Ward 3 — Etobicoke-Lakeshore

Etobicoke-Lakeshore is Toronto's largest ward by population, with roughly 142,000 residents spread across a dramatic range of urban forms along the Lake Ontario waterfront. The ward stretches from the Humber River west to the Etobicoke Creek, taking in the old village main streets of Mimico, New Toronto, and Long Branch — working-class communities with roots in the early twentieth century — alongside the dramatically transformed Humber Bay Shores, where dozens of condominium towers have risen since the early 2000s to create one of the densest residential clusters in the GTA. The ward also includes the established residential areas of Alderwood and Stonegate-Queensway. This mix of condo-dwelling young professionals, long-time suburban homeowners, and working-class renters gives the ward an unusually diverse political character for Etobicoke.

Etobicoke-Lakeshore cast more ballots than any ward in the city — 42,189 — reflecting both its large population and strong civic engagement. Bailão won convincingly with 40.2 percent (16,967 votes) to Chow's 29.4 percent (12,424), a margin of 4,543. Saunders placed third at 10.2 percent, and Furey took 7.1 percent. Bailão dominated election-day voting with nearly 15,900 votes to Chow's roughly 10,300, though Chow led in advance polls by a wider margin here than in the other Etobicoke wards. Councillor Amber Morley, who had won the ward in 2022 by defeating long-time incumbent Mark Grimes, was one of council's newer voices.

Municipal Issues

Humber Bay Shores' explosive growth was the ward's defining planning challenge. The cluster of towers along the waterfront had added tens of thousands of residents to an area with limited community infrastructure — overcrowded schools, insufficient parkland, and a lack of community recreation space. The Park Lawn-Lake Shore area, hemmed in by rail corridors and the Gardiner Expressway, faced severe traffic congestion that intensified with each new tower. A proposed reconfiguration of the Park Lawn-Lake Shore intersection and new transit connections were years from completion.

The old lakeshore communities of Mimico, New Toronto, and Long Branch faced a different set of pressures. These historically modest neighbourhoods had begun to gentrify, with rising property values and new infill development changing their character. At the same time, aging rental apartment buildings along Lakeshore Boulevard housed lower-income residents facing affordability pressures. The contrast between the gleaming Humber Bay Shores towers and the working-class streets a few blocks inland captured a broader tension across the city between development-driven growth and community stability.