Independent candidate for Mayor of Toronto
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam
PhD, P.Eng.
Toronto needs an engineer.
Power back to the people.
Let’s engineer our solutions.
Money in your pocket. Homes for all. Justice for all.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng. has spent three decades researching, building, and creating grassroots movements, and she’s done asking the architects of the problem to fix it. Fix what we have, spend honestly, put people first, and put power back in the hands of the people.
Mark your calendar · election day October 26
Election day · October 26, 2026
Countdown to election day
19
days until Monday, October 26, 2026
Toronto needs an engineer. Mark your calendar, and vote.
Accessibility · CNIB
Accessible transit for people who are blind, partially sighted, or Deafblind
Public commitment with CNIB: consult, remove barriers, and report in the open. The full Accessible Ontario Pledge stays on this page.
Latest from TikTok
From @bahiraabdulsalam
Campaign news
What’s new
Remembering Palestine because every life is sacred, freezing the police budget and moving the money into what actually prevents harm, and protected bike lanes that keep people safe, last, and give the public value for its money.
Oct 7 · Campaign
Remembering Palestine
Every life is sacred. Justice cannot be partial.
Oct 5 · Campaign
Defund and Reinvest: A Community Safety Plan for Toronto
Freeze the police budget and move the money into what actually prevents harm.
Oct 4 · Campaign
Protected bike lanes
Protected bike lanes keep people safe, last, and give the public value for its money.
In the media
Bahira in the media
Salaamedia interview – watch on this page
Bridge City News interview
Seven promises
What I’ll deliver for Toronto
A plan built around what a mayor actually controls — with the honest work of fighting for the rest.
Promise 1
Fix what we have
Toronto manages ~$215B in infrastructure and an ~$18B repair backlog. I’m an engineer — fix what we own first. Special case: the Gardiner — I will take charge of city properties, not hand them to the province. Get it back. Get it fixed. Toronto is not for sale.
Promise 2
Homes you can afford
Keep public land public and put homes you can own on top of it — plus more affordable housing and real protection for tenants.
Promise 3
Transit that shows up
A free TTC for everyone, running often and on time. This city needs to flow more smoothly.
Promise 4
No more blank cheques
Honest budgets, open books, independent audits, a live projects dashboard, and a full public accounting of World Cup spending.
Promise 5
Build local opportunity first
Local businesses and hiring first, neighbourhood incubators in empty storefronts, and lower taxes for small business.
Promise 6
A city that educates, includes and grows
Libraries, affordable child care, accessibility, and a city that treats every resident equally.
Promise 7
Community safety
Guns and trafficking, violence interruption, the drug crisis as safety and health, a safer TTC, and ending human trafficking — with accountable policing and real supports.
Read the full plan
Toronto in Motion · Safety · Housing · Full plan · Donate · Get a lawn sign
Not a career politician. An engineer who fixes what’s broken.
I’ve spent my career building things that have to stand up, and holding the work to a standard. Toronto’s problems were built by the same people asking to keep managing them. It’s time to change the rules of the game.
About Bahira
An engineer for a city that has to work
Let’s engineer our solutions.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng. is an educator and structural and composite engineer, a former professor of construction project management in Ontario’s colleges, a published researcher, and founder of several grassroots movements, including the Be The Change Movement.
She holds a PhD in structural engineering from Université de Sherbrooke (Québec), a professional engineering licence, and has spent three decades researching, building, and creating grassroots movements. She ran for Mayor of Toronto in 2023 and works in English, French, and Arabic, seven years in Québec.
Expert in advanced composite materials for structural repair and rehabilitation, including internal reinforcement, grounded in her PhD research on FRP-reinforced concrete and professional structural engineering practice.
I am an independent candidate for Mayor of Toronto. I have ended my involvement with the Liberal Party of Canada, and I am not affiliated with any political party. I answer to Torontonians, not party leadership.
Research: PhD thesis · Google Scholar · ResearchGate
Her pitch is simple: bring an engineer’s discipline to City Hall, fix what we have, spend honestly, and put people first.
A fearless voice and defender of human rights for all.
My pledge to every resident
I will value every Toronto resident equally (regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender or colour) with equal dignity and fairness in city services, in hiring, and in decisions. I stand with every community in this city, without exception.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam
Independent · No party affiliation · Educator · PhD, P.Eng. · Founder, Be The Change Movement
Award-winning
Recognition for academic excellence, engineering leadership, and community service.
- Médaille du mérite Léonard de Vinci (Medal of Merit Leonard de Vinci), Faculty of Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, November 2013 (the faculty’s highest student honour for academic, extracurricular, and professional merit.)
- Dream Phase Winner: AEM Infrastructure Vision 2050 Challenge (2016), for InfinitPipe® with QuakeWrap, jointless composite pipe manufactured onsite. Read →
- Bourse des ingénieurs-professeurs: Faculty of Engineering scholarship, Université de Sherbrooke.
- Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Award: for community service; selected via Hon. Robert Oliphant, MP for Don Valley West (announced January 2023).
- Humanitarian Award: Women Helping Women Foundation Canada, International Women Leadership Conference and Award (April 2024).
Professional & community service
Ongoing roles in engineering peer review, mentoring, and community education.
Has served as a board member and on committees for several nonprofit and academic organizations (roles listed below).
Engineering & research
- Mentor: Black Engineers of Canada | Ingénieurs Noirs du Canada (Mar 2023-Present)
- Review Editor: Frontiers in Built Environment (Sustainable Design and Construction) (Dec 2022-Present)
- Judge: How to Change the World (Mar 2023-Present)
- Voting Member, ACI 440 subcommittee (research and development): American Concrete Institute (Nov 2022-Present)
- Technical Reviewer: Journal of the Institute of Conservation (Jan 2020-Present)
- Technical Reviewer: ASTM International (Advances in Civil Engineering Materials) (Jan 2018-Present)
- Guest Editor: ASCE (Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction) (May 2020-Present)
Community & education
- Women Committee Member: Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) (Apr 2023-Present)
- Parent Council Member: TDSB Community Services (Sep 2022-Present)
- Parent Engagement Committee Workgroup Member: TDSB Community Services (Feb 2023-Present)
- Parent representative, Ward 14: French as a Second Language Community Advisory Committee (FSACAC), Toronto District School Board (reelected; sworn in June 10, 2025-Present), advocating for French-language programming and parents across Ward 14 schools
- Former co-representative, Parent Involvement Advisory Committee (PIAC), Ward 14, TDSB (elected March 2023), parent voice for Ward 14’s schools (17 elementary + 3 secondary)
- Vice President of the student union and student representative, Faculty of Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, represented Faculty of Engineering students during her PhD years in Québec
- Board Member: BAM – Books Art Music Collective (Oct 2020-Present)
Media coverage
In the News
Selected interviews and coverage from Toronto’s mayoral by-election and beyond.
Featured · Radio interview
Zoomer Radio AM740
The Morning Zoom with Sam & Jane · June 15, 2023
96.7 FM / AM740, Toronto
Joined The Morning Zoom for a candidate interview during Toronto’s 2023 mayoral by-election.
Featured · Podcast interview
Respark Your Life (Raymond Aaron)
Ep. 211 — Immigrant to Mayor · May 11, 2023
Podcast interview
Interviewed by Raymond Aaron on her journey as an immigrant engineer running for mayor of Toronto.
More coverage
Candidate survey / election guide
The Green Line
2023
Featured in The Green Line’s 2023 Toronto mayoral election guide, sharing a vision for a more just, inclusive city.
News feature
Toronto Observer
June 25, 2023
Interviewed on Toronto’s housing shortage and the contributions of immigrants to the city.
Equal dignity for every Torontonian
Every human being has equal value
As Mayor of Toronto, I will stand for a simple principle: every human being has equal value. Every single one.
Toronto is home to people of different races, religions, cultures, languages and backgrounds. Our differences should never determine whose dignity is respected, whose safety matters, or whose voice deserves to be heard.
No race is superior. No community is disposable. No child, family, senior, newcomer or longtime resident should ever be treated as though their life matters less than another.
A great city is not measured only by its buildings, budgets and infrastructure. It is measured by how we treat one another — especially when we disagree.
Toronto needs leadership that confronts racism, hatred and discrimination while protecting the dignity and equal rights of everyone.
I want Toronto to be a city where we choose humanity over division, justice over discrimination, and compassion over indifference.
Love, justice and a little more kindness — for everyone, without exception.
Accessibility for people with disabilities
I endorse the Accessible Ontario Pledge
The AODA Alliance asked Ontario’s political parties to make a clear 10-point Accessible Ontario Pledge after the province missed the January 1, 2025 accessibility deadline. As an independent candidate for Mayor of Toronto, I endorse that pledge.
What a mayor can deliver: finish TTC accessibility, keep elevators working and fix Wheel-Trans; clear sidewalks and curb cuts; expand accessible and supportive housing on city land; and expand tax and utility relief for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
What I’ll fight for at Queen’s Park: strong AODA leadership and enforcement; education, health-care, built-environment and accessible-housing standards; no backsliding on disability rights; accessible elections; and reform of Ontario’s broken human-rights complaint process, the full Accessible Ontario Pledge roadmap.
- 1. Meet and work with the disability community, including the AODA Alliance
- 2. Strong leadership and a public multi-year accessibility action plan
- 3. No backsliding on the AODA or disability rights
- 4. Stronger accessibility standards: including education, health care, built environment, and housing
- 5. Faster development of accessibility standards
- 6. Real AODA enforcement with public reporting
- 7. Use every lever of government so public money never creates new barriers
- 8. Accessible provincial and municipal elections
- 9. Remove new disability barriers created by government decisions
- 10. Fix Ontario’s dysfunctional human-rights tribunal process
Read the full pledge on the AODA Alliance website. Endorsing this pledge is not an endorsement of this campaign by the AODA Alliance.
Justice for all
I pledge to fight anti-Palestinian racism
As an independent candidate for Mayor of Toronto, I endorse the Vote Palestine call to address anti-Palestinian racism and protect freedom of expression on Palestine, and I endorse the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) framework for naming and confronting anti-Palestinian racism.
ACLA describes anti-Palestinian racism as a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. I oppose anti-Palestinian racism the same way I oppose Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Black racism, and every form of hate directed at any community.
What a mayor can deliver: equal dignity and fairness in city services, hiring, and decisions; protect the right to peaceful protest and speech in public space; strengthen Access T.O. so every resident can use city services without fear; and make sure city institutions do not silence, exclude, or defame Palestinians or their allies.
What I’ll fight for beyond City Hall: full recognition of anti-Palestinian racism in Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy and in Ontario’s anti-racism work; protection of free expression and civil rights for peaceful advocacy for Palestinian rights, including Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS); and an end to the chilling of speech in workplaces, schools, universities, and public institutions.
- Name and fight anti-Palestinian racism using the ACLA framework
- Protect peaceful advocacy and free expression on Palestine
- Fair city services and hiring for every resident, without exception
- Stand against Islamophobia and antisemitism alongside anti-Palestinian racism
Learn more: Vote Palestine platform · ACLA anti-Palestinian racism resources. Endorsing these frameworks is not an endorsement of this campaign by Vote Palestine or ACLA.
Community safety initiatives
A mayor leads the files that matter most. I answer for the whole city, but some files are too important to hand off and hope for the best. Four carry my name, my time, and my accountability: community safety, infrastructure, housing, and transit.
I will take the Mayor’s seat on the Toronto Police Service Board myself.
The board sets police priorities, hires and holds the Chief accountable, and approves the largest single budget in the city. That is not a table to send a stand-in to. As a member I’ll push for policing that reduces harm: real accountability, spending justified line by line, and community safety built with neighbourhoods, not imposed on them. If a decision affects a community, that community is consulted first.
Everyone deserves to feel safe: on their street, in their park, and on the TTC. Gun violence and the drug crisis are tearing at neighbourhoods, and I won’t look away.
1. Guns & trafficking
Focused, accountable policing through the Police Services Board against illegal guns and gun trafficking. Disrupt supply with police and partners.
2. Violence interruption
Expand proven violence-interruption and youth outreach that reaches kids before crews do. Keep young people in recreation and community centres, not on the corner.
3. Drug crisis: safety & health
Treat the drug crisis as both public safety and public health: more treatment and harm-reduction where it saves lives, more enforcement against traffickers, and crisis workers so overdose and mental-health calls get the right response.
