more affordable housing within Ward 5, and advocate for better transit service and connections.

He also says he will push for consistent park maintenance, and maintain street lights, sidewalks and roads.

When it comes to supporting local businesses, Mawel says he will “cut red tape” as a means for them to thrive and create more jobs.

Biography: Frances Nunziata is the current councillor for Ward 5, a position she’s held since 1997. She began her political career when she was elected school board trustee in 1985. She was the mayor of the City of York from 1994 to 1997, before the city was amalgamated in January 1998. During the 2022 election, she won by a slight margin of 94 votes.

The city councillor is also on several committees and boards, including the planning and housing committee where she’s also vice chair.

Nunziata was generally aligned with John Tory on city council, voting the same way as the mayor on a majority of the votes during his tenure.

During her time in office, Nunziata has worked on the future of the Weston Lions Arena in her ward, has been in favour of building affordable housing through the multi-unit residential acquisition program (MURA), pushed negotiated with the province to establish a stop in Weston along the Union-Pearson Express line, and supported plans to expand George Brown Polytechnic to her riding.

She also advocated for a “no-fault grant” to support residents impacted by flooding in flood-prone Rockcliffe, and expressed her support to build a Somali Community Cultural and Recreation Centre.

In the winter of 2023, Nunziata voted against declaring homelessness a public health crisis and providing 24/7 warming spaces till spring. In 2025, she voted in favour of removing encampments that were “within 200 metres of a school, daycare, or playground within 24 hours of being reported.”

In 2024, the Office of the Integrity Commissioner Toronto released a report claiming that Nunziata’s campaign team sent out emails to constituents during the 2022 election, with some asking for their vote, going against council’s code of conduct. The report states that Nunziata’s chief of staff gathered roughly 8,000 email addresses without consent. Nunziata expressed “sincere disappointment and regret” about her office’s code of conduct violation.

In 2026, she voted in favour of asking the provincial and federal government for more funding for supportive housing.

Platform: Nunziata’s campaign website says that she’s in favour strengthening renters’ rights via RentSafeTO, a bylaw enforcement program, and investing in youth employment. She is opposed to defunding the police.

The Ward 5 incumbent also says she will prioritize building “more than 1,400 new homes and 600 affordable units.” However, Nunziata says she will not “engage in political stunts” that she believes are harmful to tenants.

Biography: According to her website, Nekpen Obasogie is an author and a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Her website states that she is also the founder of the Canadian Council for Family Services, an organization that the site describes as catering to newcomers, families, and youth.

Platform: Obasogie’s campaign website says she’s in support of affordable and equitable housing, improving public infrastructure including transit, creating “an accessible and equitable community centre,” and supporting local businesses in the ward.

Biography: According to her website, Chiara Padovani works with the North York Harvest Food Bank as a social worker. She is also the former co-chair of and one of the founders of the York South-Weston Tenants’ Union, an organization that supported tenants fighting for affordable rent, among other rights. The union has since expanded citywide.

In 2025, Padovani criticized the province’s Bill 60, arguing that it would harm tenants’ rights and make it easier for landlords to evict tenants.

Padovani has run for councillor in Ward 5 twice. In 2018, she came in third place with 20 per cent of the votes. In 2022, she came in second place, losing to long-time incumbent Frances Nunziata by 94 votes.

In a video posted on X in 2024, the Ward 5 candidate claimed that Frances Nunziata’s campaign team “cheated,” after the city’s Integrity Commissioner released a report claiming that constituent contact information had been transferred to her 2022 campaign. The report found that approximately 8,000 constituent email addresses were recorded and “personally transferred” by Nunziata’s chief of staff and that some were used to send campaign messages soliciting votes, a violation of Council’s Code of Conduct.

In July of this year, the Labour Toronto & York Region Council endorsed Padovani, as did Progress Toronto. Padovani was also endorsed by former York South-Weston MPPs Paul Ferreira and Odoardo Di Santo, both part of the New Democratic Party.

Platform: While Padovani has yet to release a platform online, in June she organized a block party to educate residents in flood-prone Rockliffe about flood prevention, while also consulting with them on how to better support the community.

She posted a video series on how she would improve the Weston Road and Lawrence Avenue West intersection, which includes raising the intersection to the height of the sidewalk.

On Facebook, she proposed the City mandate rent-control on all buildings on city-owned land, enforce harsher penalties for neglectful landlords, and hire more RentSafeTO inspectors.

Biography: Sileen Phillips is a children and youth coordinator within the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, including within the ministry of the Church of St. Peter and St. Simon-the-Apostle. Her campaign website says that she’s also a minister at a church in North York. She is described on the site as having “25 years of federal experience in the compliance, interpretation, and enforcement of legislation,” though it is unclear in what capacity. She says she has worked in elections administration.

Platform: Phillips’ campaign website says that she’s in favour of community land trusts, better protections for tenants, and flood prevention for homes. She also says that she will prioritise reliable transit, supporting local businesses, and preserving green spaces, among other issues.