Ward 11 - Meet Your Candidates
- shuaib238
- Jul 2
- 8 min read
Toronto heads to the polls on Monday, October 26, 2026, and the race for Ward 11 University-Rosedale looks very different than it did just a few weeks ago. With nominations officially closed, the field is now set at nine candidates.
The biggest development came in the final days of nominations. Incumbent Councillor Dianne Saxe, who had been seeking re-election in Ward 11, withdrew and registered instead in Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth. Gabe Blanc also withdrew and endorsed former Ward 11 councillor Mike Layton, while Dana Fisher left the race as well.
That means University-Rosedale will elect a new councillor this October, although one of the candidates is very familiar to Ward 11 voters.
The final candidates are:
Keenan Courtis
Terri Hawkes
Mike Layton
Karina Lemke
Alice Li
Huy Lieu
Gian Pileri
Paul Viret
Diana Yoon
Here is a closer look at the field.
(Mike Layton via X)
Mike Layton - The Former Councillor Returns
Mike Layton entered the race just days before nominations closed, immediately changing the dynamics of the Ward 11 election.
Layton is one of the most experienced candidates in the field. He served on Toronto City Council from 2010 to 2022, initially representing the former Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina and later Ward 11 University-Rosedale following Toronto's ward restructuring.He chose not to seek re-election in 2022, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. Four years later, he says he is ready to return to City Hall.
Why he's returning: Layton has pointed to housing affordability, transportation, cycling infrastructure and climate change as issues motivating his comeback. He has framed the 2026 election as an opportunity to elect a more progressive City Council capable of delivering significant change.
Experience: Unlike most of the field, Layton already knows both the ward and City Hall. During his previous 12 years on council, he developed a reputation as a progressive voice on environmental issues, active transportation and housing. His late entry also consolidated part of the progressive side of the race. Former candidate Gabe Blanc withdrew shortly before nominations closed and endorsed Layton, citing his record on transit affordability, housing and cycling infrastructure.
That combination of name recognition, previous council experience and an existing political network makes Layton one of the candidates to watch as the campaign enters its final months.
Learn more: Visit mikelayton.to or follow Mike Layton on X.
Karina Lemke - The Practical City Hall Challenger
Karina Lemke is running on a message that City Hall needs to become more responsive to residents and more focused on delivering basic services. A lifelong Torontonian and former small-business owner, Lemke has positioned herself as an alternative to what she sees as overly ideological decision-making at City Hall.
Her central message: Toronto residents are paying more in taxes while seeing basic services deteriorate. She argues municipal decisions should be judged by their practical consequences for residents, businesses, seniors, families and people with disabilities.
Her platform includes five major areas:
neighbourhood planning and accessibility
support for small businesses
transit, congestion and transportation
safety in parks and around schools
combating antisemitism
On development: Lemke supports new housing but argues against what she describes as "density at any cost." She wants residents to have a stronger role in neighbourhood planning while prioritizing rental, affordable, accessible and family-sized housing.
On transportation: Her campaign emphasizes maintaining accessibility for people who cannot rely exclusively on cycling, walking or transit, while also calling for better transit and safer streets.
Her campaign is shaping up as one of the clearer alternatives in the race for residents looking for a more centrist or pragmatic approach to municipal government.
Learn more: Visit Karina Lemke's campaign website at votekarina.ca, where you can also find links to her campaign social media.
Keenan Courtis - The Accountability and Infrastructure Candidate
Keenan Courtis is running with a professional background in technology, cybersecurity strategy and major corporate contracts. His campaign emphasizes a combination of fiscal oversight, public safety and transportation. Courtis argues Ward 11 needs a councillor willing to scrutinize City spending and contracting while still investing in transportation and public spaces.
His priorities include improving the TTC, expanding Bike Share and cycling infrastructure, improving pedestrian conditions, addressing safety around major transit stations and examining how the City awards contracts.
His campaign also emphasizes his experience managing complex technology systems and multimillion-dollar contracts, which he presents as relevant experience for overseeing a large municipal government.
Learn more: Visit keenancourtis.ca for his platform, campaign updates and links to his social media.
Terri Hawkes - The Familiar Face
Terri Hawkes comes to the race through neighbourhood advocacy rather than traditional politics.
She is an actor, screenwriter and director and is perhaps best known as the original English-language voice of Sailor Moon. But her campaign has focused much more heavily on her community work in University-Rosedale. Hawkes has served with the Annex Residents' Association, co-founded the Dalton Road Residents' Group, and has been involved in advocacy surrounding development, green space and neighbourhood issues.