4. Safer TTC
More staff and lighting, well-kept public spaces, and results for every safety dollar, not just a bigger budget.
5. Protect children & end trafficking
Resource human-trafficking and child-exploitation units through the Police Services Board, strengthen the city’s End Trafficking strategy and survivor supports, and require anti-trafficking training and reporting in hotel, rideshare and short-term-rental licensing.
6. What I’ll fight for
Courts, bail, firearms law, border guns and major drug prosecutions are provincial and federal. I’ll press for tools and funding that hold violent offenders accountable and support victims.
Housing accountability supports safer neighbourhoods too. Neglected buildings and opaque rental conditions hurt communities. See the Toronto Rental Registry plan for maintained, accountable housing.
Honest budgets · Community safety
Police funding must buy safety — not waste.
I will not hand the Toronto Police Service a huge budget that isn’t used effectively. Every resident deserves to feel safe — and every tax dollar for policing should show results: lower gun violence, faster response where it matters, safer TTC, and real accountability through the Police Services Board.
Context: Toronto’s 2026 police operating budget is about $1.70 billion gross / $1.43 billion net — roughly a $94 million (7%) increase over 2025. That’s a large share of city spending. Size alone is not a safety plan.
Results, not blank cheques
Fund what works. Demand clear outcomes for overtime, hiring, and specialty units — results for every safety dollar, not just a bigger budget.
Accountable through the Board
I take the Mayor’s seat myself — not a stand-in. That board sets priorities, hires and holds the Chief accountable, and approves the city’s largest budget. I’ll push for policing that reduces harm: real accountability, spending justified line by line, transparent reporting, no access-for-donors culture, and community safety built with neighbourhoods — if a decision affects a community, that community is consulted first.
Safety is more than policing
Violence interruption, youth outreach, crisis response, treatment, and community centres prevent harm before a cruiser is the only tool left. Fund prevention alongside enforcement.
Safe streets. Honest books. Power back to the people.
Trust and justice with Indigenous peoples
Toronto is built on Indigenous land, traditional territory of many nations, covered by Treaty 13 and the Williams Treaties. A land acknowledgement matters. Restoring trust and justice takes action.
Reconciliation measured in action, not words, in city land, naming, hiring, and genuine partnership with Indigenous communities.
We can’t get ahead by violating human rights. That is the moral floor.
A wealthy country where First Nations still boil drinking water is a political choice about whose life is endangered.
Land is our greatest wealth, once land and waters are damaged, money cannot buy them back. Homes and lands are not for sale.
1. City land
Use city land decisions as reconciliation in practice, partnership on how public land is held, shared, and developed, not as a one-time announcement.
2. Naming
Names on streets, places, and city spaces should honour Indigenous peoples and history, decided with communities, not imposed on them.
3. Hiring
Indigenous people should see themselves in city hiring and leadership, real pathways into city work, not token representation.
4. Genuine partnership
Work with Indigenous nations and urban Indigenous organizations as partners, listen first, fund Indigenous-led priorities, and follow through.
5. Honour the treaties
Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties. City decisions should respect those relationships, not treat them as history only.
6. Honest about power
Many tools of justice sit with the province and Ottawa. Where city hall can act, I will. Where it can’t, I’ll fight openly, and say the difference.
Signature policy · Clear the Lanes
Toronto in Motion
A plan to get the city unstuck
The problem
Toronto is one of the most gridlocked cities in Canada. Last year the average driver lost about 100 hours (more than four full days) sitting in traffic. Here’s what City Hall won’t say out loud: we already own the fastest way to move people, and we let it crawl in traffic behind private cars.
Nearly 80 million streetcar rides last year, and four of the TTC’s five busiest surface routes are streetcars. One streetcar carries about 250 people; a bus carries 50 to 90. We don’t have a streetcar problem. We have a transit-trapped-in-traffic problem. Free, frequent, on-time transit is how we win riders back and cut gridlock.
Manage it, complain about it, or fix it
Olivia Chow manages congestion, her plan is literally called the “Congestion Management Plan.” Brad Bradford complains about it, with a slogan and light-rail promises that carry no rider until 2030. I’ll fix it. I’m an engineer: diagnose the real bottleneck and fix the flow. That’s the whole job.
Keep the TTC ours
The TTC must stay publicly owned and municipally governed: accountable to riders, not privatized, and not run by Queen’s Park or Metrolinx for local fare and service decisions. I will fight Bill 98 and any move that strips Toronto of final authority over fares, service, and operations. Local control is how we deliver free, reliable transit, not surrender the keys.
The plan
Clear the Lanes · RapidTO
Clear the Lanes means dedicated transit lanes and signal priority as a connected network, including RapidTO bus and streetcar corridors. Keep the streetcars and free them from traffic.
Streetcar reform, network-wide
Priority lanes, signal priority, accessible boarding, left-turn bans where they trap lines, and real enforcement against blockers. One streetcar moves ~250 people, trapping it in traffic is a policy failure.
Stop the blockers
One illegally-parked car freezes a whole line. Enforce it.
Slow zones & state of good repair
Eliminate subway slow zones with real state-of-good-repair funding, repair-first capital, not another study. More frequent service, not cuts.
Smart signals & hotspot surgery
Signals that respond to real traffic, on a published timeline. Right vehicle, right route, the numbers decide, not ideology.
Dig once
Coordinated construction and real lane-closure fees. Open a street, fix it, reopen it, once.
Free TTC, freeze, Fair Pass, students
My destination is a free, reliable TTC. Until full free transit is funded: a fare freeze, lower monthly/weekly caps, Fair Pass phase 3 for low-income riders, and partnerships with colleges and universities on student affordability. Free transit is a congestion plan, it gets people out of cars.
Accessibility that shows up
Fully fund the TTC’s 10-year wayfinding strategy; protect and expand door-to-door Wheel-Trans; prioritize curb clearing at Wheel-Trans, bus, and streetcar stops after snowstorms, pay for verified hours cleared, not standby theatre.
Safer TTC, care first
Expand Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) across the TTC network; platform edge doors starting at busy stations like Bloor-Yonge; more staff visibility and lighting. Mental-health crisis response belongs with trained crisis workers.
Housing upstream of the TTC
Upstream housing and shelters so no one has to sleep on the TTC. Housing-first, supportive housing, and real options, the subway is not a shelter system.
The Gardiner
140,000 vehicles a day. “It isn’t ours anymore” is not an answer. Negotiate hard with the province for real fixes, not a fantasy tunnel.
How we pay for it
Tax the billionaires: press Queen’s Park and Ottawa for operating and capital dollars from wealth and corporate fair-share tools those governments can actually levy, so riders are not the cash cow. City tools I control: a commercial parking levy (a small daily charge on non-residential spaces) raises about $100-108 million a year on the City’s 2025 staff estimate, dedicated to getting the city moving, with no toll booths. Already used in New York, Montreal, Vancouver, Chicago and San Francisco.
The bottom line
Chow manages congestion. Bradford complains about it. I’ll end it: by getting transit out of traffic, keeping local control of the TTC, and funding service so fares aren’t the plan.
Let’s get Toronto moving.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng. · Founder, Be The Change Movement · bahira.ca
Special case · Fix what we have
The Gardiner is not for sale.
Toronto is not for sale.
The Gardiner Expressway is one of Toronto’s most important assets. Uploading it to the province is the worst answer a mayor can give, it walks away from the job instead of fixing what we own. Toronto is not for sale.
As mayor, I will take charge of city properties. I will not hand them to the province. I’m an engineer who has spent an academic and professional life researching how to make our structures safer and more durable. I will get the Gardiner back, and get it fixed.
- Take charge of city properties: no handoff to the province
- Engineer’s standard: safer, more durable structures from a lifetime of research and practice
- Get it back. Get it fixed.: repair-first, not walk-away
Get it back. Get it fixed. Power back to the people.
Parking & traffic tickets
Fair tickets, not a cash grab
Tickets should keep people safe and keep streets clear, not quietly pad a budget. As mayor, I’ll reform what City Hall controls, and press Queen’s Park hard on what it doesn’t.
City Hall, parking tickets
Most parking tickets are a City Hall file. I’ll reform so penalties are fair, the rules are clear, and disputes and payment are workable, not a maze designed to wear people down. Enforcement should focus on real safety and access problems: hydrants, accessible spots, and blocking transit or bike lanes, not gotcha revenue.
Queen’s Park, moving & traffic tickets
Speeding, red-light, and most other moving tickets sit under the provincial Highway Traffic Act. A mayor can’t rewrite the fine schedule alone, but I will press Queen’s Park for fair fine schedules. The city still influences camera programs and enforcement priorities, and I’ll use that leverage so safety comes first, not a cash grab.
City Hall, buildings & parking that actually works
I’ll require buildings to meet real standards for parking spots: proper dimensions, accessible parking that actually works, and no fake or inadequate spots that only look fine on paper.
City Hall delivers parking bylaws, enforcement priorities, disputes/payment systems, and building parking standards. I’ll fight at Queen’s Park for fair HTA fine schedules, and use every city lever on cameras and priorities in the meantime.
Engineer’s approach to congestion
Partner with traffic-innovation institutions
Toronto already has world-class traffic research sitting next door to City Hall. As mayor, I’ll partner with those institutions so proven tools get onto our streets, not stuck in papers and pilots.
Who I’ll work with: the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute (UTTRI) and its ITS Centre and Testbed; Toronto Metropolitan University and other Ontario universities doing intelligent-transportation work; ITS Canada and applied tech partners; and City Transportation Services / TTC so operations and research stay in the same room.
- Scale adaptive and AI signal control that’s already been tested with the City of Toronto
- Use evidence (delay, safety, transit reliability) before locking in corridor changes
- Train city staff and keep a standing innovation pipeline, not one-off pilots that die
- Keep public data and privacy standards clear when sensors and cameras support the network
City Hall delivers the partnership agenda, signal network, and deployment budget. These institutions advise and co-develop, they don’t run the city. Naming them is not an endorsement of this campaign.
Special case · Public land
The waterfront and islands are not for sale.
Toronto is not for sale.
Little Norway Park, the Toronto Islands, and our harbourfront belong to the people of Toronto — not to a provincial land grab for airport expansion, and not to private interests that treat the waterfront as a deal to flip.
Ontario’s Bill 110 gave the province power over city waterfront and island land tied to Billy Bishop expansion. Ottawa rejected jets after Torontonians said no. The law that seized that power is still on the books. As mayor, I will fight to repeal it, return the land to Toronto, and keep our parks and islands public.
Repeal Bill 110
End the provincial power grab. Return Little Norway Park and Toronto Islands land to city control.
No jets. No land flip.
Protect the waterfront from airport expansion that trades parks, housing, and quiet shores for noise, pollution, and congestion.
Public waterfront forever
Stand with Torontonians defending parks and islands — keep harbour land for people, nature, and a city that works.
Return our waterfront. Keep the islands public. Power back to the people.
Shelter & homelessness
A real answer to homelessness
Shelter is never a destination — an emergency bed is a bridge to a permanent home. The mayor runs Toronto’s shelter system. I will make it safe, humane, and housing-focused — and keep demanding the housing, health, and income supports only the province and Ottawa can fully fund.
Organizing principle
Shelter is never a destination — an emergency bed is a bridge to a permanent home.
Where we are
About ~8,925 people used Toronto’s shelter system on a single night in Nov 2025, and about ~9,637 were “actively homeless” over the prior 3 months — more than doubled in 3 years. On average about ~148 people were turned away nightly in Sep 2025 (down from 200+ in 2024 as fewer refugee claimants). The City is opening 1,275 additional shelter spaces for winter 2025–26; advocates say it is still not enough.
Toronto Public Health: about ~300 deaths of people experiencing homelessness in 2023; 331 in 2022; for women experiencing homelessness the median age of death was 36; overdose is a leading cause — why safe women-only spaces matter. People get stuck without permanent housing exits — HousingTO 2020–2030 is the spine.
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Move people home — every shelter stay paired with a housing plan and a worker; expand housing-focused shelter, rapid rehousing, rent supports, and supportive housing; ties to keeping public land public.
Deliver
No one turned away into the cold — expand capacity and 24h respite; end nightly turn-aways; year-round planning, not a winter scramble.
