Lily Cheng

Lily Cheng is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent Ward 18 Willowdale on Toronto City Council in the 2022 Toronto municipal election.

Lily Cheng
Toronto City Councillor for Ward 18 Willowdale
Incumbent
Assumed office November 15, 2022
Preceded by	John Filion
Personal details
Born	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Independent
Website	www.lilycheng.ca

Background

Cheng first became known as founder of North York Moms, an online discussion forum for mothers in the Willowdale area.^[1] 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.^[2] Prior to her election in 2022, she also served as the executive director of the NeighbourLink North York food bank.^[3]

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,^[4] 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.^[5]

2022 election

Following Filion's retirement from politics in 2022 she ran again,^[6] 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^[7] and lobbying for greater community input into a municipal plan to lease a hotel in the ward as an emergency homeless shelter.^[8]

Cheng won the seat following the October 24 election^[3] and took office on November 15.^[9]

Election results

2022 Toronto municipal election, Ward 18 Willowdale [10]
Candidate	Vote	%
Lily Cheng	8,337	41.72
Markus O'Brien Fehr	6,709	33.58
Daniel Lee	4,617	23.11
Elhan Shahban	318	1.59

2018 Toronto election, Ward 18 - Willowdale[11]
Candidate	Votes	%
John Filion	8,104	31.06%
Lily Cheng	5,149	19.74%
Sonny Cho	3,130	12.00%
David Mousavi	1,596	6.12%
Danny DeSantis	1,486	5.70%
Norman Gardner	1,476	5.67%
Sam Moini	1,289	4.94%
Saman Tabasi Nejad	1,189	4.56%
Winston Park	593	2.27%
Gerald Mak	545	2.09%
David Epstein	538	2.06%
Albert Kim	291	1.12%
Farah Aslani	187	0.72%
Andrew Herbst	162	0.62%
Hamid Shakeri	122	0.47%
Chung Jin Park	101	0.39%
Sam Mathi	66	0.25%
Marvin Honickman	61	0.23%

References

1. Palamarchuk, Andrew (2022-01-17). "North York Moms group founder Lily Cheng can put house 'back in order' with kids at school". North York Mirror. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
2. Beattie, Samantha (2018-04-26). "Van rampage prompts debate about increasing safety without sacrificing livability". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
3. "North Toronto ward election results: Lily Cheng breaks through in Willowdale". CBC News. October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
4. David Rider, "John Filion not seeking re-election to Toronto council". Toronto Star, June 20, 2018.
5. Jennifer Yang, "Another four years for Filion". Toronto Star, October 23, 2018.
6. "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.
7. "'Nobody is in favour of those people': The Toronto neighbourhood where the housing crisis has become an election flashpoint". Toronto Star, September 26, 2022.
8. "North York hotel to become refugee shelter". North York Mirror, August 25, 2022.
9. "2022 Candidates' Guide - Ontario municipal council and school board elections". ontario.ca. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
10. "Declaration of Results 2022 Municipal General Election" (PDF). City of Toronto. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
11. City of Toronto City Clerk's Office (2018-10-22). "Declaration of Results - 2018 Municipal General Election" (PDF). City of Toronto. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2024-03-14.