Ward 11 — University-Rosedale

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Reading this in real time: every registrant figure below — who’s filed, incumbency, candidate counts — is a snapshot as of 2026-08-14, from the City Clerk’s candidate feeds. Nominations close Friday, August 21, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. — this page re-pulls and re-stamps every registrant figure after that date. Geography, transit, development and census figures are structural facts that don’t move at nomination close and are dated separately, section by section.

University-Rosedale runs from the University of Toronto's St. George campus and the Annex, through Yorkville and Harbord Village, to Rosedale and part of Moore Park — an area mixing dense student/rental housing, the Discovery District's research institutions, and some of Toronto's wealthiest low-rise residential streets. Its biggest current civic story is a $50-million donation from the Weston Family Foundation, approved by City Council in 2026, to fund a major revitalization of Queen's Park North.

The race & the 2022 baseline

2022 result: Dianne Saxe won by 0.5 percentage points over the runner-up — razor-tight — about as close as a Toronto council race gets. Source: City of Toronto official 2022 election results, as_of 2026-08-16.

This ward’s own 2022 turnout was 31.97% (25,690 of 80,347 eligible electors cast a ballot) — compared to a citywide 2022 turnout of 29.7% that year. Source: City of Toronto, City Clerk’s Office, “Elections – Voter Statistics” (2022 dataset), cross-checked against the Clerk’s own 2022 Municipal Election Report.

Who’s running here in 2026 (10)

Every candidate filed in this ward as of 2026-08-16, alphabetical by surname, identical fields for every name. Bios are synthesized only from each candidate’s own published campaign material and registry facts — never from news coverage, opposition material, or this project’s own judgment (see Receipts below).

Gabe Blanc

Registered 2026-05-01 · Website: https://www.gabeforunirose.ca

Gabe Blanc is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on May 1, 2026. His campaign site describes his work as Co-Chair of the Young Greens of Ontario, a 2026 Master's in Public Policy from McGill University, and a period as a City Hall policy advisor to Budget Chief Shelley Carroll. His platform includes reducing rents and building more homes, including aligning municipal property-tax ratios across residential classes; speeding up the 506 College streetcar; adding more public seating at transit stops and in parks; and opposing a lower municipal water rate for large data centres than for residents.

Keenan Courtis

Registered 2026-05-01 · Website: https://www.keenancourtis.ca

Keenan Courtis is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on May 1, 2026. His campaign site describes his career in IT and cybersecurity strategy, managing multimillion-dollar contracts across four continents for a Fortune 500 financial corporation. His platform lists seven priorities, including pedestrianizing commercial streets; ending closed-tender city contract bidding and re-evaluating sole-source contracts; adding police and crisis response at major transit nodes; expanding day shelters for people who are unhoused; expanding Bike Share and protected bike lanes; and broadening city revenue sources, including a vacancy tax on commercial space.

Dana Fisher

Registered 2026-05-27 · Website: https://www.danafisher.ca

Dana Fisher is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on May 27, 2026. Her campaign site describes her as Chair of the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre, a legal aid lawyer, and a labour leader. Her platform lists four priorities: building affordable housing and expanding tenant protections, including the Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition program; improving public transit, including continuing the TTC fare freeze; supporting community safety and health, including expanding the Community Crisis Support Service; and environmental measures, including building retrofits and expanded green space, toward a stated goal of net-zero emissions by 2040.

Terri Hawkes

Registered 2026-05-01 · Website: https://www.voteterrihawkes.ca

Terri Hawkes is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on May 1, 2026. Her campaign site describes her as an arts leader and community advocate with a career as a screenwriter, actor and director, who has served on the Annex Residents' Association and co-founded the Dalton Road Residents' Group. Her campaign is framed around three themes: community, describing service through advocacy and grassroots leadership; transparency, including consultation and accountable city planning; and future, aimed at a city where young people, families and older adults can thrive. As of August 14, 2026, no separate itemized platform page had been located on her site.

Karina Lemke

Registered 2026-07-13 · Website: https://www.votekarina.ca

Karina Lemke is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on July 13, 2026. Her campaign site describes her as a lifelong Torontonian and former small-business owner. Her platform lists five priorities: building neighbourhoods with accessibility and a range of housing types; supporting small businesses against rising costs; improving transit and traffic safety, including opposing what she calls 'forced-use tactics' pushing riders onto an unready TTC; keeping parks and schoolyards free of drug use, paired with housing and treatment supports; and combatting antisemitism, including expanded protective zones around religious and community sites.

