Scarborough Southwest

Scarborough Southwest is a culturally diverse riding along Toronto’s southeastern edge, encompassing the Scarborough Bluffs and neighbourhoods including Birch Cliff, Cliffside, Cliffcrest, Oakridge, Ionview, Clairlea, and Birchmount Park. The riding is home to one of Canada’s largest Bangladeshi Canadian communities, alongside significant Tamil, Filipino, Chinese, Caribbean, and Eastern European populations. NDP MPP Doly Begum had held the seat since 2018, when she defeated 15-year Liberal incumbent Lorenzo Berardinetti to become the first Bangladeshi-Canadian elected to a legislative body in Canada. In July 2022, Begum was elevated to deputy leader of the Ontario NDP alongside Sol Mamakwa, raising her provincial profile considerably. She entered the 2025 campaign as the clear favourite to win a third term.

Candidates

Doly Begum (NDP) — Born in the Moulvibazar District of Bangladesh, Begum immigrated to Canada as a child and grew up in Scarborough. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts from University College London. Before her 2018 election, she co-chaired the Scarborough Health Coalition and served as vice-chair of the Warden Woods Community Centre. As deputy leader, she took on an expanded role as a party spokesperson across the province during the 2022–2025 term.

Addie Daramola (Progressive Conservative) — Daramola sought to flip the riding for the governing Progressive Conservatives. She ran a low-profile campaign in the riding.

Qadira Jackson (Liberal) — A lawyer and community volunteer, Jackson grew up in a Scarborough family with roots in the neighbourhood spanning more than 40 years. Before practising law, she worked as a social worker in elementary school settings. She co-founded Blink Equity, a diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firm, and has served on the boards of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers and the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals. She is a director at the West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre.

Mark Bekkering (Green Party) also ran.

Local Issues

Transit disruptions were a significant local concern during the 2022–2025 term. The premature shutdown of the Scarborough RT in July 2023, triggered by a train derailment, eliminated the rapid transit link through parts of Scarborough months ahead of schedule. Replacement bus services filled the gap, but commute times increased for residents who relied on the RT connection to the subway at Kennedy Station. A replacement busway along the former RT corridor was under construction but not expected to open until 2027 at the earliest, leaving Scarborough transit riders in limbo. The Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which had been under construction since 2011, remained unfinished after repeated delays and cost overruns exceeding a billion dollars, deepening frustration with provincial transit planning.

Healthcare access remained a pressing issue. The broader Scarborough community had among the lowest ratios of family physicians per capita in Ontario, with emergency departments at local hospitals consistently operating well above capacity. Chronic disease rates, including diabetes and hypertension, were higher in Scarborough than in other parts of Toronto, adding strain to an already stretched health system.

Housing affordability was a central campaign theme. Rising home prices and rental costs made it increasingly difficult for families in the riding to find stable accommodation. The mix of post-war bungalows and low-rise apartment buildings was under growing development pressure, and candidates debated how to protect existing affordable stock while encouraging new construction.