Toronto Votes 2026: Toronto-Danforth councillor candidate Michael Mitchell 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.)

Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself.

I’m running for City Council because I believe I can bring positive energy and effective representation to Toronto-Danforth.
I describe myself as someone with progressive values and strong business sense.

My experience: I am a 53-year-old lawyer with nearly 30 years of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. I got sober in 1998 while completing my Master’s degree in English at U of T. From there, I went on to study law and work overseas in several countries, including China and Germany.

I believe the best way to improve the quality of life for everyone in Toronto is to raise the standard of living for disadvantaged members of our community—such as by providing more affordable housing and ensuring that everyone has access to nutritious, healthy meals every day.

I also plan to advocate for more bike lanes. I will be voting for Olivia Chow on Oct. 26.