Deliver
Safety, privacy, dignity as standards city-wide — protect and expand women-only and family spaces; trauma-informed design; more private/single-room capacity; staffing, security, health and harm-reduction; a working complaint process.
Deliver
Single-user universal washrooms across the shelter system and all city facilities — private, lockable, accessible.
Deliver
Encampments — humane: offer indoor options people will accept (safe, private, room for a partner, pet, and belongings) plus a real path to housing — not sweeps-first.
What I’ll fight for
Housing, health, and income supports need the province and Ottawa — a mayor pushes for them.
Advocate
Supportive housing, mental health/addictions, and income supports funding.
Advocate
A fair federal share of asylum-claimant costs downloaded onto the city.
Honest line
The mayor runs the shelter system and can make it safe, humane, and housing-focused, ending homelessness needs the province and Ottawa on housing, health, and income. Deliver the first; never stop demanding the second.
An emergency bed is a bridge. Permanent homes (and the care that keeps people in them) are the destination.
Housing
Housing First — Learn from Finland, Deliver for Toronto
Finland cut homelessness by treating a home as the starting point, not the prize at the end of a maze. Housing First: people get a permanent place to live, then optional supports for mental health, addiction, and daily living – without making sobriety or perfect compliance the ticket in the door.
Toronto can learn that lesson without copying Helsinki wholesale. Our costs, laws, and shelter system are different. The principle travels: housing is the foundation; treatment and services wrap around it; shelter stays an emergency bridge, not a destination.
What the City can Deliver
Make Housing First the organizing rule for exits from shelter and encampments: every stay paired with a path to a permanent or long-term home and a worker who follows through.
Expand supportive and rapid-rehousing stock on public and partnered land – including well-run tiny-home and modular options where they meet safety and dignity standards – so people are not stuck waiting for a perfect apartment that never comes.
Separate housing from punishment: do not require treatment completion before offering a key; offer treatment, harm reduction, and recovery as available supports once housed.
Fund and coordinate on-site and mobile supports (case management, mental health, addiction care, life skills) so tenancies stick.
Measure what Finland measures in spirit: fewer people homeless, shorter shelter stays, successful housing retention – publish the numbers.
What we will Advocate
Queen’s Park and Ottawa capital and operating dollars for supportive housing at the scale Housing First needs.
Income and health supports so rent and care are stable after someone is housed.
Honest line: Finland shows Housing First works when government builds enough homes and funds the supports. A Toronto mayor runs shelters, land, and partnerships; ending homelessness still needs the province and Ottawa. Deliver the city side; demand the rest.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Small business
Supporting Small Businesses and Getting Toronto Back to Business.
More business on our streets, not empty towers and shuttered shops. We’ll use every city lever to help local firms start, bid, and stay, and we’ll call employers back downtown so the sidewalks fill again.
Organizing principle
Toronto’s small businesses are the backbone of our neighbourhoods. Stability, affordability, and bringing customers back. Grow and keep local shops on our main streets. Neighbourhood incubators in empty storefronts. Fairer taxes for small business. Put Toronto firms in a position to win city work. Call employers back downtown so daytime commerce fills the shops under the towers.
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Fair property taxes. Review how Toronto’s property-tax system hits small businesses and commercial tenants, including tax pass-through in rent. Push targeted relief for genuinely small, locally owned businesses while protecting funding for essential services. Cut the small-business property tax toward the provincial maximum discount, and narrow the commercial-residential gap.
Deliver
Cut red tape. Simpler permits, coordinated inspections, clearer timelines, and a real one-stop window for entrepreneurs. One-window permits and licences so starting and staying open is workable.
Deliver
Support during construction. Better coordination when the City digs up a street: maintain pedestrian and customer access, stronger signage and communications, and examine targeted assistance where prolonged City construction causes serious economic harm.
Deliver
Bring life back to main streets. Clean, safe, accessible commercial areas; reliable transit; functioning infrastructure; and public spaces people want to shop and eat in. Back BIAs and buy-local. Pair that with incubators and a vacancy tax aimed at absentee owners hoarding empty storefronts, not small active businesses.
Deliver
Break big city contracts into smaller, bid-able lots. Lower bonding and insurance barriers so local firms can actually compete.
Deliver
Pay vendors promptly and buy local wherever the rules allow.
Deliver
Neighbourhood incubators in empty city buildings and storefronts in Scarborough, Etobicoke, and North York, not just downtown.
Deliver
Tie the city’s own building program to local hiring, apprenticeships, and first-job pathways.
Deliver
Lead by example on downtown foot traffic. Bring City Hall workforce back into civic workplaces where the job allows, so downtown and district centres have daytime foot traffic again. Use the mayor’s bully pulpit: meet large downtown employers and ask them to restore hybrid and in-office norms that refill main streets. Pair that with BIAs, vacancy tax on absentee landlords, buy local, and incubators, so return-to-office is about saving the shops under the towers, not punishing workers.
Empty towers kill the shops underneath them. As mayor I’ll lead City Hall back downtown and call on big employers to do the same. I can’t write their HR policy, but I will use every city tool and every meeting to put people back on our main streets.
Working only from home for too long leaves too many people alone. That’s hard on mental health. Isolation from long spells of working only from home can wear on people: loss of routine, colleagues, and everyday human contact. Getting people back into workplaces and onto main streets restores connection. As mayor I’ll lead City Hall back and ask big employers to bring teams together again, for our main streets and for the people behind the screens. This is not a clinical diagnosis, not a ban on remote work, and not a new mental-health program. It is a co-benefit of bringing people together again.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Commercial rent stability. Stronger provincial protections against extreme and unpredictable commercial rent increases. Explore any City tools that help protect independents from displacement, without inventing municipal rent-control powers the city does not have.
Advocate
Broader affordability so independent shops can compete with large corporations. Costs that crush Main Street crush neighbourhoods.
Advocate
A fair shot for local talent and colleges. Student intake levels and college funding are federal and provincial. I’ll advocate for a system that’s planned, not broken.
Make it easier to open a business, more affordable to keep it open, and easier for Torontonians to support it. Toronto doesn’t need small businesses simply to survive. We need them to thrive, and we need to get our city back to business.
Build for sustainability and scale: partner with BIAs and local firms so main-street growth lasts, collaborations that help neighbourhood businesses grow without losing what makes them local.
Honest line: A mayor controls city taxes, permitting, procurement, and city space, and uses those to put local business first. A mayor can ask and lead; a mayor cannot order private companies’ remote-work policy, and City Hall cannot invent municipal commercial rent control. Employment standards and commercial tenancy rules sit largely with the province. We use every city lever that fills sidewalks, we make the case to employers, and we push Queen’s Park on rent stability and broader affordability. Broader tax and education systems need Queen’s Park too.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Responsible renting
Responsible Renting Toronto
Protect Good Tenants. Support Responsible Landlords. Hold Bad Actors Accountable.
Nearly half of Torontonians rent their homes. Every renter deserves a home that is safe, healthy and properly maintained. At the same time, responsible landlords – including small landlords who provide an important part of Toronto’s rental housing – deserve a system that is fair, predictable and accountable.
My approach will not begin by labelling either landlords or tenants as the problem.
It will begin with evidence.
1. Crack Down on Negligent and Repeat-Offender Landlords
Toronto will aggressively enforce health, safety and property standards against landlords who repeatedly refuse to maintain their buildings.
We will strengthen enforcement against serious and documented problems including unsafe conditions, unresolved pest infestations, mould, lack of heat or water, elevators and common areas, structural or safety issues, ignored repairs and repeated property-standard violations.
Pest control is a housing standard. Cockroaches, bedbugs, mice, rats and similar infestations require prompt, professional treatment and building-wide follow-through where infestations spread. Escalate fines for landlords who leave units or buildings untreated after complaints or orders.
Clear accountability for corporate landlords: escalating municipal penalties that bite, not a cost of doing business. Escalate when landlords ignore orders or the same building piles up open work orders.
Where violations continue after reasonable opportunities to comply, the City should escalate enforcement and use the powers already available to it.
2. Protect Responsible Landlords Too
Toronto’s rental system depends on responsible housing providers, including individuals and families who rent out a basement apartment, condominium or second property.
They should not be treated as though they are responsible for the behaviour of negligent landlords.
The City will provide clearer information and navigation assistance to landlords dealing with serious tenancy problems such as substantial property damage, persistent non-payment of rent, safety concerns or serious interference with other residents. City processes should not bury responsible small landlords who follow the law in red tape when they have a legitimate case.
Where an issue falls under provincial jurisdiction, the City will help residents understand how to access the Landlord and Tenant Board rather than pretending Toronto has powers it does not possess.
3. Create a Toronto Rental Housing Accountability Dashboard
Before spending millions of dollars on another enforcement initiative, Torontonians should be able to see the evidence.
I will require transparent reporting of:
• rental-property complaints received by the City
• inspections conducted
• confirmed violations
• repeat violations
• orders issued and compliance rates
• average resolution times
• buildings with serious outstanding violations
• enforcement costs and outcomes
We should distinguish between a complaint, an alleged violation and a confirmed violation.
Policy should be based on verified evidence, not political labels.
4. Expand Transparency for Rental Buildings
Toronto already evaluates buildings through RentSafeTO. I will make this information easier for prospective tenants to understand before signing a lease.
Tenants should be able to check significant outstanding property-standard violations and relevant building information.
Transparency creates an incentive for landlords to maintain their properties while helping renters make informed decisions.
5. Establish a Rental Housing Resolution Service
Many landlord-tenant problems should not require months of conflict.
I will establish a City navigation and early-resolution service to help tenants and landlords understand:
• their rights and responsibilities
• which level of government has jurisdiction
• available mediation and community services
• City inspection and enforcement processes
• when an issue must go to the Landlord and Tenant Board
The objective will be to resolve appropriate disputes earlier while directing serious cases quickly to the proper authority.
Prevention before eviction: connect tenants in temporary financial hardship to available supports before housing problems become homelessness.
6. Protect Tenants from Retaliation and Illegal Practices
Tenants must be able to report unsafe housing conditions without fear.
No tolerance for illegal lockouts, harassment or retaliation against tenants who exercise legal rights. Toronto will strengthen education and enforcement within municipal authority concerning property standards and will connect tenants facing possible illegal eviction, harassment or other Residential Tenancies Act issues with appropriate provincial and legal resources.
7. Protect Toronto’s Rental Housing Supply
We cannot solve the housing crisis by driving responsible rental providers out of the market.
Toronto needs purpose-built rental housing, affordable housing, co-ops, non-profit housing and responsible private rental housing.
My administration will examine municipal fees, approval delays and unnecessary regulatory barriers that make creating legitimate rental housing more difficult, while maintaining strong health and safety standards.
8. Advocate for a Faster and Fairer Landlord and Tenant Board
Many of the most important landlord-tenant disputes fall under Ontario’s jurisdiction, not Toronto’s.
As Mayor, I will advocate for an accessible and timely Landlord and Tenant Board where both tenants and landlords receive due process and cases involving housing security, serious maintenance problems, rent arrears or substantial property damage can be resolved without unreasonable delay.
When there is clear evidence of serious or repeated non-payment, deliberate damage, violence or conduct that threatens other residents’ safety, lawful decisions should not face endless delay.
I will also advocate for stronger protection against bad-faith evictions and renovictions – accountability where legal processes are deliberately abused to flip units for much higher rent – and for provincial rental legislation that delivers both housing security and accountability.
Honest line: Faster process cannot mean easier abuse of tenants’ rights. A mayor uses Toronto’s enforcement powers where the City has jurisdiction (property standards, bylaws, Municipal Licensing and Standards, prevention) and advocates to Queen’s Park for provincial rental law and Landlord and Tenant Board reform. A mayor does not rewrite the Residential Tenancies Act or run the LTB.
One Standard: Responsibility
A tenant paying rent deserves a safe and properly maintained home.
A responsible landlord deserves protection of their property and a fair process when tenancy obligations are seriously breached.
Neither landlords nor tenants should be stereotyped because of the misconduct of a minority.
My housing policy will therefore be based on a simple principle:
Protect responsible tenants. Support responsible landlords. Hold proven bad actors accountable – and publish the evidence.
That is how we build a rental system based on fairness, housing security and mutual responsibility.
