Scarborough—Rouge Park

Scarborough—Rouge Park is a diverse riding in Toronto’s eastern edge, encompassing the neighbourhoods of Rouge, Port Union, West Rouge, Highland Creek, West Hill, and parts of Malvern. Home to over 100,000 residents, more than half of whom are newcomers to Canada, the riding includes the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, Centennial College, and the Rouge National Urban Park—Canada’s first national urban park. Incumbent PC MPP Vijay Thanigasalam had held the seat since 2018, when he narrowly won by fewer than 1,000 votes over the NDP’s Felicia Samuel. He sought re-election in 2022 with a stronger incumbency advantage and the backing of Doug Ford’s government.

The riding’s large Tamil, South Asian, Filipino, Chinese, Caribbean, and East African communities made it a competitive battleground. Thanigasalam’s narrow 2018 victory meant all three major parties viewed the seat as potentially winnable, and the contest attracted strong candidates from each side.

Candidates

Vijay Thanigasalam (Progressive Conservative) — Born in Sri Lanka, Thanigasalam escaped the civil war with his family and immigrated to Scarborough at age 14. He attended Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School and earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Before entering politics, he worked as a financial advisor. After his 2018 election, he served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation.

Manal Abdullahi (Liberal) — A student success advisor and community organizer, Abdullahi holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in International Development Studies and Political Science from the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. She was nominated as the Liberal candidate in June 2021.

Felicia Samuel (NDP) — An elementary school teacher at Emily Carr Public School in Scarborough, Samuel was an elected member of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Federation of Labour. She had finished within two percentage points of winning the riding in 2018 and returned for a second campaign.

Priyan De Silva (Green Party), Gordon Kerr (Ontario Party), Christopher Bressi (New Blue Party), and Matthew Oliver (Freedom Party) also sought election.

Local Issues

Transit infrastructure was a major concern in the riding. The Scarborough Subway Extension, which would bring higher-order transit to the area, was not expected to open until at least 2030, and its terminus would still be well west of the riding’s communities. Residents in Rouge, Port Union, and Highland Creek continued to rely on buses for long commutes into the city core, fuelling frustration over the pace of transit investment in Scarborough.

Housing affordability weighed heavily on the riding’s predominantly working-class and newcomer households. Many residents lived in multi-family rental towers along major corridors, where rising rents driven by Real Estate Investment Trust ownership placed increasing strain on modest family incomes. The risk of displacement from renovictions and above-guideline rent increases was a persistent worry, particularly for the large immigrant communities that had settled in these affordable rental clusters.

The riding’s two post-secondary institutions, educating upwards of 20,000 students combined, brought student housing and campus community planning into local conversations. Pandemic recovery also remained on voters’ minds, as Scarborough had experienced some of Toronto’s highest COVID-19 infection rates and faced ongoing challenges with healthcare access in a part of the city historically underserved by hospitals and primary care providers.