Parkdale—High Park

Parkdale—High Park occupies the central-west lakefront of Toronto, bounded by Lake Ontario to the south, the Humber River to the west, the Canadian Pacific Railway corridor to the north, and Dufferin Street to the east. The riding encompasses seven neighbourhoods surrounding High Park—one of Toronto's largest green spaces at 161 hectares—including Swansea, High Park North, the southern half of the Junction, Runnymede-Bloor West Village, Lambton Baby Point, Roncesvalles, and Parkdale. The 2021 census recorded a population of approximately 107,000.

Candidates

Arif Virani (Liberal) — Born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1971, Virani came to Canada as a refugee after the expulsion of Indians from Uganda, with his family initially taken in by the YMCA in Montreal before settling in Toronto. He graduated from McGill University in political science and history and earned his law degree from the University of Toronto. A constitutional litigator who co-founded the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, he was first elected in 2015 and served as parliamentary secretary in portfolios including immigration, Canadian heritage, and justice.

Paul Taylor (NDP) — Born in Toronto in 1982 and raised by a mother from Saint Kitts, Taylor grew up in a household reliant on government assistance. He attended York University and later became the executive director of FoodShare Toronto, Canada's largest food security organization, with a budget of nearly $7 million and over 100 staff. In that role, he drew connections between food insecurity and systemic racism.

Nestor Sanajko (Conservative) — Born in Toronto and raised in Swansea, Sanajko studied at Concordia University where he was president of the Ukrainian Student Union. He built a career in international business development, consulting for Fortune 500 multinational companies, and has been involved in politics since his high school years.

Wilfried Richard Alexander Danzinger (PPC) — Danzinger ran as the People's Party of Canada candidate for the riding, representing the party's platform of limited government and personal freedoms.

About the Riding

Parkdale—High Park is defined by the interplay between its green spaces, its diverse neighbourhoods, and its cultural institutions. High Park—opened to the public in 1876—contains one of the rarest ecosystems in Canada, an oak savannah, along with a zoo, swimming pool, sports fields, and the famous cherry blossom trees that draw thousands of visitors each spring. The park and the Humber River valley provide an unusual amount of natural space for a riding in Canada's largest city.

The riding's neighbourhoods each carry their own identity. Roncesvalles Avenue is the historic centre of Toronto's Polish community, home to St. Casimir's Catholic Church and the annual Roncesvalles Polish Festival that draws tens of thousands of visitors. Bloor West Village, one of Canada's first Business Improvement Areas, features a mix of independent shops, bakeries, and restaurants. Parkdale, in the riding's southeast corner, is one of Toronto's most socioeconomically complex neighbourhoods—a dense, transit-accessible area with a large stock of rooming houses and rental apartments that is home to significant Tibetan, South Asian, and Caribbean communities alongside long-established residents.

Parkdale—High Park has the lowest percentage of visible minorities among all City of Toronto ridings at approximately 26 percent, with the highest proportions of Irish, German, and French ethnic origin in the city. Despite this, the riding is culturally rich and socially engaged, with active community associations, tenant advocacy groups, and arts organizations. Gentrification—particularly in Parkdale, where rising rents and condo conversions have pressured lower-income tenants—is a defining political issue. Housing affordability, transit improvements along the Bloor-Danforth line, and support for small businesses along the riding's commercial strips consistently shape local campaigns.