Scarborough—Rouge Park

Located along Toronto’s eastern boundary, Scarborough—Rouge Park takes in the neighbourhoods of Rouge, Port Union, West Rouge, Highland Creek, West Hill, and parts of Malvern. The riding is home to the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, Centennial College, and the Rouge National Urban Park. A majority of its residents are newcomers to Canada, with large Tamil, South Asian, Filipino, Chinese, Caribbean, and East African communities. Progressive Conservative MPP Vijay Thanigasalam had held the seat since 2018, when he won a tight race against the NDP. During the 2022–2025 term, Thanigasalam rose through the provincial cabinet, serving as Associate Minister of Transportation in 2023 and Associate Minister of Housing in 2024. His cabinet profile and deep community connections made him a strong favourite heading into the 2025 contest.

Candidates

Vijay Thanigasalam (Progressive Conservative) — Born in Sri Lanka, Thanigasalam immigrated to Scarborough as a teenager and earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Before entering politics, he worked as a financial advisor. As Associate Minister of Transportation, he oversaw the implementation of the Ontario One Fare transit program and supported progress on the Ontario Northland Railway. He became the first Tamil-Canadian to serve in Ontario’s provincial cabinet.

Morris Beckford (Liberal) — An immigrant from Jamaica, Beckford holds a PhD in Leadership and has spent more than 20 years working in the non-profit and social services sector. He serves as Associate Dean for the School of Social and Community Services and the School of Deaf and Deafblind Studies at a post-secondary institution. He has focused his career on advocacy for education access, healthcare, and housing for marginalized communities.

Hibah Sidat (NDP) — A lifelong Scarborough resident, Sidat is a professor of English and psychology. She previously worked with the City of Toronto as a youth worker and has been an advocate for accessible transit, affordable housing, and clean communities in the riding.

Victoria Jewt (Green Party), Timothy James (None of the Above Direct Democracy Party), and Wai Kiat Tang (Communist) also ran.

Local Issues

Transit remained a defining concern in the riding. The Scarborough Subway Extension, which would bring higher-order rapid transit to the broader area, was not expected to open until at least 2030, and its terminus would still be well west of the riding’s communities. The early shutdown of the Scarborough RT in July 2023, following a train derailment, left residents reliant on replacement bus services for connections to Kennedy Station. Long bus commutes into central Toronto continued to frustrate working families, and the riding’s two post-secondary campuses, serving tens of thousands of students, added further pressure on local transit routes.

Healthcare access was another persistent issue. Scarborough had roughly 15 percent of residents without a primary care provider and the second-lowest number of family physicians per capita in Ontario. Emergency departments at the area’s hospitals regularly operated at more than double their intended capacity. With Scarborough accounting for about a quarter of Toronto’s population but receiving a fraction of hospital donations, advocates pressed all parties for equitable healthcare investment.

Housing affordability weighed on the riding’s predominantly working-class and newcomer households. Rising rents in the multi-family rental towers lining major corridors created displacement risks, particularly for immigrant families.