The community centre gym had been repurposed for the candidates’ forum, with rows of chairs arranged between gymnastics mats and basketball hoops.
Parents with kids in tow and seniors with handwritten notes listened closely as candidates laid out their stances on parking issues, multiplex developments, even raisins in cookies.
Incumbent Parthi Kandavel seemed at ease. He pointed to traffic calming measures on Warden he championed, a bus lane on Kingston Road he opposed, and an expansion of an auto parts manufacturer at Kennedy and Danforth roads that he backed to bring in “good, well-paying jobs” for locals.
“The record speaks for itself,” he said.
Then the moderator read out an audience question that shifted the mood in the room.
What was the status of the police investigation into the councillor?
“Foul!” one person shouted from the crowd.
“There’s been no wrongdoing,” Kandavel told the crowd, “and I’m hoping the OPP investigation concludes … I’ll leave it at that.”
The investigation looms over campaign
Kandavel will soon find out if the spectre of the ongoing OPP probe will outrun him at the ballot box on Monday.
Eight names are on the ballot for Scarborough Southwest voters, including Kandavel and the runner-up in 2023, Kevin Rupasinghe. That race was decided by less than 800 votes.
In a bid to keep his political career alive, the embattled councillor appears to be leaning in to what many observers agree has been his strength since starting a career in public office a dozen years ago: A laser focus on issues affecting southwest Scarborough, a part of Toronto he says has been long neglected. Constituents, city hall colleagues and former staffers say Kandavel’s attention to constituents and ground-level issues steers his voting record more than any firm political ideologies.
In May, the councillor confirmed he is under investigation by the OPP. While the force won’t say what specifically its anti-rackets branch is probing, the investigation appears to have been sparked by a complaint from a developer, and sources have since alleged to the Star that Kandavel was soliciting payments to third parties while projects needed city approval.
Kandavel has denied wrongdoing. The OPP said on Friday that the probe is ongoing.
At the forum, some in the crowd started to applaud Kandavel’s response. Then it was back to usual campaign matters, as the discussion pivoted to the local economy. Kandavel pointed to his office’s work assisting a production company with parking and zoning issues, to bring more television and film work to Scarborough.
Kandavel’s Scarborough-first strategy
Kandavel’s family moved to Scarborough when he was six years old. He and his wife, Anu Sriskandarajah — who is running for re-election as a public school board trustee this fall after coming second in a council byelection last year — are raising two children near Warden and Danforth avenues.
Kandavel told the Star that his interest in politics was first sparked in 2007, amid a swirling debate over whether public funding should flow to more religious school systems. Kandavel chafed at the idea, believing the focus should be on improving the existing public system.
“Real problems deserve structural solutions that improve the larger system,” he said in an email, responding to questions from the Star.
Kandavel was first elected to public office in 2014 as a trustee on the public school board, after an unsuccessful bid in 2010. He won his first trustee term by only a few hundred votes.
His work as trustee impressed parent council chairs, who would endorse Kandavel when he ran for city councillor, describing him as “accessible” and a “straight shooter” who responded quickly.
Kandavel said he wanted parents to hear from him clearly and promptly, so they didn’t have to find out about board decisions from somewhere else. “Parents knew exactly where I stood and that I wouldn’t let their concerns get buried,” he said.
A parent council chair’s endorsement carries weight in the community, he said. “Parent council chairs are some of the most trusted people in their neighbourhoods … their neighbours know they’ve seen your work up close.”
From school board to city hall
Before setting his sights on city hall, Kandavel made an attempt at the Ontario Liberal nomination in Scarborough Centre. As reported by the Scarborough Mirror in January 2018, he lost in what the outlet described as one of the party’s largest ever nomination meetings. In 2022, he ran for his ward’s city council seat and lost that race, too, coming in second to the longtime incumbent. Just a year later, after the sitting councillor resigned, Kandavel won the byelection.
When first elected to council, Kandavel told the Star he thought of himself as an ally to Mayor Olivia Chow, and more progressive than his ward’s predecessor. Since then, Kandavel has cut an isolated, independent figure on council, without close ties to Chow’s progressive administration or the informal group of conservative members who oppose her.
“The left-right spectrum often doesn’t fit city politics very well,” Kandavel said in his email responses for this article. “The divide or gaps are more about geography … I decide each (issue) on what’s best for the people I represent.”
While a degree of vote-trading isn’t unusual at council, three city hall sources said Kandavel offered his vote in support of a colleague’s effort in exchange for support on his initiatives in a way that stood out as particularly transactional. Two of the sources said it made some colleagues uneasy.
But incumbent Councillor Josh Matlow, another council independent who worked with Kandavel on advancing a monument to the Tamil genocide, among other issues, said he never saw the Scarborough councillor take a transactional approach to voting.
