Willowdale

Willowdale sits along the Yonge Street corridor in the former City of North York, running from Sheppard Avenue northward to Steeles Avenue. The riding is defined by the intense vertical urbanization that has transformed the North York Centre area, where condominium towers crowd around three stations on the Yonge subway line. With more than half its residents born outside Canada, Willowdale is among the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the Toronto region, home to substantial Chinese, Korean, and Iranian communities.

Candidates

Ali Ehsassi (Liberal) -- The incumbent MP, first elected in 2015. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1970 to an Iranian diplomat father, Ehsassi's family relocated to New York City when he was three and later moved to North York when he was fifteen. He holds degrees from the University of Toronto, the London School of Economics, Osgoode Hall Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center, where he studied international trade and arbitration law. Before entering politics, he practised law and served on the executive of the international law section of the Ontario Bar Association.

Daniel Lee (Conservative) -- A pharmacist who graduated from the University of Toronto School of Pharmacy in 1991 and owned several pharmacies in Willowdale from 1994 to 2018. Lee and his wife had lived in the Willowdale area for close to twenty years, and he was active in the Korean-Canadian community, serving as president of the Korean Canadian Cultural Association of Greater Toronto.

Leah Kalsi (NDP) -- The New Democratic Party candidate in Willowdale for the 2019 election.

Sharolyn Vettese (Green Party) -- The Green Party candidate in the riding.

Richard Hillier (People's Party) -- The People's Party of Canada candidate in Willowdale.

Birinder Singh Ahluwalia and Shodja Ziaian also ran as independent candidates.

About the Riding

The Yonge Street corridor through Willowdale has undergone a dramatic transformation over several decades, driven by the presence of the Yonge subway line. Dozens of residential towers have risen around North York Centre and Sheppard-Yonge stations, producing one of the densest population concentrations outside downtown Toronto. This growth has placed considerable strain on local schools, parks, and community facilities that were originally designed for a lower-density suburban neighbourhood.

Willowdale's commercial landscape reflects its multicultural character. The Korean business district along Yonge Street north of Sheppard Avenue is one of the largest Korean commercial corridors in Canada, anchored by restaurants, grocery stores, and professional offices. Persian-owned businesses and services are clustered along several arterial roads, while Chinese commercial establishments are spread throughout the riding. Mel Lastman Square and the former North York Civic Centre serve as the civic focal point, hosting public events and providing government services. Housing affordability, transit congestion, and the adequacy of social infrastructure for the riding's rapidly growing and diverse population were persistent local concerns heading into the 2019 campaign.