Related: A Toronto Rental Registry for rent transparency and unit-level accountability.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Rental registry · Housing transparency
A Toronto Rental Registry: Bringing Transparency and Accountability to Our Housing Market
Toronto has a housing affordability problem and a housing-information problem. We talk about rents, renovictions, neglected buildings, and affordability, yet the City still lacks one system showing what is happening to rental housing unit by unit. As Mayor, I would pursue a Toronto Residential Rental Registry and Rent Transparency System, learning from Dubai’s Ejari while designing for Ontario law and Toronto’s market.
Organizing principle
Know the property. Know the rent. Know the history. Protect personal privacy. Make information work for the public.
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Close the RentSafeTO information gap. RentSafeTO covers rental apartment buildings with at least three storeys and 10 units: registration, evaluations, complaints, and published scores. It is a building-standards program, not a registry of individual tenancies, and it skips condos, townhouses, and basement apartments. Examine how Toronto can close that gap.
Deliver
Secure digital registry of rental units and new tenancies, within Toronto authority, Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, and privacy law. Record address and unit, owner or authorized manager, tenancy start and end, rent at start, later registered rent changes, rent-control status, and relevant City property-standard data. Tenant names and personal information stay off public search.
Deliver
Pre-lease transparency for renters. Before signing, look up useful unit facts. Example framing only: prior rent $2,050 vs advertised $2,600, when that tenancy ended, whether rent control applies, and outstanding City property-standard violations. Ontario’s guideline generally limits increases during a covered tenancy, not on turnover. Units first occupied after November 15, 2018 are often exempt.
Deliver
Protect good tenants and good landlords. Not an anti-landlord system. A verified record of rent, dates, and responsible owner or manager can cut factual disputes. Good landlords can show proper registration and compliance. Integrate with RentSafeTO instead of another disconnected bureaucracy. From June 2026, registered buildings also show colour-coded score signs.
Deliver
Better anonymized rental data for policy. Track rents by neighbourhood, building type, and unit type; tenancy changes; rapid-increase areas; secondary rental supply; and whether affordability policies work. Registration can become data infrastructure, a lesson from Dubai’s Ejari without copying it blindly.
Deliver
Public business case before any savings claim. Do not invent millions in taxpayer savings before analysis. Possible savings: less duplicated admin, automated verification, prioritizing higher-risk buildings, resolving facts online, and RentSafeTO integration. Toronto already charges RentSafeTO owners a 2026 annual fee of $30.82 per residential unit, plus cost-recovery fees for audits and some enforcement. Require a public business case: implementation cost + annual operating cost + anticipated admin savings + cost-recovery revenue + measurable enforcement-streamlining savings before any millions claim.
Deliver
One registration, one record, better accountability. Longer term, connect rental registration, property standards, inspections, outstanding orders, and other legally publishable property information so residents are not forced through multiple databases to understand a home’s condition and history.
Deliver
Staff legal, tech, and financial business case. Ask City staff for the legal, technological, and financial business case, consulting tenants, small landlords, institutional providers, privacy experts, and the Province of Ontario.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Provincial alignment under the Residential Tenancies Act so a Toronto registry works with Ontario rent-guideline, turnover, and exemption rules rather than inventing City power the RTA does not grant.
Advocate
Privacy-respecting coordination with the Province where it improves tenant protection and housing policy without putting tenant personal information on a public search.
Honest line: Pursue a registry within City authority and Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act. Tenant personal information is not publicly searchable. Do not invent millions in taxpayer savings before a public business case. Housing transparency will not solve Toronto’s housing crisis by itself, but we cannot properly manage a housing market that we cannot properly see.
Toronto can learn from international cities without copying them blindly. Dubai’s Ejari shows what systematic rental registration makes possible. Toronto already has RentSafeTO and substantial housing data infrastructure. The next question is how those tools can be connected and expanded within Ontario law.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Housing partnerships
Public, Private & Community Partnerships for Housing
Toronto can’t end homelessness and the housing shortage with City Hall alone. Pair government with school boards, provincial agencies, public institutions, non-profits, faith groups, universities, health institutions, and responsible private owners. Turn vacant and underused space into homes through collaboration that is sustainable and scalable.
Organizing principle
Toronto can’t end homelessness and the housing shortage with City Hall alone. Pair government with school boards, provincial agencies, public institutions, non-profits, faith groups, universities, health institutions, and responsible private owners. Turn vacant and underused space into homes through collaboration that is sustainable and scalable.
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
One-stop partnership office for organizations and owners ready to offer land or buildings for affordable housing, supportive housing, or emergency and transitional shelter.
Deliver
Fast-track appropriate conversions and affordable projects. Keep building, fire, and safety standards.
Deliver
Targeted municipal incentives within city authority (expedited planning and permits, appropriate fee relief, technical help, rehab programs) only where there is measurable public benefit.
Deliver
Where taxpayers give significant help: binding agreements on affordability depth, safety, accessibility, maintenance, and how long units stay affordable. Transparent public reporting of incentives given versus homes delivered.
Deliver
Partner with non-profit and community housing operators to run suitable properties.
Deliver
Encourage long-term leases and land partnerships so owners need not sell to participate.
Deliver
Match underused properties (including parking areas and underused buildings that don’t compromise essential operations) with groups that can renovate, finance, and operate.
Deliver
Actively connect owners to housing providers, financing, and government programs instead of leaving suitable buildings empty while people sleep in shelters or outside.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Provincial agencies, school boards, and other public institutions to bring their surplus and underused assets into the partnership pipeline.
Advocate
Senior-government financing and programs that make conversions and supportive housing viable.
Build partnerships for sustainability and scale: collaboration across public, private, and community partners so empty spaces become safe homes and stay affordable over time.
Honest line: Government does not have to own every building to create affordable housing. A mayor convenes land, financing, and operators, and never trades public incentives for vague promises.
Identify what Toronto already has, repair what can be repaired, unlock underused land and buildings, turn empty spaces into safe homes.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Housing
Housing is the crisis
Housing is the crisis behind every other crisis in this city. I’ll act on two tracks: build what we need for the long term, and help people today.
Long term, the city builds
Public land stays public
I will never sell or give city land to developers. We’ll build homes on it through community land trusts and long-term land leases, so families can own a home at a fraction of the market price while the land stays public forever.
Affordable homes come first
Approvals move faster for projects that deliver real affordability.
Tiny homes and modular homes, built fast
Well-designed tiny homes in backyards, alongside garden and laneway suites, and small-home communities on vacant city land, with proper heat, water, safety and support services.
Innovation that builds faster, cheaper and better
I’m an engineer who researches stronger, longer-lasting building materials. Factory-built homes assembled in months, pre-approved designs that skip months of permitting, empty offices turned into homes, and Toronto as a testing ground where our universities and local builders pilot new methods on public land.
Speculators pay their share
A stronger vacant-home tax and higher taxes on luxury properties and high-value sales, with every dollar going to affordable housing.
Right now, we help people stay housed
Eviction prevention
Emergency rent help and free legal support for tenants facing eviction or bad-faith renovictions.
Rent supports for families on the edge, and faster access to social and supportive housing.
Work with the people already doing this work
Faith groups, non-profits, co-ops and neighbourhood organizations get land, faster permits and real partnership from the city.
A one-year freeze on residential property taxes, and free transit that puts money back in people’s pockets every month.
Toronto will no longer throw its people away. A home is not a luxury. It’s the foundation of every life in this city.
Child care
Universal Free Child Care Toronto
Child care is essential infrastructure for a working city.
As Mayor, I will work toward universal, $0-a-day licensed child care for Toronto families, beginning with children under six and expanding access as new spaces become available.
Toronto will not build a completely separate child-care bureaucracy. We will build on the billions already invested through the federal, provincial and municipal child-care system and use City resources strategically to eliminate the remaining parent fee.
Phase 1 – Make Child Care Free for Families Who Need It Most
We will begin by eliminating remaining child-care fees for lower-income Toronto families and work to eliminate the existing child-care fee-subsidy waiting list.
Phase 2 – Expand Toward Universal $0 Child Care
We will progressively expand eligibility to middle-income families and ultimately work toward eliminating base child-care fees for Toronto residents using participating licensed programs.
Our objective will be simple:
$0-a-day child care for Toronto families.
Phase 3 – Create the Spaces
Free child care means very little if parents cannot find a space.
Toronto will establish a Child Care Expansion Strategy using:
- City-owned land and buildings;
- community centres and other public facilities;
- partnerships with Toronto school boards;
- new affordable-housing developments;
- partnerships with nonprofit and community organizations; and
- incentives to incorporate child-care centres into appropriate new developments.
New spaces will be prioritized in neighbourhoods with the greatest shortages.
Invest in Early Childhood Educators
Universal child care cannot exist without the people who provide it.
Toronto will develop an ECE workforce strategy focused on recruitment, retention, working conditions and competitive compensation so that new centres have qualified professionals to operate them.
Protect Toronto Taxpayers
Toronto residents already contribute through their federal, provincial and municipal taxes.
My administration will negotiate aggressively with Ontario and the federal government to maximize their contributions before asking Toronto property taxpayers to finance additional costs.
The City will publish annually:
How much child care costs.
How much Ottawa contributes.
How much Ontario contributes.
How much Toronto contributes.
How many children receive care.
How many families are waiting.
How many new spaces are being created.
Universal child care must be universal not only in price, but also in availability.
Our long-term goal is a Toronto where parents do not have to choose between working and caring for their children, and where access to safe, high-quality child care does not depend on a family’s income.
Universal access. Quality care. $0-a-day for Toronto families.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Health care
Health care that reaches everyone
In a city this rich, no one should go without care because they don’t speak English, can’t read a form, can’t afford the bus, or are afraid to ask.
Hospitals and doctors are funded by the province, and I’ll push hard for more of them in the neighbourhoods that have too few. But the city runs services that keep people healthy every day, and I’ll make sure they reach everyone.
Bring services to people
Mobile health and public-health clinics in underserved neighbourhoods, in partnership with hospitals, universities and community health centres. Services in libraries and community hubs, where people already go.
One door, real help
Plain-language information in the languages Torontonians speak, and trained navigators who help people find and access the services they need, not just a phone number.
Care in a crisis
Expand the mental-health crisis response, so a person in distress is met by a trained responder, and keep paramedics properly staffed.
Access for all, without fear
Residents can use city services regardless of immigration status. Seniors and people with disabilities get accessible transit, help to age at home, and quality city-run long-term care. And free transit means no one misses an appointment because they can’t pay the fare.
My pledge is simple: every resident valued equally, regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender or colour. Equal access is how that pledge becomes real.
Students
Invest in students
Students are the future of this city, and right now Toronto is making it too hard for them to stay. This fall, Queen’s Park cut OSAP grants, so students are graduating with more debt than ever. The city can’t set tuition, but it can open doors.
Free training for the jobs Toronto needs
The city will pay tuition for residents who train as transit operators, early childhood educators, paramedics, skilled tradespeople and city engineers, in exchange for working for the city.
A Toronto promise bursary
Support for students from low-income neighbourhoods, and for those OSAP shuts out entirely, like undocumented students and refugee claimants, with colleges, universities and business partners matching the city’s share.
Free learning in every library
Courses, tutoring, language classes and certification prep at Toronto Public Library, open to everyone, whatever their status. Plus late-night study space.
Housing they can afford
Student housing on public land near campuses, and a crackdown on landlords who rent unsafe, overcrowded rooms to students afraid to complain.
Getting around for free
Free transit means students spend money on food and books, not fares.
A first job in Toronto
Paid placements, co-ops and apprenticeships with the city, so graduates build their careers here.
Support when it’s hard
More mental health support, in partnership with campuses and community organizations.
The right to speak
Students have the right to speak, organize and protest peacefully in public spaces, whatever cause they stand for.
And I’ll lead cities, students and colleges in pressing Queen’s Park to restore the grants it cut.
I taught in Ontario’s colleges. I know what students give this city. Toronto will invest in them.
Responsible technology
Responsible Technology, Fairness & a Livable City
Toronto must use new tools without abandoning old duties: dignity, fairness, and a planet we can live on.
Responsible use of AI
As Mayor, I will set clear municipal standards for how City Hall uses artificial intelligence: transparency about where AI is used in city services, human oversight on decisions that affect residents, privacy protection, and no automated decision-making that locks people out of housing, benefits, or justice without a real human review path.
