[christiesplits]

Gord Perks not running.

Gord Perks calls it quits: Toronto councillor looks back on 20 years at city hall — and the personal tragedy that fuels his political passion

The long-time local politician’s decision not to run in this year’s contest leaves a vacuum on city hall’s left, but may be welcome news to the councillor’s critics.

www.thestar.com

https://archive.is/pBNfR

Perks has been my councillor for the past seven years. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve found him thoughtful and in politics for the right reasons. Some people say he’s been less engaged since 2018, and I’ve heard similar comments about several veteran councillors. It may be a consequence of the ward cuts under Ford and the difficulty of being everywhere at once. Mike Layton and Joe Cressy, two downtown councillors who I expected to be "lifers," both said that the workload of the mega wards was one of the reasons they left office in 2022.

Matt Elliott: In other muni election news, Chiara Padovani, who came a VERY close second to Councillor Frances Nunziata in 2022 — she lost by 94 votes — , says she’ll be “among the first in line” to register to run in York-South Weston tomorrow morning.
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I hope Nunziata doesn't go for re-election, though she's done a good and entertaining job of being speaker at council. She's been a councillor since 1998 and it's an amusing whiplash at city hall seeing her dated photo along with the other 1994-97 mayors of the amalgamated cities.

As expected. Padovani is a very skilled organizer and will be formidable. Interestingly, Nunziata has voted with Team Chow on some big-ticket items, likely as a way to secure her Speaker role.

 

[TwoWheelPoli]

Diana Chan McNally is officially running for council in Parkdale-High Park who would be an excellent choice!

And for those of you who want Stephen Holyday gone, Jennifer Alexander - who write The Etobicoke Voice - is officially in and someone I can vouch as an awesome advocate for her community and for active transportation!

 

[txlseries4]

For people curious about who's running, the city has a web page that lists the candidates

2026 Municipal Election List of Candidates & Third Party Advertisers

The following list contains website links provided by candidates and third party advertisers to the City Clerk. The City Clerk provides these links to the public strictly as a convenience to promote citizen involvement in the municipal election. The City Clerk does not operate or control any...

www.toronto.ca

The list of candidates is also available as json for the nerdy and civically minded https://www.toronto.ca/data/elections/candidate_list/councilorCandidates_2026.json

Edit: Matt Elliott has created a tracker of which current councillors have registered or not along with the # of non-incumbent candidates for each ward.

Toronto Council: 2026 Candidate Tracker

Updated May 1, 2026 — 4:12 p.m.

datawrapper.dwcdn.net

 

[Towered]

Diana Chan McNally is officially running for council in Parkdale-High Park who would be an excellent choice!

And for those of you who want Stephen Holyday gone, Jennifer Alexander - who write The Etobicoke Voice - is officially in and someone I can vouch as an awesome advocate for her community and for active transportation!

I guess I'm out then - no need to spit the vote and hand the vile Holyday another easy victory...

Also, I just sent an email to her team to see how I can get involved in the campaign

 

[toaster29]

I wonder if Sarah Doucette has any interest in returning to politics, if I remember correctly, she chose not to run for re-election after the wards changed because she knew Gord Perks would win. Perks really did not serve the western portion of that ward, so someone from that end might put up a good challenge.

Regarding Frances (and Chiara), they both got a much higher % than many councillors who were actually elected (in the high 40s%). Whether Frances wins will be dependent on if there are a few strong contenders who split the opposition vote. And it looks like Daniel Di Giorgio is already running.. so it might help Frances out if she chooses to run.

I'm interested in seeing if Mark Grimes (or who else.. maybe Pam Gough) challenges Amber Morley in Ward 3, I know she's getting some criticism from both the left and right.

 

[Northern Light]

I guess I'm out then - no need to spit the vote and hand the vile Holyday another easy victory...

Also, I just sent an email to her team to see how I can get involved in the campaign

Huh?

Parkdale High Park is not Holyday's constituency.

 

[TwoWheelPoli]

Huh?

Parkdale High Park is not Holyday's constituency.

I mentioned in the same post that Jennifer Alexander is challenging Holyday.

 

[Northern Light]

I mentioned in the same post that Jennifer Alexander is challenging Holyday.

Ahh, I missed that.

Your vouching for her speaks well of her.....

But does she wear tights as colourful as those of @Towered?

Council needs more colourful progressives. LOL

 

[ShonTron]

She's also Jewish. There is a lot of (perceived?) antisemitism among downtown NDP types these days. Very different "party" than it was even a decade ago.

The party that just overwhelmingly chose a Jewish leader? Or is it among the Jesse Brown crowd that is very pro Israel?

 

[toaster29]

The party that just overwhelmingly chose a Jewish leader? Or is it among the Jesse Brown crowd that is very pro Israel?

I think you’re missing the point I was making. I’m not trying to adjudicate whether the antisemitism is real, exaggerated, or mischaracterized. I’m talking about perception. Fair or not, there’s been a noticeable shift in how parts of the media and the public are associating antisemitic rhetoric or incidents with segments of the far left, especially in urban activist circles. That perception exists, and it influences how people interpret spaces like the NDP.

