Toronto Votes 2026: Toronto-Danforth councillor candidate John Kladitis profile
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Local voters will cast their ballots on Monday, Oct. 26, in Toronto’s municipal election. Along with voting for mayor and school trustee, local voters will also be electing a new councillor for Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth.
There are 18 candidates running for the council seat in Toronto-Danforth. The seat is open as incumbent councillor Paula Fletcher announcd in August that she was stepping down after representing the area for the last 23 years. For this Candidate Profile feature, Beach Metro Community News reached out to the candidates who we could find contact information for and asked them to send their profile and a photo in by a set deadline. We are only printing the profiles of those who responded by the deadline. The 18 candidates registered to run for councillor in Toronto-Danforth in this month’s municipal election are Maqsood Ahmad, Susan Chapelle, Michael Connor, Dennis Corcoran, Robb Dagenais, Peter De Marco, Sara Ehrhardt, George Fawcett, Mary Fragedakis, John Kladitis, Michael Mitchell, Caryma Sa’d, Dianne Saxe, Devyn Stackhouse, Jason Stevens, Christiane Tetreault, Maria Voutsinas and Denise Walcott.)
I’m John Kladitis. I have previously run for office at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, advocating for affordability, public safety and the environment. I’m running because I believe residents deserve a stronger voice in the decisions affecting their neighbourhoods.
Toronto-Danforth has had long-serving political representation at both City Hall and Queen’s Park. Experience has value, but longstanding community concerns have not always produced the outcomes residents wanted.
The supervised consumption site at 955 Queen St. E. became a source of significant neighbourhood concern, including concerns about public drug use and discarded needles. The site was allowed to operate for too long without adequately resolving these community concerns.
The Ontario Line has similarly generated concerns about above-ground trains. Residents, including myself, have proposed underground alternatives, but the project is proceeding above ground through parts of our ward. I will push for effective noise mitigation to protect our residential neighbourhoods, including advocating for taller sound barriers, barriers extending above train height, or partial or full enclosure in areas where noise increases.
Toronto-Danforth does not need politics as usual. We need a fresh voice and a different approach. Rather than relying on one politician to speak for more than 100,000 people, I created the Toronto-Danforth Residents WhatsApp Group, already operating with more than 160 members and growing. It provides a central hub where residents can raise concerns, exchange ideas, share neighbourhood information and identify common priorities. A connected community pooling its knowledge and advocating together can bring a broader range of perspectives to City Hall.
Residents can join by going online to TorontoDanforthConnected. I deliberately chose a community-focused website rather than one centred on my name because my vision extends beyond one candidate and one election. I’m asking you to vote for John Kladitis as your City Councillor and I’m and inviting you to add your voice to our WhatsApp group through my campaign website and help make Toronto-Danforth the most connected and the most desirable ward in our city.
