London—Fanshawe

London—Fanshawe covers the eastern and northeastern portions of the City of London, Ontario, encompassing established working-class neighbourhoods, newer suburban developments, and the campus of Fanshawe College. NDP MPP Teresa Armstrong, the first Portuguese woman elected to the Ontario Legislature, sought a fifth consecutive term after first winning the seat in 2011. Armstrong served during the 2022-2025 term as the party's critic for child care and pensions and continued her longstanding advocacy for mental health care, housing, and long-term care reform. Her private member's bill establishing October as Islamic Heritage Month in Ontario, passed in 2016, remained one of her notable legislative achievements.

The riding's population includes a diverse mix of longtime residents, newcomers, and students, with household incomes generally below the city-wide average. London's homelessness crisis, which escalated dramatically during the 2022-2025 term, was acutely felt in and around the riding.

Candidates

Teresa Armstrong (NDP) — First elected in 2011, Armstrong is the longest-serving of London's MPPs and has been returned in every general election since. She served as the NDP's critic for child care and pensions during the 2022-2025 term and has championed legislation on mental health, home care wait lists, and long-term care reform. Before entering politics, she was a community organizer in London.

Pete Vanderley (Progressive Conservative) — The PC candidate in London—Fanshawe, Vanderley sought to challenge the NDP's hold on the riding in the context of the province-wide Conservative majority.

Kevin May (Liberal) — A resident of London with decades of experience in the industrial and manufacturing sector, May currently serves as a branch manager for a small Canadian-owned business. He has chaired the Court of Revision and the Child Care Advisory Committee and served on the Community Inclusion and Diversity Committee and the Advisory Committee on Environment.

Minor candidates included William Osbourne-sorrell (Green Party), Christopher West (New Blue Party), Dave Durnin (Freedom Party), and Alan John Mcdonald (Independent).

Local Issues

London's homelessness crisis was the most visible and contentious issue in the riding during the 2022-2025 term. At their peak in late 2023, there were over one hundred active encampments across the city, with roughly seventeen hundred to twenty-one hundred people experiencing homelessness at any given time. The City of London launched an innovative hub-based response, establishing neighbourhood service hubs intended to provide basic necessities, health supports, and pathways to stable housing. The hub plan generated significant neighbourhood debate about the proximity of such services to residential areas and long-term care facilities.

Health care access remained a persistent concern for London—Fanshawe residents. The shortage of family physicians across London left thousands without primary care, and staffing pressures at London Health Sciences Centre contributed to emergency department overcrowding. Armstrong used her platform to press for stronger provincial investment in home care, mental health services, and long-term care staffing, arguing that the government's approach had failed to keep pace with growing demand.

Affordability dominated the broader conversation in a riding where many households were already stretched thin. Average rents in London climbed steadily during the term, and the city's subsidized housing wait list grew significantly. Residents at community forums called for stronger tenant protections, more diverse housing types, and increased construction of purpose-built rental units. The intersection of housing insecurity, mental health challenges, and the opioid crisis deepened the complexity of the social service pressures facing the riding's communities.