CITYWIDE — EVERYONE VOTES IN THIS RACE

The Mayor’s Race

One mayor for all of London — with strong-mayor powers over the budget.

Researched July 2, 2026 · updated July 3, 2026 · 7 candidates registered

The race at a glance

Seven candidates are registered for mayor as of June 30, 2026, and the field can still grow — nominations stay open until August 21. Media coverage treats it as a two-way race between incumbent Josh Morgan, who won in 2022 with 65.7% of the vote, and Ward 4 councillor Susan Stevenson; public-affairs consultant Kirsten Krose also drew dedicated launch coverage. Whoever wins holds Ontario's 'strong mayor' powers: propose the budget alone, veto council amendments, hire and fire the city manager.

HOW THE BUDGET ACTUALLY PASSES — THE STRONG-MAYOR STEPS

1 · MAYOR TABLES

The mayor alone writes and tables the budget

2 · COUNCIL AMENDS

Council can only pass amendments, by ordinary vote

3 · VETO WINDOW

The mayor has 10 days to veto any amendment

4 · DEEMED ADOPTED

No veto? It becomes law with no final vote

Whoever wins this race holds step 1, 3 and the pen. Mayor Morgan has vetoed zero amendments this term.

The issues, explained

Every citywide file in one place: the situation, the numbers, and what to ask the people who want to run the city.

□ SHARED — CITY + PROVINCE

Homelessness and encampments

Homelessness was the single most-cited issue in a May 2026 CBC London reader survey (330+ responses, not a scientific poll). The city's plan, the Whole of Community System Response, has opened two 24/7 low-barrier hubs since 2023, out of an original goal of up to 15. More are planned.

The honest numbers ▾

Two hubs open (Atlohsa's Wiigiwaaminaan Lodge and the YOU Community Youth Hub), plus a provincially run HART hub that opened in late October 2025 with 33 beds, building toward 60 plus 60 supportive housing units in its first year, and filled immediately. Most of the money is not on the tax bill: it runs through the ~$37.6M donor-funded Fund for Change, provincial Homelessness Prevention Program dollars, and federal transfers — money that is hard for voters to track through the normal budget. Council controls hub siting, zoning, and encampment protocols; addiction treatment, mental health, and income supports sit with the province and Ottawa. City of London — Whole of Community System Response ↗

Ask your candidates

How many of the planned hubs will actually be open before the next budget, and what happens when the one-time money runs out?

□ SHARED — CITY + PROVINCE

Open drug use and public safety

Open drug use and general safety ranked right behind homelessness in the May 2026 CBC survey, especially downtown and in Old East Village. It's tangled up with addiction treatment and health policy, but those sit with the province.

The honest numbers ▾

Council controls the policing budget and priorities, by-law enforcement, lighting and public-space design, and outreach-program funding. It does not control drug scheduling and enforcement law (federal), addiction treatment and supervised consumption policy (provincial), or Crown prosecution decisions. CBC London reader survey, May 2026 ↗

Ask your candidates

Do you support the current police-budget trajectory, and if not, what would you fund instead?

■ CITY DECIDES

Policing

Council approved a $672 million, four-year police budget in February 2024 — roughly 30% more than the prior four-year track. It was the single largest driver of the 2024 property tax increase.

The honest numbers ▾

The package includes 189 new positions (97 of them new officers), body cameras, a new digital evidence system, and $42M toward what is now the London Emergency Services Campus, a joint police/fire/city training facility at 3243 Manning Drive (site endorsed by council in July 2025; Phase One runs 2025–2027). The police budget was worth roughly 5 of 2024's 8.7 percentage points of tax increase. Statistics Canada's official measure puts London CMA's Crime Severity Index at 61.2 in 2024, down 6% from 2023 (national index: 77.9, down 4%). The split matters: the decline is driven by non-violent crime, now 29% below 2019, while violent crime severity (76.17 in 2024) is still about 19% above 2019. And the decline can't be pinned entirely on the new spending, since the hires were still ramping up. StatCan — Crime Severity Index by CMA, 2024 ↗

Ask your candidates

Based on results so far, was the $672-million police commitment worth it?

■ CITY DECIDES

Downtown's empty offices

Downtown London's office vacancy rate hit 31.5% in Q4 2025, per CBRE — the highest of any major Canadian downtown, up from 27.3% in 2023. Most of the empty space is in older Class B/C buildings, and WSIB moving out of the core was a big part of it.

The honest numbers ▾

The city's office-to-residential conversion incentive (a forgivable loan of up to $35,000 per unit, stackable to about $50,000 with a separate affordable-housing incentive) has funded conversions including 685 Richmond St (41 units) and the former Rexall building at 166 Dundas. Whether the subsidy model is working is genuinely contested: vacancy kept climbing through 2025 despite it. Council controls zoning, CIP incentive design, and spending on streets and public spaces; it does not control private employers' return-to-office decisions. CBC News on downtown vacancy ↗

Ask your candidates

Should the office-conversion subsidy continue, change, or be capped? What vacancy number, by what date, counts as success?