Her campaign message: Hawkes argues residents need a stronger voice in decisions affecting their neighbourhoods. Her campaign emphasizes three broad themes:
Community: Strengthening neighbourhood organizations and grassroots involvement.
Transparency: Improving consultation, accountability and how development and planning decisions are made.
Future: Making Toronto a city where young people, families and seniors can continue to live and thrive.
Her candidacy could particularly appeal to voters concerned about neighbourhood character, development and the relationship between residents' associations and City Hall.
Learn more: Visit voteterrihawkes.ca or follow her campaign on Instagram at @voteterrihawkes.
Diana Yoon - The Renter's Champion
Diana Yoon is returning to the Ward 11 ballot after running here in 2022.
Yoon has organizing roots with groups including the Toronto Environmental Alliance, ACORN Canada and the Federation of Metro Tenants. She has also worked in affordable and co-operative housing advocacy.
Her 2026 pitch: Housing remains at the centre of Yoon's campaign. She presents herself as an advocate for renters and argues Toronto needs stronger action to prevent residents from being priced out of their communities. Her campaign is organized around three main pillars:
Housing affordability: Protecting renters from renovictions and rent increases while expanding affordable and co-operative housing.
Transit: Improving reliability and affordability, including proposals such as daily fare capping and extended late-night subway service.
Community spaces: Protecting parks, cultural spaces and other public assets from being lost or neglected.
Yoon's campaign places her firmly among the more progressive candidates in the Ward 11 field, with housing affordability and tenant protections at the centre of her pitch.
Learn more: Visit Diana Yoon's campaign website at voteyoon.ca for her platform, campaign information and social media links.
Gian Pileri - The Affordability and Quality of Life Candidate
Gian Pileri is a Ward 11 renter who says he has lived in Toronto for approximately 15 years and works in higher education. His campaign is currently built around three main priorities:
Affordability: Pileri wants to protect rental housing and expand genuinely affordable housing so residents can remain in their neighbourhoods.
Neighbourhood quality of life: He is calling for cleaner and safer public spaces along with more consistent enforcement of City bylaws.
Transportation: His campaign supports safer intersections and a more reliable and accessible TTC.
Pileri has said his platform will continue to develop through conversations with Ward 11 residents.
Learn more: Visit gianpileri.ca or view his professional background on LinkedIn.
Alice Li - The Jack-of-all-Trades
Alice Li brings a diverse professional background to the Ward 11 race. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant with CPA, CA and Bachelor of Commerce credentials, with professional experience that includes public accounting at PwC Canada and service with the Canadian Armed Forces.
Her campaign has taken a deliberately community-driven approach to developing its platform. Li says her team has been canvassing across Ward 11 and building its priorities around what residents are raising at the door rather than launching with a fully predetermined policy agenda.
Her campaign focus: Li's emerging platform is centred around transit, safety, community, affordability and fiscal accountability. One of her central themes is making sure residents receive better value from the taxes they pay, reflected in her campaign's emphasis on making every tax dollar count.
Her campaign also identifies safer transportation, improving and beautifying Toronto's neighbourhoods, and ensuring residents have access to basic necessities and social supports as areas of focus. A more detailed platform is expected as the campaign progresses. That combination gives Li a somewhat different profile in the race: a candidate emphasizing financial management and fiscal accountability while continuing to build her broader policy agenda through direct conversations with residents.
Learn more: Visit Alice Li's campaign website at aliceli.ca for her developing platform and campaign updates.
The Rest of the Field
Huy Lieu (Visit huylieu.ca for his full platform, campaign information and updates).
Paul Viret
A Race Transformed
The Ward 11 election changed dramatically during the final week of nominations.
What initially looked like a contest centred on incumbent Dianne Saxe and a collection of challengers is now an open-seat election.
Saxe's decision to run in Toronto-Danforth removes the advantage of a sitting Ward 11 incumbent. At the same time, Mike Layton's return introduces a former councillor who already represented much of the ward for four years and served on City Council for 12 years overall.
Gabe Blanc's withdrawal and endorsement of Layton could also help consolidate some voters who had been attracted to Blanc's progressive campaign.
The result is a race offering voters several noticeably different approaches to municipal government.
Layton and Yoon are competing from the progressive side of the field, with strong emphasis on housing, transit and climate issues. Lemke is presenting a more pragmatic alternative focused on basic services, accessibility, small businesses and neighbourhood consultation. Hawkes is emphasizing community advocacy and resident involvement. Courtis is focusing on accountability, transportation and City spending, while Pileri is emphasizing affordability and neighbourhood quality of life.
And with several candidates still developing their platforms, those distinctions could become considerably clearer before election day.
