University—Rosedale

University—Rosedale’s NDP MPP Jessica Bell had established herself during the 2022–2025 term as one of the legislature’s most prominent voices on housing policy. Serving as the NDP’s critic for Housing and Tenant Rights, Bell introduced legislation aimed at preventing illegal evictions, strengthening rent control, and protecting the Greenbelt from development. She was a vocal critic of the Ford government’s Bill 23, which she argued weakened environmental protections and opened the door to Greenbelt land swaps that favoured well-connected developers. The riding’s concentration of renters, students, and progressive voters in neighbourhoods such as the Annex, Kensington Market, and Chinatown made housing affordability the defining issue of the local campaign.

Candidates

Jessica Bell (NDP) — Bell was the co-founder and former executive director of TTCriders, a transit advocacy organization, and had previously been a lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University. She was first elected in 2018 and served as the NDP’s critic for Housing and Tenant Rights during the 2022–2025 term, introducing legislation on rent control and illegal eviction prevention. She also received GreenPAC’s endorsement for her environmental advocacy.

Pam Jeffery (Liberal) — Jeffery was the CEO of the Prosperity Project, a charity focused on women’s advancement in the workplace. She founded the Women’s Executive Network in 1997 and led it for nearly two decades. She served as a director on boards including Casey House, the Canadian Opera Company, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation, and CAMH. She had lived in the riding for twenty-nine years.

Sydney Pothakos (Progressive Conservative) — Pothakos had worked as a political staffer for PC cabinet ministers at Queen’s Park and was described as a public policy professional with experience in affordable housing, education, and mental health initiatives. She campaigned on transit safety and protecting jobs from American tariffs.

Ignacio Mongrell ran for the Green Party and Dylan Harris for the New Blue Party.

Local Issues

Housing affordability remained the defining issue in University—Rosedale. The riding had one of the highest concentrations of renters in Ontario, including thousands of University of Toronto students competing for limited housing stock. Rents continued to climb, and tenants in buildings constructed after 1991 remained outside the protection of vacancy control. The Greenbelt controversy that engulfed the Ford government in 2023, when the Auditor General and Integrity Commissioner found that the process of removing land from the Greenbelt had been influenced by developer interests, gave additional ammunition to Bell’s housing and environmental platform. Although the government reversed the Greenbelt land swaps, the issue continued to resonate with voters skeptical of provincial development policy.

The Ontario Line transit project affected the southern portions of the riding, where planned construction through the downtown core raised concerns about community disruption and the use of ministerial zoning orders to fast-track transit-oriented development without adequate community input. Bell had been a critic of the provincial approach to transit mega-projects and continued to press for stronger community consultation requirements.

Environmental policy and climate action retained particular salience in a riding with a significant student and academic population. The University of Toronto campus was a hub for climate activism, and the intersection of housing, transit, and emissions reduction shaped the priorities of many voters. The 2025 snap election’s framing around trade threats and economic resilience sat alongside these local concerns as residents weighed their options.