No affiliation with genocidal actors
City partnerships, procurement, and civic platforms should not normalize or reward actors engaged in genocide or crimes against humanity. Toronto’s purchasing, sponsorships, and institutional affiliations should reflect that moral floor.
Reduce income inequality and wealth inequality
A working city narrows the gap, not widens it. City Hall will use the levers it controls – fair taxes and relief for those who need them, living wages on city work, local opportunity, affordable housing and child care, and honest budgets – so ordinary Torontonians are not left carrying the load while wealth concentrates.
Climate change and environmental protection
Protect people and the commons: cut city energy waste, green city buildings and projects, fix water and flood infrastructure, grow canopy and clean air and water, and plan for a climate-ready Toronto – without selling off the land and water that belong to the public.
General concepts. Detail lives in the Plan planks already on this site (energy, green buildings, water, housing, child care, property-tax fairness, and more).
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Public health
Protecting Torontonians from Online Gambling Harm
Online gambling is being pushed aggressively at Torontonians – including young people and families already under financial stress. Addiction, debt, and predatory marketing do not stay online. They show up in homes, workplaces, and neighbourhoods across our city.
I will use every lawful municipal power available to protect Toronto residents, particularly children and vulnerable families, from the harms and aggressive promotion of online gambling, while pressing the Province for stronger regulation.
What the City can Deliver
Use every lawful municipal tool to limit harmful advertising and promotion of online gambling where the City has authority – including city property, city digital channels, and city-controlled public spaces.
Strengthen public-health and community partnerships so families, youth, and people in financial distress can find clear information and support related to gambling harm.
Require honest disclosure and cautionary messaging wherever the City permits gambling-related promotion under its control.
Direct city agencies and partners to treat gambling harm as a public-health and consumer-protection issue, not just a private problem.
What we will Advocate
Press Queen’s Park for stronger regulation of online gambling operators – tighter advertising rules, better age and identity safeguards, and real accountability when companies target vulnerable people.
Call for coordinated provincial-municipal action so Toronto is not left alone dealing with the human and social costs of aggressive online gambling promotion.
Support evidence-based harm reduction and recovery supports, and reject approaches that normalize constant gambling advertising as ordinary city life.
Toronto should not be a marketing playground for industries that profit from addiction. Residents – especially children and vulnerable families – deserve a City that uses its power to protect them.
Fiscal accountability
Forensic Budget Review
If elected Mayor, I will order a forensic-style review of Toronto’s $18.9 billion operating budget and $63.1 billion 10-year capital plan, so residents can see where money actually goes.
What the review will do
- map the largest operating and capital expenditures
- flag major increases since 2023
- separate one-time spikes from structural growth
- show what is tax-supported vs rate-supported
- publish a plain-language public report with findings and recommended next steps
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Commission and publish the review in the first year. Open the data so Torontonians can follow the money.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Queen’s Park and Ottawa where provincial or federal rules lock in waste or block savings.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Property tax
Property Tax Geared to Income
A One-Year Freeze, Followed by Fairness Based on Ability to Pay
Toronto is becoming increasingly unaffordable. Property taxes, housing costs, utilities, food, transportation and everyday expenses are putting enormous pressure on families, seniors and people living on fixed or modest incomes.
A home may increase in assessed value, but that does not mean the person living in it has more money in their bank account.
A senior who bought a home decades ago may now live in a valuable property while surviving on a modest pension. A family may have experienced a job loss or reduction in income. A homeowner’s property value can rise substantially without their salary rising at all.
My proposal is therefore based on a simple principle:
Property-tax policy should recognize people’s ability to pay, not simply the value of the roof over their heads.
As Mayor, I would introduce a two-stage Property Tax Affordability and Fairness Plan.
1. Freeze residential property-tax increases for one year
For the first budget under my administration, I would propose no increase in Toronto’s residential municipal property-tax rate, subject to Council approval and adoption of a balanced City budget.
The freeze would give homeowners immediate breathing room while my administration undertakes a comprehensive review of City finances.
This would not mean abandoning public services. It would mean requiring the City to examine its spending before automatically asking residents for more money.
Toronto’s 2026 operating budget is approximately $18.86 billion, of which approximately $5.79 billion comes from property-tax revenue. The City’s 10-year capital plan is approximately $63.06 billion.
During the freeze year, my administration would undertake a comprehensive expenditure and value-for-money review focusing on major contracts, consulting expenditures, administrative duplication, procurement, project overruns, capital-project management, vacancies and unnecessary expenditures.
Essential frontline services – including transit, emergency services, housing, infrastructure maintenance and services supporting vulnerable residents – would be evaluated separately from opportunities to reduce waste and improve efficiency.
The results would be published for Torontonians to see.
2. Introduce Property Tax Geared to Income
After the freeze year, I would work toward a permanent Property Tax Geared to Income framework.
Toronto would continue to levy property taxes within Ontario’s municipal taxation system, but qualifying owner-occupied households would receive income-tested protection against future municipal property-tax increases.
I would ask City finance and legal staff to develop and cost a sliding-scale model for Council consideration.
An initial model for study would be:
Household income below $60,000: protection from 100% of the annual municipal property-tax increase.
$60,000–$80,000: protection from 75% of the increase.
$80,000–$100,000: protection from 50% of the increase.
$100,000–$120,000: protection from 25% of the increase.
Above $120,000: regular property-tax treatment.
These brackets are proposed starting points. Before implementation, they would be independently costed using Toronto household-income and property-tax data, and the final thresholds would be considered publicly by Council.
Income thresholds should also be indexed so that inflation does not gradually push households out of the program.
3. Protect seniors and people on fixed incomes
No senior should have to consider selling a longtime home simply because the neighbourhood became more expensive.
Toronto already recognizes this problem.
For 2026, the City’s Property Tax Increase Cancellation Program has a household-income ceiling of $62,000 and an assessment ceiling of $975,000, along with age/disability eligibility requirements. Toronto also operates a Property Tax Increase Deferral Program.
The City’s 2026 budget estimates approximately 12,000 households will benefit from existing property-tax relief programs.
My proposal would build on this existing infrastructure while examining how income-tested protection can be made available more broadly.
4. Expand the principle beyond age and disability
Financial hardship does not begin at age 65.
A 45-year-old parent who loses a job can face the same risk of losing a home as a retired homeowner.
A family earning $65,000 in Toronto can face serious affordability pressures even though they may not qualify for existing property-tax cancellation programs.
That is why I would ask the City to examine expanding income-tested protection beyond the existing senior and disability categories.
There is an important legal limitation that must be addressed transparently.
Section 283 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006 expressly provides for deferral, cancellation or other relief from property-tax increases for low-income seniors and low-income persons with disabilities.
My administration would therefore ask the City Solicitor to determine how far Toronto can expand income-tested relief using its existing authority.
Where provincial legislation is required, I would formally ask the Government of Ontario to amend the City of Toronto Act to provide Toronto with broader authority to establish income-tested residential property-tax relief.
I will not promise a mechanism that Toronto does not legally have the authority to establish.
5. Design the program carefully
A household should not receive ongoing relief simply because its income happens to be low in one particular year.
The program would therefore be designed with safeguards.
City staff would examine an appropriate principal-residence requirement, property-value ceiling, household-income definition, anti-avoidance provisions and treatment of unusual circumstances.
The objective is to protect ordinary Toronto households facing genuine affordability pressures – not create a tax loophole.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
6. Make applying simple
Toronto should not create another complicated bureaucracy.
The City already allows applicants for existing relief programs to have household income securely verified through the Canada Revenue Agency.
I would build on that system.
The goal would be a simple annual application with CRA income verification, clear eligibility requirements and an accessible alternative for residents who cannot apply digitally.
Residents should not need to hire an accountant to determine whether they qualify.
7. Renters must not be forgotten
More affordable property taxes for homeowners alone will not solve Toronto’s affordability crisis.
Renters also face increasing housing costs.
My administration would therefore develop renter-affordability measures alongside the property-tax program rather than claiming that homeowner tax relief automatically benefits tenants.
The principle should be consistent:
Housing affordability policies must protect people according to their economic circumstances, whether they own or rent their homes.
8. Small businesses need protection too
Toronto’s neighbourhood businesses are also struggling with rent, taxes, operating expenses and declining affordability.
Toronto already provides a reduced property-tax rate through its Small Business Property Tax Subclass; the City’s 2026 budget says the reduction applies to more than 28,000 small businesses.
My administration would review the effectiveness of this program and examine additional targeted relief for genuinely small and independent businesses, while ensuring that benefits intended for small businesses do not simply become subsidies for large corporations or commercial landlords.
9. Accountability before asking taxpayers for more
The principle behind this proposal goes beyond property taxes.
Before City Hall asks a family struggling with groceries, mortgage payments and utility bills for another dollar, residents deserve to know how the money already collected is being spent.
My administration would publish clear information about City spending, major contracts, capital-project costs, cost overruns and the results of expenditure reviews.
When additional revenue is genuinely necessary to maintain services, residents should be able to see why.
When savings can be achieved through better management, those savings should come before unnecessary increases.
The plan
Year One: FREEZE
Propose a one-year freeze on residential municipal property-tax increases while protecting essential services.
Year One: REVIEW
Conduct and publish a comprehensive review of City expenditures, major contracts, procurement and capital projects.
Year Two onward: REFORM
Introduce the broadest legally permissible income-tested property-tax relief program, subject to Council approval and detailed costing.
PROTECT
Give the greatest protection to lower-income homeowners, seniors and households experiencing genuine financial pressure.
MODERNIZE
Use existing CRA income-verification infrastructure to make applications straightforward.
SEEK PROVINCIAL AUTHORITY
Where Toronto’s existing legislation does not permit broader income-geared relief, formally seek amendments to the City of Toronto Act.
REPORT
Publish the program’s annual cost, number of households assisted, income distribution of recipients and impact on City revenues.
Freeze. Review. Reform.
My approach to property taxes is not simply about whether the annual increase is zero, two per cent or four per cent.
It asks a more fundamental question:
Who can actually afford to pay more?
I am proposing a one-year residential property-tax freeze while we examine City spending, followed by a new approach to property-tax relief based on household income and ability to pay.
Your home’s value can rise without your income rising.
A Toronto resident should not be pushed out of a longtime home simply because the value of the land underneath it increased.
Property Tax Geared to Income means protecting people’s homes while maintaining the revenues Toronto needs to provide the services we all depend on.
It is an approach based on affordability, fiscal responsibility, transparency and fairness.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Energy Efficiency
Stop Wasting Tax Dollars on Energy Waste
Stop wasting our tax dollars on energy waste. Energy is money. If elected Mayor, I will launch a city initiative to select the most cost-effective energy-saving upgrades for city-owned properties, developed in partnership with energy-efficiency companies and proven technologies, including geothermal systems that circulate energy from under the earth.
The initiative will
- Rank city-owned buildings by energy bills and savings potential
- Compare technologies on cost per dollar saved: geothermal, air-source heat pumps, LED lighting with sensors, smart building controls, and envelope upgrades
- Partner with energy-efficiency firms on performance-based deals where possible (pay for results, not promises)
- Start where payback is strongest, then scale across the portfolio
- Publish public savings scorecards so Torontonians see waste stopped and dollars returned to services
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Launch the cost-effectiveness initiative for city buildings in year one. Open the data on energy use and savings.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Queen’s Park and Ottawa to unlock retrofit and geothermal funding so Toronto taxpayers are not footing the bill alone.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Green buildings
Green Buildings & Recycling on City Projects
Upgrade every city project: build greener, waste less, save money. If elected Mayor, I will set clear green-building and recycling rules for city capital projects so tax dollars buy better buildings and less landfill.
What we’ll do
- require high-performance standards on new city builds and major renovations
- prefer reuse and retrofit first when it costs less over the life of the asset
- green procurement in city tenders: recycled content, efficient equipment, lower-carbon materials where cost-effective
- diversion targets on construction and demolition waste (wood, metal, concrete, drywall) with performance-based contracts
- reuse excavated materials and recycled aggregate where safe
- publish project scorecards: energy, waste diverted, dollars saved
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Green-building and circular-waste standards on city capital in year one. Public scorecards.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Provincial and federal green-building and circular-economy funds so Toronto isn’t paying alone.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Creativity
Creativity Across Toronto
Creativity is how Toronto invents and grows. If elected Mayor, I will make creativity a city priority: backing artists, makers, and innovators in every neighbourhood, and growing innovation hubs and incubators so new ideas have room to launch and scale.