What's at Stake
University-Rosedale contains some of Toronto's wealthiest neighbourhoods alongside large renter, student and lower-income populations. Rosedale and Yorkville sit in the same ward as Kensington Market, the Annex, Harbord Village, Little Italy and the University of Toronto.
That creates an unusually broad range of municipal priorities.
Housing affordability and development remain major concerns. So do congestion, transit reliability, cycling infrastructure, public safety, homelessness, small-business conditions, parks, neighbourhood character and the basic delivery of City services.
Those issues also create real disagreements over how Toronto should respond.
How much new density should established neighbourhoods absorb? How should road space be divided between drivers, cyclists, transit and pedestrians? How should the City respond to homelessness and public drug use? Are residents getting enough value for rising property taxes? And how much influence should existing communities have over development and infrastructure decisions?
With no incumbent Ward 11 councillor on the ballot, voters have an opportunity to choose not only a new representative, but potentially a different direction for the ward.
The candidate list is now final, but platforms will continue developing between now and Election Day on Monday, October 26, 2026.
The 11 will continue following the race, comparing candidate positions and highlighting the issues Ward 11 residents say matter most.
— The 11
Sources
- City of Toronto, ["2026 Municipal Election List of Candidates & Third Party Advertisers"](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/candidate-list/)
- City of Toronto, ["Elections"](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/) (nomination deadlines, election day, advance voting)
- Wikipedia, ["2026 Toronto municipal election"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Toronto_municipal_election)
- Wikipedia, ["Ward 11 University—Rosedale"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_11_University%E2%80%94Rosedale)
- CBC News, ["Who's in, who's out and storylines to watch as candidates sign up for the 2026 municipal election"](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/candidates-2026-elections-toronto-9.7183285)
- CBC News, ["Race to replace Mike Layton as University-Rosedale councillor a battle of progressives"](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/university-rosedale-municipal-election-1.6610529) (2022 race background)
- TorontoToday, ["6 notable moments from the first day of Toronto's municipal election campaign"](https://www.torontotoday.ca/municipal-election/notable-moments-first-day-torontos-municipal-election-campaign-12225382)
- The Local, ["Ward 11 — University-Rosedale"](https://thelocal.to/ward-11-university-rosedale/) (2022 candidate comparison and ward demographics)
- The Local, ["Candidate Tracker 2022"](https://thelocal.to/candidate-tracker/)
- Toronto Candidates Tracker, [toronto-candidates.netlify.app](https://toronto-candidates.netlify.app/)
- Global News, ["All the candidates running to represent Toronto city council's 25 wards"](https://globalnews.ca/news/9205444/toronto-election-council-candidates-list/)
- City of Toronto, [Final Declaration of Results, 2022 Toronto Municipal Election (PDF)](https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/9085-FinalDeclaration-of-Results-for-the-2022-Toronto-Municipal-Election.pdf)
**Terri Hawkes**
- [terri-hawkes.com](https://www.terri-hawkes.com/)
- Anime News Network, ["Sailor Moon's English Voice Actor Terri Hawkes Runs for Toronto City Council"](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2026-05-06/sailor-moon-english-voice-actor-terri-hawkes-runs-for-toronto-city-council/.237121)
- Soap Central, ["Sailor Moon's Iconic English Voice Terri Hawkes Enters Toronto Politics"](https://www.soapcentral.com/anime/news-sailor-moon-s-iconic-english-voice-terri-hawkes-enters-toronto-politics)
- X/Twitter, [@Terri_Hawkes](https://x.com/Terri_Hawkes)
- Toronto City Council, [2026-03-25 Agenda](https://secure.toronto.ca/council/report.do?meeting=2026.CC39&type=agenda) (deputation record)
**Diana Yoon**
- [voteyoon.ca](https://www.voteyoon.ca/)
- Instagram, [@dianayoonto](https://www.instagram.com/dianayoonto/)
- Wikipedia, ["2022 Toronto municipal election"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Toronto_municipal_election)
- Canada Info, ["Toronto Votes 2022: Climate justice activist Diana Yoon enters the Ward 11 race"](https://canada-info.ca/en/toronto-votes-2022-climate-justice-activist-diana-yoon-enters-the-ward-11-race/)
**Norm Di Pasquale (for context on the 2022 race)**
- CBC News, ["Race to replace Mike Layton as University-Rosedale councillor a battle of progressives"](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/university-rosedale-municipal-election-1.6610529)
- [normdipasquale.ndp.ca](https://normdipasquale.ndp.ca/) (2025 federal campaign)
- VoteMate, ["Norm Di Pasquale, NDP for Spadina—Harbourfront"](https://en.votemate.org/canada2025/candidates/10278)
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