Alice Li

Registered 2026-05-04 · Website: https://www.aliceli.ca/

Alice Li is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on May 4, 2026. Her campaign site, which describes her as a CPA, CA and BCom, is primarily biographical and does not include an itemized platform or list of issue positions. It presents her candidacy under the phrase 'a brighter vision for Toronto, shaped by experience and driven by service.' As of August 14, 2026, no separate platform or issues page had been located on her site.

Huy Lieu

Registered 2026-05-07 · Website: https://www.huylieu.ca/

Huy Lieu is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 University-Rosedale, in the 2026 municipal election, registered on May 7, 2026. As of August 14, 2026, this project has not synthesized a bio from his campaign material.

Gian Pileri

Registered 2026-06-11 · Website: https://www.gianpileri.ca/

Gian Pileri is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on June 11, 2026. His campaign site describes him as a renter who has lived in Toronto for about 15 years, working in higher education, and speaking English, French and Italian. His platform lists three priorities: helping people afford to stay in the ward, including protecting rental housing and supporting genuinely affordable homes; making neighbourhoods safer, cleaner and better cared for, including consistent bylaw enforcement; and making it easier to move around the ward, including safer intersections and a more reliable, accessible TTC. He states his platform 'will continue to develop through conversations with residents.'

Dianne Saxe (incumbent)

Registered 2026-06-29 · Website: https://www.votesaxe.ca/

Dianne Saxe is the incumbent city councillor for Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered as a candidate for re-election on June 29, 2026. Her campaign site describes her as a University-Rosedale resident for three generations and a former environmental lawyer of more than 40 years, who served as Ontario's independent Environmental Commissioner until the office was eliminated. It lists results from her current term, including supportive-housing beds at 35 Bellevue and an 80-bed shelter at 720 Bathurst, transit signal priority on Spadina, and expanded cycling routes. The site frames her candidacy around continuing this record rather than a new forward platform.

Diana Yoon

Registered 2026-05-20 · Website: https://www.VoteYoon.ca

Diana Yoon is a candidate for Toronto City Council, Ward 11 (University-Rosedale), registered on May 20, 2026. Her campaign site describes her as an affordable-housing advocate and climate activist who has worked at a national co-op housing federation, stating she helped secure $1.5 billion in funding for new co-op housing and $1.6 million in climate-action grants. Her platform is organized under three themes: housing affordability, safe and reliable transit, and protecting community spaces 'for people, not profit.' She has lived in the ward's Seaton Village neighbourhood since 2017 and immigrated to Canada from South Korea at age four, according to her site.

Absence of a website, a bio, or any campaign material on this page is a fact about the public record and this project’s search on 2026-08-14 — not a judgment about any candidate’s effort, seriousness, or worth. Every candidate below gets the identical fields, the identical format, and the identical treatment, alphabetically by surname, whether incumbent or first-time, well-resourced or not.

Geography & boundaries

Legally defined (per Wikipedia, reproducing the Elections Ontario boundary text): begins at College Street & Bay Street, north along Bay to Charles Street West, east along Charles to Yonge Street, south along Yonge to Charles Street East, east to Mount Pleasant Road, north to Bloor Street East, east to Sherbourne Street North, north to Rosedale Valley Road, generally east to the Don River, generally north along the Don to Pottery Road, then along Pottery Road to Bayview Avenue, generally north/northwest along Bayview to the CPR line, continuing along further boundary features. Named areas commonly associated with the ward: the Annex, Harbord Village, Yorkville, Seaton Village, Little Italy (part), Rosedale, and the Discovery District (University of Toronto St. George campus and adjoining research institutions). [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_11_University%E2%80%94Rosedale, accessed 2026-08-14] [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_District, accessed 2026-08-14]

Civic texture — what’s live here

Transit & development

TTC: the ward is served by parts of Line 1 (Yonge-University), including St. George, Spadina, Dupont, and Rosedale stations, plus College/Bay/Museum along its southern edge; exact station-to-ward assignment not independently verified against the boundary polygon — named as general context, not a formal join. Major capital projects: none of the scale of an Ontario Line station were found for this ward; the largest current item is the Queen's Park North revitalization (§3), a public-realm/park project rather than a transit project. Development: City planning activity found concentrates on Queen's Park North and sustained watermain/road infrastructure renewal (Harbord corridor, Rowanwood, Bedford) rather than a single large private redevelopment site. [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_11_University%E2%80%94Rosedale, accessed 2026-08-14]

Local commons

Toronto Public Library branches and Parks, Forestry & Recreation community/recreation centres located inside this ward’s boundary, joined by geographic coordinates (see Receipts) — complete citywide datasets for both layers, every ward covered.