What we’ll do
- grow affordable space for studios, makers, and community creative hubs
- expand innovation hubs and incubators for startups, inventors, and social enterprises
- cut red tape on murals and creative pop-ups: clearer rules, faster approvals
- put local creators into city projects and main-street revitalization
- fair supports beyond downtown: creativity in every district
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Year-one creativity and innovation-hub action: space, permits, neighbourhood fairness; publish where dollars go.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Provincial and federal cultural and innovation funds.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Heritage
Protecting Our Heritage
Heritage is our memory. If elected Mayor, I will protect the buildings, main streets, and cultural places that tell Toronto’s story: so growth doesn’t erase who we are.
What we’ll do
- strengthen heritage designation and conservation for significant buildings and streetscapes
- favour sensitive reuse of heritage properties over needless demolition where it can work
- respect historic character in city projects and neighbourhood planning
- support community stewardship of local heritage
- publish clear heritage decisions so residents can follow what’s protected and why
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Year-one heritage action: stronger conservation tools and transparent decisions.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
Provincial and federal heritage funds so Toronto isn’t carrying it alone.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
Water
Fix the pipes, stop the floods
Safe water and dry basements are infrastructure, not an afterthought.
Organizing principle
Safe water and dry basements are infrastructure, not an afterthought.
What a mayor can deliver
Deliver
Repair-first watermains and sewers. Cut breaks and boil-water risk on the city system we run.
Deliver
Speed basement flood protection (downspouts, backwater valves, sewer upgrades) where flooding repeats.
Deliver
Keep stormwater and wet-weather work on a published schedule. Dig once with roads where we can.
Deliver
Honest water rates. Every dollar for the system, open books, no quiet diversions.
Deliver
Protect Lake Ontario drinking-water intakes and beaches with city stormwater and pollution controls we control.
What I’ll fight for
Advocate
First Nations boil-water advisories. Lasting treatment is Ottawa and Queen’s Park. A mayor uses the voice.
Advocate
Provincial standards and funding for deeper flood and climate resilience beyond the city rate base.
Honest line: A mayor runs Toronto Water and the capital plan for pipes under our streets. Great Lakes rules and First Nations water sit with other governments. Deliver the first; never stop demanding the second.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729
A plan for Toronto
The full plan, and an honest split
Every plank is labelled by who has the power to deliver it. If it’s the city’s to do, I’ll do it. If it belongs to the province or Ottawa, I’ll fight for it, and tell you the difference.
● City Hall delivers this ● I’ll fight for this (provincial / federal)
Money in your pocket
Audit first, then build on what’s underway [City Hall delivers]
Toronto already has major builds in motion, the Ontario Line, Scarborough Subway Extension, Eglinton Crosstown West, Gardiner rehab, and waterfront / Port Lands work. I won’t throw them out. I will put an engineer’s audit on schedule, cost, contracts, and delivery first, then finish what works, fix what doesn’t, and stop waste before we add new megaprojects.
Some of these are provincial Metrolinx projects. City Hall still owes residents a clear audit of city costs, local impacts, and whether delivery matches the promise.
Snow cleared by the hour. New York style [City Hall delivers]
The problem: Toronto’s winter contracts lean hard on daily standby rates. A big share of the bill pays for equipment to sit ready, whether a plow clears your street or not. Residents still wait too long on side streets and sidewalks, and the city burns money on idle capacity instead of hours worked.
How this helps: Like New York City, we’ll pay supplemental labour and hired equipment by the hour when a storm hits (shovelers, operators, and plows) with published rates and verified hours. You pay for snow cleared, not for waiting. That frees budget for the crews who actually dig out neighbourhoods, brings local labour onto fair hourly shifts, and makes winter maintenance efficient instead of a blank cheque for standby.
Housing you can afford [City Hall delivers]
I’ll never sell off or give away public land to developers. We’ll keep it public and put homes you can own on top of it, through community land trusts and long-term (99-year) leases, so you own your home at a fraction of the price while the land stays public forever. Plus more affordable homes and real protection for tenants.
Rent rules and tenant law are provincial. I’ll press Queen’s Park to strengthen them.
A real answer to homelessness [City Hall delivers]
Shelter is never a destination, an emergency bed is a bridge to a permanent home.
About ~8,925 people used Toronto’s shelter system on a single night in Nov 2025, and about ~9,637 were “actively homeless” over the prior 3 months, more than doubled in 3 years. On average about ~148 people were turned away nightly in Sep 2025 (down from 200+ in 2024 as fewer refugee claimants). The City is opening 1,275 additional shelter spaces for winter 2025-26; advocates say it is still not enough.
Toronto Public Health: about ~300 deaths of people experiencing homelessness in 2023; 331 in 2022; for women experiencing homelessness the median age of death was 36; overdose is a leading cause, why safe women-only spaces matter. People get stuck without permanent housing exits. HousingTO 2020-2030 is the spine.
Deliver
Move people home: every shelter stay paired with housing plan + worker; expand housing-focused shelter, rapid rehousing, rent supports, supportive housing; ties to keeping public land public.
Deliver
No one turned away into the cold: expand capacity + 24h respite; end nightly turn-aways; year-round planning not winter scramble.
Deliver
Safety, privacy, dignity as standards city-wide: protect/expand women-only and family spaces; trauma-informed design; more private/single-room capacity; staffing, security, health/harm-reduction; working complaint process.
Deliver
Single-user universal washrooms across shelter system and all city facilities, private, lockable, accessible.
Deliver
Encampments, humane: offer indoor options people will accept (safe, private, room for partner/pet/belongings) + real path to housing; not sweeps-first.
Advocate
Supportive housing, mental health/addictions, income supports funding.
Advocate
Fair federal share of asylum-claimant costs downloaded onto the city.
Honest line: the mayor runs the shelter system and can make it safe, humane, and housing-focused, ending homelessness needs the province and Ottawa on housing, health, and income. Deliver the first; never stop demanding the second.
Tackle poverty, not just its symptoms [City Hall delivers]
In a city this wealthy, poverty is a choice we can change. Alongside homes people can afford, free transit and food security, I’ll use the tools only the city has: expand the Fair Pass so low-income residents get discounted transit and recreation, help people get the benefits they’re already owed, pay a living wage to city workers and contractors, and run a real, funded poverty-reduction plan with targets we actually track and report.
Hot lunch at school next year, end food insecurity for kids [City Hall delivers]
I commit to ending food insecurity at schools and delivering hot lunch to our children, hot lunch soon, starting next year. No kid in Toronto should sit through class hungry in a city this wealthy.
I’ll put City Hall behind universal hot-lunch delivery, funding, kitchens, and partnerships with schools and community agencies, so every student can get a real hot meal at school. I’ll also keep using the city’s land, kitchens and partnerships for community food programs, support for food banks, and community growing.
School boards and provincial education funding still matter. I’ll press Queen’s Park and the boards to match that commitment with full, permanent program funding.
Our roads, our transit, our traffic, our call.
Fix what we have, and keep it ours [City Hall delivers]
I’m an engineer, so I’ll start where the honesty starts: Toronto faces roughly an $18 billion 10-year state-of-good-repair funding gap (2025-2034): the City’s own Asset Management Plan gap versus the capital plan. Most of that pressure is transit and Toronto Community Housing, with about $2 billion on the road network and more on city facilities. Every year we defer maintenance, the bill grows and the risk rises. A city that can’t take care of what it already has hasn’t earned the right to announce anything new.
And I won’t do what the current deal does, give our infrastructure away to make the repair bill someone else’s problem. The Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway were built for Toronto, paid for by Toronto, and driven by Torontonians every day. Under the 2023 Ontario-Toronto New Deal, ownership and responsibility for the Gardiner and DVP are set to transfer to the province in fall 2027. They call it a win. I call it giving away the keys to our own city. When the province owns those highways, the province decides how they’re maintained, when they’re closed, whose priorities come first, and no Toronto resident can vote a premier out over a road in their own city.
Handing our own infrastructure to the province isn’t a deal. It’s a retreat. A confident city keeps what’s core to governing itself and demands fair funding as its right, not as a reward for surrendering control.
Deliver: a repair-first capital plan, fix and maintain what we own before announcing anything new, with condition data and engineering priority setting the schedule instead of the political calendar.
Deliver: refuse to complete the Gardiner/DVP handover and keep them in Toronto’s ownership, maintained and decided here.
Deliver: treat road safety on aging structures as a Toronto responsibility, an elevated expressway over people’s heads must answer to a government they can hold accountable.
Advocate: renegotiate the New Deal so a fair-funding arrangement leaves us in control, a fight to conduct from strength, not a switch a mayor flips alone.
Honest note: the upload is a signed intergovernmental agreement, and unwinding it takes provincial agreement. I won’t pretend a mayor can reverse it unilaterally. But no mayor is obligated to finish handing away a Toronto asset, and I won’t.
Run the network as one system [City Hall delivers]
You cannot fix traffic on a road you don’t control, and you cannot manage traffic one project at a time. Today the decisions about road work, transit construction, lane closures and detours are scattered across Transportation Services, the TTC, utility and watermain crews and private contractors that don’t coordinate. That fragmentation is the congestion problem.
Deliver: one coordinating authority over road and transit construction citywide, so corridors aren’t all torn up at once, detours are planned around real neighbourhoods, and the Gardiner and DVP are never fully disrupted in the same week. Not a new layer of bureaucracy, one accountable hand on a wheel too many people are grabbing at once.
Deliver: manage the space that clogs the core with a modest levy on large commercial parking lots, eases congestion where it’s worst and raises real money. The City’s 2025 staff estimate is about $100-108 million a year, dedicated to transit. This is not a toll on your commute.
Deliver: keep freight and deliveries moving with smarter loading rules, so a double-parked truck doesn’t shut a lane at rush hour.
Advocate: coordinate with provincial transit. Metrolinx and subway expansion, so the whole network is planned as one.
Transit that shows up, and it’s free [City Hall delivers]
The fastest way to get cars off a congested road is to give people a better option. So I’ll do what no Toronto mayor has had the courage to do: make the TTC free for everyone. Free transit is the most direct congestion relief there is, it puts money back in people’s pockets, and it treats transit as the public good it is, like a library or a park, not a turnstile business.
I won’t pretend property tax alone can carry this. Here is the honest funding spine: the TTC collects roughly $1.0-1.1 billion a year in passenger fare revenue: replacing that is the core annual cost of free fares, before any extra operating cost if ridership grows.
Deliver: the decision itself, the TTC is city-run, so making it fare-free is mine to make.
Deliver: fund it from what the city can reach, the commercial parking levy above, plus the luxury-home, vacant-home and high-value land-transfer taxes already in this platform.
Deliver: reliable service, frequency that shows up, working elevators, faster Wheel-Trans, and the accessibility work finished so every station serves everyone.
Deliver: phase it in, starting with the riders for whom the fare is the biggest barrier and building to universal, funded at every step, never a cliff.
Advocate: a permanent operating partner from the province and Ottawa, the way every other order of government funds the systems it depends on.
Streets that move, and keep people alive [City Hall delivers]
A street works when everyone on it gets home safely: the driver, the cyclist, the child walking to school, the senior crossing with a cane.
Deliver: a real Vision Zero effort at the intersections and corridors where people are actually being hurt, not a plan on a shelf.
Deliver: the basics that get ignored, accessible sidewalks and curb cuts, reliable sidewalk snow clearing, Seniors Safety Zones.
Deliver: a safe, connected cycling network. A lower court found that removing protected bike lanes would put people at risk (Cycle Toronto v. Ontario). The Court of Appeal overturned that ruling on August 14, 2026, and the province announced removal on September 1, 2026. Bahira will keep fighting for a safe network.
Fair pay and protection for the drivers who move us [City Hall delivers]
About 80,400 licensed private transportation company (Uber/Lyft) drivers were on Toronto’s books as of December 1, 2024. Too many tell the same story: a growing, opaque cut taken by the app; deactivation with no cause and no appeal; no pay for the time spent waiting and driving to pickups. Taxi and delivery work sit alongside this, and they deserve a fair floor too under the city’s Vehicle-for-Hire rules.