He said he admired how Kandavel wasn’t “blindly beholden” to any one faction, and was “probably trying his best to reflect what he believes his constituents want him to do.”
Kandavel’s campaign website allows prospective voters to zoom into their neighbourhood to view his work on the most local level, from the easing of congestion near construction at Courcelette and Kingston roads, to storm sewer upgrades at Cleta Drive and Corvette Avenue.
Kandavel stressed that he doesn’t always agree with his constituents. He didn’t agree with support for jets at Billy Bishop airport, nor support for a city staff proposal to allow small retail shops in residential neighbourhoods.
He said that while his staff handles a high volume of constituency matters, he also focuses on youth employment, tenant protection and other citywide issues.
“He’s been approachable. He’s been a very reasonable person to speak to,” said Peter Thachuk, a director with the Cliffcrest Scarborough Village Southwest Residents Association.
The association is not endorsing candidates, but has worked with Kandavel to advocate their position on numerous policy files, including the heated debate over legalizing sixplexes citywide. Kandavel was among councillors opposed to the move and gathered residents’ groups to flank him as he spoke to reporters and urged a reconsideration of the policy as proposed by city staff.
Thachuk has difficulty reconciling what he has heard about the OPP investigation with the councillor he knows. He’s withholding judgment until more information is clear.
“The facts need to speak for themselves.”
The Star spoke to five former Kandavel staffers, who requested anonymity out of concern that speaking about their former employer could impact their career.
Three said Kandavel was disorganized and not an effective leader during his first term. One acknowledged Kandavel’s focus on constituents but noted high staff turnover, saying people were let go after clashes with Kandavel or chose to leave because it was a stressful work environment. The three sources said Kandavel was inexperienced and had trouble navigating the inner workings of city hall.
In response, Kandavel said coming into office via byelection meant a shorter onboarding and transition period. He acknowledged his office saw turnover, though he suggested that was “not unusual” in the circumstances. But by 2025, his office found its “rhythm.”
Two other ex-staffers interviewed by the Star spoke warmly about their former employer. One called him a mentor; the other felt there was an “open door” for employees to work with Kandavel on policy issues — and that his “default” was to test his views with staff, many of whom were younger people from the ward.
He was driven and impassioned, the staffer said. He worked hard and expected the same from those around him. They saw him as a strong advocate for issues he thought were important to constituents.
Kandavel saw historic underinvestments in Scarborough, and wanted to be the one to address them, the staffer said. “It’s no secret that he champions issues important to Scarborough.”
To the Star, Kandavel said that “since amalgamation, Scarborough has been part of a city whose decisions are made, and mostly imagined, from the core … I’ve spent years trying to understand why the gaps exist.”
Kandavel said he is grateful to those who’ve worked in his office “including the people who were candid with (the Star) about their frustrations.”
How details of the OPP probe emerged
When news of the OPP investigation broke earlier this year, Kandavel said he spoke with his team “directly.” His responses to the Star for this article did not provide any detail about the nature of that discussion. “I was gratified by the continued trust and support they showed me,” he said.
The police probe into Kandavel appears to have been sparked by a July 2025 complaint to Toronto’s integrity commissioner from a representative of a developer. The commissioner is obligated to tell police if it sees “reasonable grounds” to believe a crime was committed. It did so two weeks later.
The details of the complaint have not been released. In the weeks after news of the investigation broke this year, two individuals connected to different developments in Scarborough Southwest told the Star Kandavel allegedly asked them to arrange six-figure payments to third parties while their developments needed approval. While they said the councillor never threatened to hold up the projects, both inferred that if the money wasn’t provided, their developments could be delayed.
Kandavel has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. When asked for this article, Kandavel did not say whether he has received an update from the OPP about the status of its investigation.
Will OPP probe decide crowded race?
The candidates event in September was styled as a forum rather than a debate. But a few candidates in attendance landed tentative jabs that seemed aimed at Kandavel.
“We deserve to have a councillor who can be there at every table, who can be there without a cloud,” Rupasinghe told the audience.
Then candidate Sharmina Nasrin made a promise: “I will introduce a motion to end closed-door meetings between councillors and developers,” she said, eliciting a burst of applause.
The last word was Kandavel’s.
He stressed his record and his roots, the four generations of his family, from his children to his 100-year-old grandfather, who’ve lived in Scarborough and whose experiences colour the way he sees city issues.
He cited the trust of parent councils and residents associations, and drew attention to his work on local projects.
“We have so much potential to build upon,” Kandavel stressed. “I hope to earn your trust once again on Oct. 26 — and to continue fighting for Scarborough.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated the reflect that Parthi Kandavel’s first run for a spot on the public school board was in 2010.
