Toronto—St. Paul’s

Toronto—St. Paul’s is a midtown Toronto riding that stretches from the Annex and Casa Loma neighbourhoods northward through Forest Hill and into the communities along Eglinton Avenue. The seat was won by NDP candidate Jill Andrew in 2018, who flipped it from the Liberals by a margin of roughly 2.5 percentage points. Andrew’s victory made her the first openly queer Black MPP elected to any legislature in Canada. The 2022 contest was expected to be competitive, with the Liberals fielding a high-profile candidate in an effort to reclaim the riding.

Candidates

Jill Andrew (NDP) — Andrew held a PhD in Education from York University and had previously worked as a certified child and youth worker, teacher, student equity program advisor, and university lecturer. She was co-founder of Body Confidence Canada and the #SizeismSUCKS campaign, advocating against size, weight, and appearance-based discrimination. During her first term as MPP, she served as the NDP’s critic for Culture and Heritage and for Women’s Issues.

Nathan Stall (Liberal) — Dr. Stall was a physician specializing in internal medicine and geriatrics, and a researcher focused on seniors and long-term care. He served on Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table before resigning to seek the Liberal nomination in the riding. His candidacy drew attention given the prominence of long-term care as a pandemic-era policy issue.

Blake Libfeld (Progressive Conservative) — Libfeld had worked for the Mackenzie Institute, a national defence think-tank in Toronto, and had been involved with the Ontario PC Party since 2014.

Ian Lipton (Green Party) — Lipton was president of The Carbon Accounting Company, helping businesses reduce their carbon footprints, and a lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Management and Innovation. He held a BA and MA in political science from the University of Waterloo.

Yehuda Goldberg ran for the New Blue Party, Christian Ivanov Mihaylov for the Ontario Party, Zoë Alexandra for the People’s Political Party, and Margarita Sharapova for the Ontario Moderate Party.

Local Issues

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT was the most visible local issue in the riding. Construction on the 19-kilometre transit line had dragged on for years, causing prolonged disruption to businesses and residents along Eglinton Avenue. By 2022, the project was years behind its original schedule and billions of dollars over budget, with no firm opening date in sight. Local businesses had closed due to reduced foot traffic, and traffic congestion spilled into surrounding midtown neighbourhoods. Candidates debated accountability for the delays and what support should be offered to affected communities.

Long-term care and seniors’ health dominated the policy debate, particularly given the devastating impact of COVID-19 on Ontario’s long-term care homes during the pandemic. The riding’s older population made the issue particularly resonant, and the Liberal candidate’s professional background as a geriatrician brought the question of staffing, inspection standards, and for-profit versus non-profit care models to the forefront of the local campaign.

Housing affordability and tenant protections were also significant concerns. The riding contained a mix of single-family homes in affluent neighbourhoods and rental apartment buildings where tenants faced rising costs. A local food bank reported record attendance since the pandemic began, underscoring the economic pressures facing lower-income residents in a riding often associated with relative affluence.