Pointing to a Jewish leader or prominent Jewish figure doesn’t really address that. Every party can point to individuals who don’t fit a broader critique, that doesn’t necessarily invalidate the trend people feel they’re seeing. In fact, for some observers, figures like Avi Lewis come across more as exceptions that prove the rule, similar to how people sometimes view someone like Leslyn Lewis (A black woman, leadership contender) in the Conservative Party. Representation at the top doesn’t automatically resolve concerns about the culture within parts of the base.

Again, I’m not saying the perception is entirely fair, but it’s out there, and dismissing it outright doesn’t really engage with why people are noticing it in the first place.

 

[adma]

Still, Dianne Saxe doesn't leave me with all that "Jewish-ish" an impression--if anything, she comes across as acceptably WASPy, as Greens tend to do.

Also, the "far left" in question is associated more with the "Yves Engler" wing which was blocked from the NDP leadership.

 

[christiesplits]

Diana Chan McNally is officially running for council in Parkdale-High Park who would be an excellent choice!

I wonder if Sarah Doucette has any interest in returning to politics, if I remember correctly, she chose not to run for re-election after the wards changed because she knew Gord Perks would win. Perks really did not serve the western portion of that ward, so someone from that end might put up a good challenge.

I haven't heard anything about Doucette returning to politics.

Nadia Guerrera, the former Ontario Liberal candidate in Parkdale-High Park in 2018 and 2025, has thrown her hat in the council race, as per the city website. I suspect McNally's activist roots will be a harder sell in the more upper crust Baby Point and Swansea neighbourhoods, with Guererra's platform resonating better.

Regarding Frances (and Chiara), they both got a much higher % than many councillors who were actually elected (in the high 40s%). Whether Frances wins will be dependent on if there are a few strong contenders who split the opposition vote. And it looks like Daniel Di Giorgio is already running.. so it might help Frances out if she chooses to run.

Daniel Di Giorgio could be formidable. He ran for the Ontario Liberals last election in YSW and lost by a nose. Daniel's father is Frank Di Giorgio, the former councillor for the eastern half of the ward, who lost to Nunziata in a battle of the incumbents in 2018.

Based on Daniel's campaign video, he's running on a conservative platform.

 

[ShonTron]

I haven't heard anything about Doucette returning to politics.

Nadia Guerrera, the former Ontario Liberal candidate in Parkdale-High Park in 2018 and 2025, has thrown her hat in the council race, as per the city website. I suspect McNally's activist roots will be a harder sell in the more upper crust Baby Point and Swansea neighbourhoods, with Guererra's platform resonating better.



Daniel Di Giorgio could be formidable. He ran for the Ontario Liberals last election in YSW and lost by a nose. Daniel's father is Frank Di Giorgio, the former councillor for the eastern half of the ward, who lost to Nunziata in a battle of the incumbents in 2018.

Based on Daniel's campaign video, he's running on a conservative platform.

Di Giorgio would likely bleed votes from Nunziata far more than from Padovani, especially in the north and east towards Keele Street and Lawrence. A three way race favours Padovani. If Nunziata doesn’t run, it’ll be close.

 

[ShonTron]

I think you’re missing the point I was making. I’m not trying to adjudicate whether the antisemitism is real, exaggerated, or mischaracterized. I’m talking about perception. Fair or not, there’s been a noticeable shift in how parts of the media and the public are associating antisemitic rhetoric or incidents with segments of the far left, especially in urban activist circles. That perception exists, and it influences how people interpret spaces like the NDP.

Pointing to a Jewish leader or prominent Jewish figure doesn’t really address that. Every party can point to individuals who don’t fit a broader critique, that doesn’t necessarily invalidate the trend people feel they’re seeing. In fact, for some observers, figures like Avi Lewis come across more as exceptions that prove the rule, similar to how people sometimes view someone like Leslyn Lewis (A black woman, leadership contender) in the Conservative Party. Representation at the top doesn’t automatically resolve concerns about the culture within parts of the base.

Again, I’m not saying the perception is entirely fair, but it’s out there, and dismissing it outright doesn’t really engage with why people are noticing it in the first place.

Totally fair, and I see you emphasized perception, which is propagated by bad faith actors.

 

[adma]

Totally fair, and I see you emphasized perception, which is propagated by bad faith actors.

However, I'm not sure whether it pertains to the party so much *municipally*, particularly when it comes to inner Toronto--though it's certainly dogged the NDP *provincially* (the Sarah Jama/Joel Harden element--in which case, relative to Saxe as a Green, it's worth recalling the Kitchener Centre byelection as a reaction to the ONDP's internal rifts). In fact, in practice, when the inner Toronto municipal NDP status quo's been "upset" or threatened with the same, it's been out of an entrenched-hack perception--it's what defeated Sandra Bussin in '10, and nearly upset Gord Perks in '22...