Toronto Votes 2026: Scarborough Southwest councillor candidates’ meeting talks transit and other issues

By ALAN SHACKLETON

Public transit, affordable housing and jobs were among the issues discussed at a councillor candidates’ meeting on Monday night for Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest.

The Sept. 28 meeting took place at the West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre and featured four of the eight candidates running for the councillor seat.

Candidates taking part in the meeting were Parthi Kandavel, Ariel-Rachel Karokis, Sharmina Nasrin and Kevin Rupasinghe.

Organizers of the meeting only invited candidates who had provided the City of Toronto with contact information when they registered to run for the Scarborough Southwest council seat. The other four candidates running are Malik Ahmad, Laikul Choudhury, Luigi Lisciandro and Mohammad Ali Reza. Kandavel, who was first elected as the Scarborough Southwest councillor in a November 2023 byelection, is the incumbent in this fall’s municipal election.

Monday’s meeting was organized by Scarborough United Neighbourhoods, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services, West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre, and South Asian Women’s Rights Organization.  Moderator for the meeting was Jim Faught from the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization.

Candidates were given time for short opening and closing statements and then answered questions from meeting organizers and the community.

In his opening address, Kandavel said his priorities included making sure Scarborough receives its fair share of funding and services, protecting neighbourhoods and addressing public safety concerns.

He cited his experience and as the incumbent councillor and before that as Toronto District School Board trustee for the area for eight years.

“We’ve seen serious investments in our communities. We’ve protected vulnerable tenants and communities with illegal rooming houses,” he said.

Karokis said she was running because she cared about the ward in which she lives and is raising her family. She said her daughters were the catalyst that made her realize she wanted to see change within the community and its political leadership.

“They made me realize that when you want to see change, you have to become part of the change that you want to see. And that’s my main core for running,” she said in her opening address.

Karokis said she has worked in land development and property management for many years. She said she has years of experience at the boardroom level and with handling complaints from those who need help with property management issues.

Nasrin highlighted a number of points in her opening address including dealing with unfair rental housing practices, protecting nutrition programs for local students, and transparency in political leadership.

“This is my home and I will fight better for this community,” she said.

Nasrin cited her both her educational credentials and work experience with a provincial ministry and as a constituency assistant for an MPP (in Durham Region), as giving her the tools needed to be a strong councillor for the ward. She also talked about her own experiences as an immigrant in the community and how they gave her a practical understanding of the challenges many Scarborough Southwest residents face.

“I came to Canada nine years ago. I built a life for myself and my family,” said Nasrin.

Rupasinghe said in his opening address that he is offering a “better” vision for Scarborough Southwest residents in the future.

“Our families deserve better, We deserve better. We deserve someone with vision, someone who can put our families first and who we can count on for a change,” he said.

Rupasinghe stressed his commitment to concept of service and sacrifice towards the community, along with prioritizing issues such as road safety, protecting the public interest and making sure Scarborough Southwest gets its fair share of services and has a strong voice at Toronto Council advocating for the ward.

A question regarding policies around public transit, road usage/design and traffic congestion was among the issues the candidates faced at Monday’s meeting.

Kandavel pointed out he had stood up against the expansion of bike lanes along Danforth Avenue east of Victoria Park Avenue, and also against the red bus lanes along Kingston Road in Scarborough Southwest.

“Post World War Two, we saw the growth and boom of Scarborough. And for better or for worse, it was predicated around the car. And I think it’s an important principle when we talk about transportation in Scarborough; protecting the ability of families to get around,” he said.

“Try taking your kids to soccer and trying to get the groceries on a bike lane or a bus. It’s impractical. It’s the reality so many families face.”

Kandavel said transit and road planning in the ward has to balance “the reality of urban growth and suburban practicality” and that is at the centre of his approach to the issue.

He also said he had also championed rapid transit investment and expansion in Scarborough. “Really, that should have funded and made a priority years ago.”

Kandavel pointed out that on the issue of road safety he had pushed for more speed bumps on residential streets that any other councillor in the city. “That’s something with young families we need to prioritize.”

Karokis said increased transit funding was a critical need.

“I believe we need more funding into the transit. We’re a major city and our transit system in general lacks way too much compared to all these other big cities,” she said. “Not only in breakdowns all the time on the subway and even for the buses.”

Maintaining roads and sidewalks, including prompt and efficient snow removal, also plays an important role in making sure the transit system works for those who rely on it, said Karokis.

“We’re behind on snow removal  in the winter. Buses can’t event make it through for families who need them. The sidewalks are never cleared for us to even wait for the bus. We have to go over these huge snow banks. For a long time I was a pedestrian and I didn’t drive and I had to try maneuvering this with my stroller and that was almost impossible.”

Investment that brings transit solutions that work for the community, including time schedules that can be trusted, are what’s needed, said Karokis.

Nasrin said investments in public transit are needed, but it is important that the funding goes to the areas where it will have the most impact.

“We have to find out what are the reasons for these TTC delays,” she said, adding that she has heard from door knocking in the community that construction projects are one of the major causes.

She added that for many, using the TTC feels less safe and that deters them from using the system. “The TTC should put more trained crisis responders on the network because the city needs to move. We need more support for people in distress and to keep the city moving.”

Nasrin said making sure public transit is frequently available and reliable for Scarborough residents who work nights and other off-peak hours is also critically important.

“We need to consider shift works, students, seniors, people with disabilities, not just pick our commuters. We need more frequent bus services in high traffic areas like Victoria Park,” she said.

Snow clearing and keeping the roads and sidewalks open for cars and pedestrians to move is also a priority, said Nasrin.

“Before expanding something new in our neighbourhood, we have to make sure the services we have are really workable and to make sure the services are getting there on time,” she said.

Rupasinghe said he works as a transportation engineer has spent many years advocating for safer streets and better transit in Scarborough.

“We have the most dangerous streets in the whole city where people get injured and killed in collisions,” he said. “And almost all of them are preventable, and yet we don’t do anything about it until after the fact.”

For public transit, he said solutions are needed now not years into the future. “We can’t be waiting decades for the big subway expansions. We need people to be able to move around the city now. The idea that you can’t take your family to get groceries on the bus, I think is ridiculous.”

He said many local families have no option but to depend on the bus as they have no other options, and they need improvements to public transit as soon as possible.

“That is their lives today. They actually do take the bus to get where they are going. So we have to have to make sure that buses are fast and frequent. I want to see a 10-minute network all over Scarborough Southwest, making sure people can take express buses to the subway,” said Rupasinghe.

He said road and transit safety has to be a priority as it will lessen the need for driving.  “We have parents driving their kids less than a kilometre away to school because they don’t feel it is safe for them to walk or bike. How much congestion and traffic are we inducing by just not giving people options. We have been left behind by designing everything for the car and over prioritizing that. A lot of our residents wish they had more options to get around.”

Rupasinghe added that better planning of neighbourhoods, that provide the ability for short trips for shopping and work, would do a lot to reduce traffic congestion. “One of the best transportation policies is a good land use policy” that designs communities in which residents don’t have to get in their cars and drive everywhere.

Monday’s night’s meeting also discussion affordable housing, jobs, and protecting the environment.

To see a video of the full meeting, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtM3kd7hFwk

Scarborough Southwest voters are reminded that Election Day for this year’s municipal election is Monday, Oct. 26. Advance polls for voters who wish to cast their ballots early will take place from Oct. 6 to 11. For more information on voting, please visit the City of Toronto’s website at https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/?WT.rd_id=%2FElections