Ward 9 — Davenport

Davenport is a dense, gentrifying urban ward in Toronto's west end, stretching from Ossington Avenue west to the rail corridors and from the rail corridor north to Eglinton Avenue. The ward takes in Dufferin Grove, Wallace-Emerson, Corso Italia, Fairbank, and the Davenport Village strip along Dundas Street West — a corridor that has transformed from a working-class Portuguese neighbourhood into one of Toronto's trendiest dining and retail destinations. The Junction Triangle rounds out the ward's eclectic mix. With a population of roughly 115,000, Davenport has a younger-than-average demographic profile and is majority renter. The Portuguese and Italian communities that defined the area for decades have been joined by young professionals priced out of the downtown core, and Portuguese-language businesses increasingly share blocks with craft cocktail bars and co-working spaces.

Davenport carried particular significance because Ana Bailão had represented the ward on city council for three terms from 2010 to 2022 before stepping down. Her successor, Alejandra Bravo, won the 2022 council race on a progressive platform, signaling a leftward shift. In the mayoral by-election, Chow won Davenport decisively with 49.8 percent (17,031 votes) to Bailão's 30.1 percent (10,312), a margin of nearly 6,700 votes. Bailão retained meaningful support in her former ward — her 30.1 percent, though below her city-wide average of 32.5 percent, still represented a solid base of support among non-advance voters — but Chow's progressive base overwhelmed her. Chloe Brown, who ran on a platform of grassroots community investment, took 4.2 percent, her best showing outside the downtown core.

Municipal Issues

Gentrification and displacement were the dominant local concerns. The rapid transformation of Dundas West and the Junction Triangle had driven up rents and pushed out long-time residents and businesses. Community organizations advocated for inclusionary zoning in new developments and the preservation of affordable commercial space for immigrant-serving businesses. Bailão's record on housing policy — she had championed the Open Door affordable housing program during her time on council — gave her credibility on the issue, but Chow's more interventionist approach to city-built housing appealed to a community that had watched private development reshape their neighbourhood without delivering affordability.

The Dupont Street corridor, which runs through the ward, was slated for significant intensification under city planning frameworks, and the construction of a new maintenance and storage facility for the Ontario Line at the former Kodak lands raised concerns about increased truck traffic and construction impacts. TTC service on the ward's bus routes — particularly the Dufferin and Lansdowne lines, consistently among the system's most overcrowded — had been cut, compounding frustrations in a ward where public transit is the primary mode of transportation for most residents.