Deliver: use Toronto’s Vehicle-for-Hire licence to require full fare and commission transparency, deactivation protection (written cause, notice, a right of appeal), and a fair-earnings floor on the New York model, with a real voice for drivers in the rules that govern them.
Advocate: full employment rights (overtime, vacation, EI and CPP) which are a provincial and federal matter.
Fix what we have
A climate-ready, greener city [City Hall delivers]
Climate-resilient infrastructure is my field. Retrofit buildings (our biggest source of emissions), protect against flooding, grow the tree canopy, and electrify the city fleet on a real timeline.
The electricity grid and the building code are provincial. I’ll push for cleaner rules and sustained funding.
Honest, accountable government
Honest, evidence-based budgets [City Hall delivers]
Multi-year budgets, repair-first capital, and no election-year gimmicks. Decisions made on evidence, with the books open.
Keep property taxes fair [City Hall delivers]
Every tax dollar should be respected. I’ll hold property-tax increases as low as honest, evidence-based budgeting allows, through value-for-money, real audits and ending waste, not by hiding costs or backloading them past an election. I’ll expand tax and utility relief for low-income seniors and people with disabilities, keep growing the small-business discount, and make speculators, luxury owners and vacant properties pay their fair share, so ordinary homeowners aren’t left carrying the load.
Accountability for big projects & big events [City Hall delivers]
A live public dashboard for every major project (budget, forecast, changes, percent complete) independent gate reviews before a project advances or gets a top-up, and a full public accounting of World Cup spending. Where the city gets better value doing the work itself, I’ll bring it in-house with our own crews and local hourly hires instead of costly outside contracts, so public money buys results and local jobs, not contractor markups.
Clean government and open competition [City Hall delivers]
Lobbying transparency, no access-for-donors, close the dark-money loophole, and open, fair competition so small and mid-size businesses can win city work.
How I’ll use the mayor’s powers [City Hall delivers]
The province gave Toronto’s mayor strong powers. I will use them, for the people and against corruption and abuse of power.
I’ll use the budget authority to put residents first: free transit, affordable homes, and fixing what we have. I’ll use the veto to stop waste, blank cheques and deals made for insiders. I’ll use the hiring powers to remove anyone who abuses public trust and bring in leaders who deliver honestly, on time and on budget.
These powers will never be used to reward donors, protect friends or silence communities. Before I use them on a decision that affects a neighbourhood, the people there will be heard first, and I’ll publish what they said and how it shaped the outcome.
Strong powers in the wrong hands serve the few. In my hands, they’ll serve the people of Toronto and protect them from anyone who abuses power.
Freedom to speak and gather [City Hall delivers]
Deliver: Protect peaceful protest and free expression in public space. Public space belongs to the public.
A city that silences people is not a free city. As mayor I will protect peaceful protest and free expression in Toronto’s parks, squares, and streets. Disagreeing with someone is not a reason to push them out of public space.
Opportunity and a working economy
Fair opportunity, from someone who taught here [City Hall delivers]
I taught in Ontario’s colleges. Prioritize local firms and local hiring on city contracts where the rules allow, with apprenticeship and community-benefit requirements, fair first chances for the people who live here.
Student intake levels and college funding are federal and provincial. I’ll advocate for a system that’s planned, not broken.
Standing up for business & property owners [City Hall delivers]
Cut the small-business property tax toward the provincial maximum discount, narrow the commercial-residential gap, one-window permitting, and target vacancy taxes at big absentee owners hoarding empty storefronts, not small, active businesses.
Good jobs and a real shot for small business [City Hall delivers]
Small businesses are how neighbourhoods thrive and how people build a life, so I’ll make it easier to start one and to win work. Cut red tape with a one-window path to permits and licences; break big city contracts into smaller, bid-able lots and lower the bonding and insurance barriers so local firms can actually compete; pay vendors promptly; and buy local wherever the rules allow. Turn empty city buildings and storefronts into low-cost incubator space in every district, back our main streets and BIAs, and tie the city’s own building program to local hiring, apprenticeships and first-job pathways, so public investment creates local jobs.
Education is the heart of a community [City Hall delivers]
Expand affordable child care and cut the subsidy waitlist, fund youth programs, and keep safe routes to school, with parents as real partners in the city’s own children’s programs.
School buildings and curriculum are provincial and school-board. I’ll use my engineer’s voice to press the province to fix crumbling schools.
A library that serves families, openly. [City Hall delivers]
The Toronto Public Library is Toronto’s great equalizer, and I will protect it, from cuts, with extended hours, and with strong children’s and newcomer programming that closes the digital divide. I will also make it work better for parents:
Give parents real, easy-to-use tools: clear parental access to their own child’s library account and age-appropriate settings on children’s cards, and I will protect and strengthen the filtering already in place on children’s-area computers.
Make the library open and accountable to the families it serves: a published, plain-language collection policy, open board meetings, and a clear public process for any parent to raise a concern about a title and get a fair, transparent answer.
Appoint and support library board members who value two things at once, the public’s freedom to read, and a library that is transparent and responsive to parents.
Community centres for neighbourhoods without one [City Hall delivers]
Too many Toronto neighbourhoods (especially in the inner suburbs) still don’t have a proper community centre. That’s not fair. I’ll map the gaps and build or expand recreation and community centres where people actually live: gyms, pools, youth space, seniors’ programs, and after-school places kids can go. Every neighbourhood deserves a hub, not just the ones that already have one.
A city for everyone
Community safety, drugs, gun violence, streets & the TTC [City Hall delivers]
Everyone deserves to feel safe, on their street, in their park and on the TTC. Gun violence and the drug crisis are tearing at neighbourhoods, and I won’t look away. I’ll back focused, accountable policing through the Police Services Board against illegal guns and gun trafficking; expand violence interruption and youth outreach that reaches kids before crews do; and treat the drug crisis as both public safety and public health, more treatment and harm-reduction where it saves lives, more enforcement against traffickers who poison communities, and more crisis workers so a mental-health or overdose call gets the right response. On transit: more staff and lighting, well-kept public spaces, and results for every safety dollar, not just a bigger budget.
Courts, bail and criminal law are provincial and federal. I’ll press for a system that holds violent offenders accountable and supports victims.
Take on gun violence and the drug crisis [City Hall delivers]
Illegal guns and open drug markets make people afraid in their own neighbourhoods. I’ll push a clear city role: disrupt gun supply with police and partners, fund proven violence-interruption programs, expand treatment beds and outreach for addiction, and keep kids in recreation and community centres, not on the corner. Safety and opportunity have to move together.
Firearms law, border guns, and major drug prosecutions are federal and provincial. I’ll fight for the tools and funding Toronto needs, and use every city lever we already have.
Reconciliation as action [City Hall delivers]
Reconciliation measured in action, not words, in city land, naming, hiring, and genuine partnership with Indigenous communities.
Land, water, and Treaty, a moral floor [I’ll fight for this]
A real answer starts with water and consent.
Canada and Ontario can talk critical minerals and “investment opportunity” while communities on Treaty No. 9 still boil water. Neskantaga First Nation has lived under Canada’s longest boil-water advisory for decades, treatment plant and distribution failures, residents asked to boil water while the crisis still isn’t fixed. That playbook is the same one human-rights organizations name in the Global South: extract wealth, leave the water undrinkable, call it progress.
The Ring of Fire is not a blank cheque. Nickel and chrome supply chains, open-pit mines, carbon sinks, wildlife, and river systems that are a source of life sit under Aboriginal and treaty rights. Free, prior, and informed consent is not optional. “Community access” roads (including Marten Falls / Northern Road Link framing) must not become a mining corridor that endangers waters and future generations without the nations who live there (including Neskantaga) able to defend home and waters.
Bill 5 and Bill C-5 speed industrial transformation and special economic zones while First Nations warn of conflict over land, weakened assessment, and colonial neglect dressed up as urgency. Ontario has admitted community access gaps; systems built in the 1990s still fail people. Mining claims and regional assessment cannot outrun Treaty No. 9 responsibilities. When nations speak (including urgent community needs and warnings about mining roads affecting waters and treaty rights) City Hall’s job is to stand with them, not look away.
Advocate
End long-term boil-water advisories with full, lasting treatment and distribution that works, not another announcement.
Advocate
No Ring of Fire / northern road / mine fast-track without free, prior, and informed consent of affected First Nations.
Advocate
Withdraw or refuse use of Bill 5 / Bill C-5 powers that sidestep Treaty and consultation duties.
Advocate
Confront addiction, climate, and infrastructure needs on First Nations as rights and responsibilities, not bargaining chips for mineral access.
Deliver
Keep Toronto’s own Reconciliation practice real: city land, naming, hiring, and partnership with Indigenous nations and urban Indigenous organizations, and use the mayor’s voice so Queen’s Park and Ottawa hear that Toronto will not cheer extraction built on undrinkable water.
Honest line: A mayor doesn’t run Treaty No. 9 or federal water plants. A mayor can refuse silence. Prosperity that requires endangering whose life gets to drink the water is not prosperity, it’s a choice. We will not get ahead by violating human rights.
A Human Rights Committee for everyone the City touches [City Hall delivers]
No Toronto resident should be discriminated against.
Every Toronto resident deserves freedom and dignity: freedom from discrimination by City services, and the freedom to speak, believe, and live as themselves under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Economic empowerment starts with dealing with every resident with fairness and respect, and providing opportunity.
A city that treats its people fairly is a city where its people can build. When a resident is discriminated against by a City service, denied a fair chance at a City job or contract, or treated as less than equal at a City counter, that is not only a wrong in itself. It is a door to opportunity being closed. Fairness is not separate from prosperity. It is the ground prosperity is built on.
That is the spine of this plank, and it lines up with the Equality Pledge: value every Toronto resident equally, in city services, in hiring, in decisions.
We cannot allow those with the highest funding and the most powerful lobbies to shape City policy while ignoring other groups who have no funding or who are powerless, including migrants, people with disabilities, children, elderly residents, and low-income residents. That is why one committee covers all 17 protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code, and why standing subcommittees for Race, Ethnicity and Newcomers, Disability and Accessibility, and Age (children, youth, and seniors), plus Economic Opportunity and Fair Access (receipt of public assistance and fair access to City jobs, contracts, and programs) and Intersectional Rights, matter. Every community is covered. No community is left out because it cannot hire lobbyists.
The promise
For the first time in history, the City of Toronto is developing its Human Rights Committee.
Toronto handles human rights today in four disconnected advisory committees that meet a few times a year, plus a staff unit most residents have never heard of. There is no single place a resident can bring a concern about how the City treated them. That is not accountability. That is a filing cabinet.
I will establish a standing Human Rights Committee at the City of Toronto: one accountable home for the human rights concerns of anyone who deals with the City or its services. It will cover City divisions and every agency and corporation the City is responsible for: the TTC, Toronto Community Housing, the Toronto Public Library, Toronto Paramedic Services, Toronto Public Health, RentSafeTO, shelters, parks and recreation, 311, licensing, and the contractors the City pays to deliver its services.
One committee. One door. A public report on what it hears and what changes because of it.
Fair to every resident, by design
This committee is built around the 17 protected grounds of the Ontario Human Rights Code. That choice is deliberate, and it is what makes "fair to all Toronto residents" a fact rather than a slogan.
Every resident is covered by these grounds. The structure does not pick one group as more deserving than another. It protects all of them at once. No community is singled out; no community is left out.
Standing subcommittees (clusters of grounds), plus intersectional:
1. Race, Ethnicity and Newcomers: race, colour, ancestry, ethnic origin, place of origin, citizenship
2. Faith and Creed: creed (all religions and beliefs, including non-belief and Indigenous spiritual practices)
Freedom of creed and belief means every resident, of every faith or none, is treated with equal dignity at City counters, in City hiring, and in City services. No resident is favoured or punished for what they believe or do not believe.
3. Disability and Accessibility: disability (physical, mental, developmental, learning; visible and non-visible)
4. Age: children/youth and seniors
5. Gender and Sexual Orientation: sex and pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation
6. Family and Marital Status: family status, marital status
7. Economic Opportunity and Fair Access: receipt of public assistance (housing); fair access to City jobs, contracts, and programs
8. Intersectional Rights: any combination; discrimination by association; reprisal
Economic Opportunity and Fair Access is where the principle lives: hiring, procurement, program access, and treatment of residents receiving public assistance.