Public libraries (6)

Community & recreation centres (3)

Parks aren’t listed here: parks joining is partial citywide — not shown rather than shown unevenly. The citywide parks join has fetched and joined 400 of the dataset’s 1,511 Park-type rows so far; that 400-row sample isn’t evenly distributed enough per ward to publish per-ward park lists or counts responsibly yet.

Local media landscape

Networks & local commons

As of August 17, 2026, this project's public organization registry maps 132 organizations directly to Ward 11 (University-Rosedale) — corrected the same day from the 3 this brief had stated since mid-August, when a registry-wide bug was found: the public ward pages had been reading only the single canonical `"Ward 11 (University-Rosedale)"` tag spelling and silently missing every alternate format the registry's own geography join (`org_placements.csv`) already resolves (bare `"Ward 11"`, a bare riding name, and more). The 3 organizations named below remain this ward's own individually-verified, hand-researched anchors — that research is untouched by this fix. The 129 more behind today's 132 total are principally bulk City/CRA register rows (early-years childcare, K-12 parent councils) captured registry-wide rather than ward-by-ward, carrying the weaker `seed-web-verified` status rather than a direct confirmation; 51 of the 132 total carry `verified-live` status:

These are a starting point, not a finished map. This brief's Local Commons section above already names Ward 11's civic-infrastructure anchors; those are the next nodes the sweep will connect these organizations to as it goes deeper, and city-wide organization mapping is underway ward by ward to reach the rest of this ward's faith communities, resident and tenant associations, cultural groups, service organizations, and the dozens of other categories this project tracks.

If you lead, work with, or simply know of an organization rooted in this ward, this project's tribes directory at https://unitetolove.ca/tribes/directory.html is where to add it or correct what's already there — every addition is checked against a public source before it's published.

The ward in numbers (2021 Census)

Source: City of Toronto Ward Profiles (25-Ward Model), Statistics Canada 2021 Census custom tabulations, City Planning Division, published December 2023. Household income reflects the 2020 reference year.

Population102,385
Median age36.8
Median household income (2020)$84,000
Renter / owner household split56.9% / 43.1%
Top home languages (excl. English/French)Mandarin (4,470), Yue (Cantonese) (2,155), Portuguese (1,900)
Land area13.6 km²

See the citywide summary table for the same census columns, all 25 wards, one page.

What else is on your ballot

Every Toronto voter marks three races on October 26, 2026: this ward’s councillor (above), the citywide mayor, and one school trustee.

This ward’s trustee-crosswalk precision note: TDSB confirmed (CP24/CTV News, 2026-04-28: 'Trustee for Ward 7 will serve the city wards of Toronto-St. Paul's, University-Rosedale and Toronto Centre'). TCDSB: NOT ESTABLISHED. Viamonde exact. MonAvenir not disambiguated.

Get involved — from thirty seconds to a year

Everything on this page is published so that anyone who lives here can use it: there is no membership, no gate and nothing to belong to. If you want to do something with it, the doors below start at thirty seconds and stop wherever you like — every one of them is optional, every one of them is free to copy or fork, and none of them asks who you vote for.

This is a neighbours’ project rather than a campaign or an organization: it publishes tools, data and evidence, and leaves every decision to the person reading. Nothing here endorses a candidate or a party, and nothing here needs our permission to be used.

What this page doesn’t cover yet

This ward’s research brief names these additional gaps, plainly, rather than guessing over them:

Receipts — where every figure on this page comes from

This ward’s research-brief sources:

Per-candidate research notes, QA flags, and source-capture logs are kept in this project’s internal working files, not published here; every bio and every fact on this page is drawn from that work but the page itself states the fact, not the working notes behind it.

Found a mistake?

That’s the system working. Every figure on this page traces to a public source or a candidate’s own published material, cited in the Receipts section above; if one is wrong, out of date, or reads differently than the source supports, we want to know before anyone else repeats it. Send it to the corrections page — it takes thirty seconds, and every correction is published, dated, and left visible.