Lily Cheng is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent Ward 18 Willowdale on Toronto City Council in the 2022 Toronto municipal election.
Background Cheng's parents are immigrants from Taiwan. Republished as: Cheng first became known as founder of North York Moms, an online discussion forum for mothers in the Willowdale area. In 2018, she organized a march through the neighbourhood to reclaim Yonge Street and advocate for public safety in the neighbourhood following the 2018 Toronto van attack. Prior to her election in 2022, she also served as the executive director of the NeighbourLink North York food bank.
Political career Cheng ran against incumbent councillor John Filion in the 2018 Toronto municipal election. Filion had originally intended not to run again that year, and had in fact endorsed Cheng as his successor in the former Ward 29,David Rider, "John Filion not seeking re-election to Toronto council". Toronto Star, June 20, 2018. however, after the provincial government of Doug Ford passed legislation cutting the size of the city council in half by aligning ward boundaries with provincial and federal electoral district boundaries in the city, Filion changed his mind and ran again, winning the seat over Cheng.Jennifer Yang, "Another four years for Filion". Toronto Star, October 23, 2018.
2022 election Following Filion's retirement from politics in 2022 she ran again,"Two Toronto city council candidates initially endorsed by John Filion in 2018 election are set to face off in Willowdale". Toronto Star, June 13, 2022. winning the seat over Filion's former chief of staff Markus O'Brien Fehr. She campaigned largely on issues of housing in the ward, including opposing a controversial supportive housing development on Cummer Avenue"'Nobody is in favour of those people': The Toronto neighbourhood where the housing crisis has become an election flashpoint". Toronto Star, September 26, 2022. and lobbying for greater community input into a municipal plan to lease a hotel in the ward as an emergency homeless shelter."North York hotel to become refugee shelter". North York Mirror, August 25, 2022.
Cheng won the seat following the October 24 election and took office on November 15.
Election results 2022 Toronto municipal election, Ward 18 Willowdale Candidate Vote %Lily Cheng 8,337 41.72Markus O'Brien Fehr 6,709 33.58Daniel Lee 4,617 23.11Elhan Shahban 318 1.59
2018 Toronto election, Ward 18 - Willowdale Candidate Votes %John Filion8,10431.06%Lily Cheng5,14919.74%Sonny Cho3,13012.00%David Mousavi 1,5966.12%Danny DeSantis 1,4865.70%Norman Gardner1,4765.67%Sam Moini1,2894.94%Saman Tabasi Nejad1,1894.56%Winston Park5932.27%Gerald Mak 5452.09%David Epstein 5382.06%Albert Kim 2911.12%Farah Aslani1870.72%Andrew Herbst1620.62%Hamid Shakeri1220.47%Chung Jin Park1010.39%Sam Mathi660.25%Marvin Honickman610.23%
References