Deliver
Establish the Human Rights Committee as a standing body of Council, with staff support from the City’s Equity and Human Rights unit, and eight standing subcommittees. (Mayor forms committees, sets mandate, appoints chairs under strong-mayor framework.)
Deliver
Jurisdiction over City service delivery and agencies/corporations the City owns and funds. Where the City is landlord (TCHC), employer, or service provider, the obligation is ours.
Deliver
Consolidate scattered advisory bodies (Confronting Anti-Black Racism, Housing Rights, accessibility, and the rest) under one accountable committee.
Deliver
Resident-facing intake and advocate function: investigate, recommend, report publicly; works alongside, does not replace, the City Ombudsman.
Deliver
Hold City hiring, contracting, and program access to a fair-opportunity standard.
Deliver
Public accountability report each term: concerns raised, which services, what changes.
Advocate
Honest limit: formal complaints are decided by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. This committee is not a tribunal. Help residents reach the right provincial or federal door when beyond municipal reach.
Advocate
Name the HRTO backlog honestly (long waits; many procedural dismissals). A city front-line body treats residents fairly at the source and relieves pressure. It does not replace the tribunal.
Advocate
Tenant gap: LTB cannot hear discrimination as such. On TCHC, close the gap directly. For private-market tenants: fund human-rights legal support bridging LTB and HRTO, strengthen RentSafeTO, municipal tenant advocate.
Advocate
Demand Queen’s Park fix: LTB power to hear/remedy discrimination, or force tribunal coordination.
Honest line: I am an engineer. I do not promise what the structure cannot carry. That boundary is the difference between a promise that holds and a promise that collapses the first time it is tested. I have spent a career being held to a professional standard. I will hold the City to one.
Draft Terms of Reference (for Council)
For adoption by City Council on the recommendation of the Mayor.
A. Purpose
The City of Toronto is committed to valuing every resident equally and to treating everyone who deals with the City and its services with fairness, respect, and equal dignity, regardless of any ground protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
The City recognizes that fair and respectful treatment is the foundation of economic opportunity: residents who are treated fairly in City services, hiring, contracting, and programs are residents who can fully participate in the city’s economic life.
A dedicated, standing mechanism is required to receive, examine, and advise on human rights concerns arising from the City’s own services, agencies, and corporations, and to give Council a single accountable channel for this work.
The Human Rights Committee (the “Committee”) is established to fulfil that purpose.
B. Mandate
The Committee’s mandate is to provide advice to City Council and to serve residents by:
1. Receiving and examining human rights concerns from anyone who deals with the City or its services: residents, service users, tenants of City-owned housing, applicants for City employment or contracts, and members of the public.
2. Overseeing the City’s own conduct across City divisions and the agencies, boards, and corporations it owns or funds, including but not limited to the Toronto Transit Commission, Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Toronto Public Library, Toronto Paramedic Services, Toronto Public Health, RentSafeTO, shelter and housing services, parks and recreation, 311, and municipal licensing.
3. Advising Council on policies, programs, and practices to prevent discrimination and remove systemic barriers in City service delivery, hiring, and procurement.
4. Coordinating standing subcommittees covering all protected grounds, so that every resident is covered and no concern falls between grounds.
5. Consolidating the work of the City’s existing equity-related advisory bodies, so their advice reaches Council through one senior standing channel.
6. Referring appropriately: helping residents identify and reach the correct provincial or federal body (including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and Tribunals Ontario) where a matter lies outside municipal jurisdiction, and coordinating with the City Ombudsman where a concern falls within that office’s role.
7. Reporting publicly each year and each Council term on the concerns received, the City services from which they arose, and the outcomes and policy changes that followed.
C. Standing Subcommittees
The Committee operates through eight standing subcommittees, which together address all 17 protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code:
a. Race, Ethnicity and Newcomers: race, colour, ancestry, ethnic origin, place of origin, citizenship;
b. Faith and Creed: creed, including all religions and beliefs, non-belief, and Indigenous spiritual practices;
c. Disability and Accessibility: disability in all its forms, visible and non-visible;
d. Age: with attention to both children/youth and seniors;
e. Gender and Sexual Orientation: sex and pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation;
f. Family and Marital Status: family status, marital status;
g. Economic Opportunity and Fair Access: receipt of public assistance in housing, and fair access to City employment, contracts, and programs;
h. Intersectional Rights: discrimination on any combination of grounds, discrimination by association, and reprisal.
Each subcommittee includes public members with relevant lived experience and expertise, reports to the full Committee, and contributes to the Committee’s consolidated public report. Subcommittees may not direct City staff, bind the City, or act independently of the full Committee.
D. Jurisdiction and Limits
The Committee is a body of the City of Toronto. Its authority extends only to the City’s own services, conduct, agencies, and corporations.
The Committee is not a tribunal. It does not adjudicate legal complaints, does not make binding legal determinations, and does not award remedies. Formal human rights complaints are adjudicated by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
The Committee has no jurisdiction over the Landlord and Tenant Board or any provincial tribunal. In respect of private-market tenants, the Committee’s role is limited to advising Council on municipal supports (tenant legal support to bridge the gap between the LTB and the Human Rights Tribunal, RentSafeTO enforcement, and a tenant advocate function) and to recommending advocacy to other orders of government for reform of the tribunals.
Any Committee recommendation requiring action by City officials or Council must be considered by the appropriate standing committee and, where necessary, approved by City Council. The Committee may not direct City staff or bind the City.
E. Composition and Term
The Committee is composed of members of City Council and public members appointed by City Council on the recommendation of the Civic Appointments Committee.
Public members are drawn to reflect the full diversity of Toronto’s communities across all protected grounds, and to staff the standing subcommittees with relevant lived experience and expertise, including tenants of City-owned housing.
The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee, and the chairs of each standing subcommittee, are appointed by the Mayor.
The term aligns with the term of Council.
F. Support and Governance
The City’s Equity and Human Rights unit provides policy and staff support; the City Clerk’s Office provides meeting management.
The Committee meets no fewer than six times per year, and additionally at the call of the Chair; subcommittees meet as needed to respond to concerns in a timely way.
The Committee operates transparently, with public meetings and the opportunity for residents to make deputations, subject to the City’s procedures and applicable privacy law.
A resident-facing intake process is maintained so that any person who deals with the City may bring a concern forward in plain language and in the language of their choice where reasonably possible.
Prepared for Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng. Founder, Be The Change Movement. bahira.ca
A city for everyone, whatever their status [City Hall delivers]
Strengthen Access T.O. so every resident can use city services without fear.
An accessible, age-friendly city [City Hall delivers]
Finish TTC accessibility, keep elevators working and fix Wheel-Trans; clear sidewalks and curb cuts; invest in the city’s long-term-care homes; and expand tax and utility relief for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
Protecting our children & ending human trafficking [City Hall delivers]
Resource the human-trafficking and child-exploitation units through the Police Services Board, strengthen the city’s End Trafficking strategy and survivor supports, and use hotel, rideshare and short-term-rental licensing to require anti-trafficking training and reporting.
Child-protection agencies and the Amber Alert system are provincial. I’ll advocate for them to work.
Families can thrive here [City Hall delivers]
Toronto should be a city where families can afford to live and thrive. That means affordable child care and shorter subsidy waitlists, homes families can afford, family recreation, libraries and safe parks, safe routes to school, and parents treated as real partners in the city’s own children’s programs. I respect and support families of every kind.
Proof it can be done
New York just elected a mayor on this agenda
An affordability platform isn’t a fantasy. New Yorkers voted for one, and the fight to deliver it shows both what a city can do on its own and what it has to win from a higher government. Here’s how it maps onto my plan.
Drivers
New York
Won debt relief for taxi drivers and set minimum per-trip pay through the city’s own taxi commission.
My plan for Toronto
Use Toronto’s rideshare and taxi licence to require pay transparency, deactivation protection, and a fair-earnings floor.
Tax the rich to pay for it
New York
Is fighting to fund free buses and child care by taxing corporations and top earners, a fight that runs through the state capital.
My plan for Toronto
Tax what the city can reach (luxury and vacant homes, a commercial parking levy) and demand the province and Ottawa deliver their share.
Affordability
New York
Froze rents on stabilized units and is pushing to make buses free, the delivered wins and the ones still being fought for.
My plan for Toronto
Free TTC, homes you can own on public land, and affordable child care.
The honest part: some of these are already done, and some are still being fought for at the state level. That’s exactly the line my plan draws, what a mayor delivers, and what a mayor has to win from Queen’s Park and Ottawa.
The bigger picture
The economic heart of North America
Toronto’s diversity is its competitive advantage. Used well, it makes this the place companies, graduates and ideas want to stay.
Neighbourhood incubators
Turn vacant city buildings and empty storefronts into low-cost space for local entrepreneurs, newcomers and youth, in Scarborough, Etobicoke and North York, not just downtown.
Convener-in-chief
Broker partnerships among universities, colleges, innovation hubs and business to commercialize research and keep talent and companies in Toronto.
A first customer for local ideas
Make the city a testbed and first customer for local innovation, tied to how we buy and how we build.
Diversity as strength
A welcoming, well-planned city that treats every resident equally is a magnet for the people and firms that build the future.
Contribute
A people-powered campaign
No corporate money. No union money. Just people who want a city that takes care of its people. If you can chip in, it helps us reach more Torontonians.
Toronto contribution rebate (2026)
The City of Toronto rebates a portion of eligible contributions on a sliding scale, up to a $1,000 maximum. This is not a blanket “75% back” — the 75% rate applies only to gifts of $300 or less (and nothing for $25 or less). A full $2,500 gift still returns at most $1,000.
How the formula works
- $25 or less: no rebate
- $25–$300: 75% of the amount (e.g. $200 → $150)
- Over $300 up to $1,000: (amount − $300) × 50% + $225 (e.g. $650 → $400)
- Over $1,000: (amount − $1,000) × 33.33% + $575, capped at $1,000
Examples (mayoral limit $2,500)
| Donor gave | City returns |
|---|---|
| $100 | $75.00 |
| $300 | $225.00 |
| $500 | $325.00 |
| $1,000 | $575.00 |
| $2,000 | $908.33 |
| $2,275+ | $1,000.00 (cap) |
This takes time. The campaign must opt into the program and file an audited financial statement. Online claims open October 2026; claim deadline December 30, 2027. Rebate cheques typically arrive in early 2028 — not right after you give.
Ready to contribute?
Suggested amounts: $25 · $50 · $100 · $250 · or any amount up to the $2,500 legal limit. This is not a payment page — use the contribution form to send your details, then transfer funds to the campaign.
Interac e-transfer to bethechangeno1@gmail.com — include your legal name and address. After we verify funds, we will send you a contribution receipt.
The rules, plainly
- Only individuals normally resident in Ontario can contribute. No corporations or unions — it’s the law.
- The limit is $2,500 to this candidate, and $5,000 combined for Toronto Mayor + Council candidates.
- Anything over $25 must be given by a method that records your name and address (e-transfer, cheque or card) — no anonymous cash above that.
- Contributions over $100: name and address become public via City disclosure.
- We will send you a contribution receipt after we verify funds. Official City rebate receipts (if eligible) are issued via EFFS — see the rebate details above.
Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729.
“Indeed, Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.”
– Qur’an 13:11
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
– Margaret Mead, anthropologist
Toronto will no longer throw its people away. It will be the place that takes care of its people, and I will change the rules of the game.
Join the movement
Volunteer with the campaign, canvassing, phones, flyers, events, and more. People lead the government, government serves the people.
Prefer email only? Write bethechangeno1@gmail.com with subject “Count me in” · Call (647) 785-3729.
Election day
Monday, October 26, 2026
Advance Voting · October 6–11, 2026
Mark your calendar, and vote. Toronto needs an engineer.
We acknowledge that Toronto is on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam
PhD, P.Eng. · Founder, Be The Change Movement
People lead the government. Government serves the people.
Let’s engineer our solutions.
Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com
Call (647) 785-3729
© 2026 · bahira.ca · Toronto, Ontario · Authorized by the campaign to elect Bahira Abdulsalam for Mayor.