■ CITY DECIDES

Property taxes

London's tax increases ran hot, then cooled: 8.7% (2024), 7.3% (2025), a proposed 3.6% for 2026 that a committee amendment trimmed to 3.4%, which stood (no veto; per CTV News, Nov. 26, 2025), and a planned 4.7% (2027) — a four-year average of 6.0%. The 2024 spike was driven mainly by the police budget; later numbers came down after the mayor told staff to hold future increases under 5%.

The honest numbers ▾

London's average tax bill ($5,405 in 2024, per the BMA Municipal Study) is second-lowest among 11 large Ontario cities — but its tax rate (~1.57%) is among the highest, because London's property values and per-person assessment base are comparatively low. Both things are true at once, and both numbers are needed for the full picture. A large share of 'social' spending is provincially mandated and cost-shared (Ontario Works, childcare, public health), not a discretionary local choice.

Ask your candidates

Name one budget line you would actually cut or grow, not just 'hold the line.'

□ SHARED — CITY + FEDS

Housing costs and supply

London's rent story runs on two tracks. The city's own Q4 2024 snapshot put the average one-bedroom at $1,765 a month, and CMHC's 2025 report put purpose-built rental vacancy at 4%, the highest since 2010. Asking and occupied rents differ: the average occupied two-bedroom was $1,645 in October 2025 (CMHC), while asking rents for a two-bedroom ran around $2,180 in June 2026 (Zumper). A household earning the census median income (about $79,500 for the London metro area) can qualify for a mortgage that covers a benchmark condo but not a house. Average home prices have been roughly flat through 2026 after several years of high increases.

The honest numbers ▾

The federal Housing Accelerator Fund ($74M as signed, later amended to up to $81.5M for 2,371 additional units between 2024 and 2026) anchors the city's supply push, alongside the office-conversion program. Council controls zoning and approvals speed, development charges, and incentive programs; it does not control mortgage rates and lending rules (federal/Bank of Canada), income growth, or most direct housing subsidy programs. City of London — Q4 2024 rental market snapshot ↗

Ask your candidates

Do you support duplexes and fourplexes in established neighbourhoods, yes or no?

□ SHARED — CITY + PROVINCE

Transit and the BRT

London's BRT was cut back, then got more expensive. Council cancelled the north ($147M) and west ($72M) legs of the original five-corridor plan in 2019; the Downtown Loop was finished in 2024, and two corridors are still under construction (East London Link and Wellington Gateway). Cost overruns and construction disruption have been steady complaints.

The honest numbers ▾

The network's approved budget is now $454 million, up from the $280.5M council approved in 2019; about $176M of that comes from the province and Ottawa. East London Link construction was largely wrapping up through 2026; Wellington Gateway construction continues into 2027, with full service not expected until late 2027 (East) and late 2028 (Wellington). Council controls route design, funding priority, and disruption management; it does not control the pace of provincial and federal transit funding, which BRT depends on. Rapid Transit (London, Ontario) — Wikipedia ↗

Ask your candidates

Should the cancelled north and west BRT legs be revived, and with whose money?

■ CITY DECIDES

Growth and roads

The London metro area counted 543,551 people in the 2021 Census and kept growing fast: up 3.2% from July 2023 to July 2024, ahead of the national 3.0%, before growth slowed sharply to about 1.0% in 2024–25 as the number of non-permanent residents fell. That growth strains roads, water and wastewater systems, and everyday services.

The honest numbers ▾

Road and infrastructure maintenance was cited alongside homelessness and drug use as a top-three concern in the May 2026 CBC survey. Water and wastewater have their own capital plans worth hundreds of millions, paid through water rates rather than property tax. Council controls the capital plan, road reconstruction priorities, and how growth costs are split between existing taxpayers (levy) and new development (development charges); it does not control provincial highway funding or the growth policy driving population increases. CBC London reader survey, May 2026 ↗

Ask your candidates

Who should pay for the roads and sewers growth requires: new development or existing homeowners?

What your ward is wrestling with

These are the citywide files; your ward has its own list too.Jump straight to your ward’s own issue list:

DON’T KNOW YOUR WARD? FIND IT BY ADDRESS →

WARD 1 WARD 2 WARD 3 WARD 4 WARD 5 WARD 6 WARD 7 WARD 8 WARD 9 WARD 10 WARD 11 WARD 12 WARD 13 WARD 14

Who’s running

Listed alphabetically. Identical treatment for every candidate — that’s the deal.

FEHER HOWE KROSE MORGAN MORGAN STEVENSON ZEBOON

John Feher

A London business owner, born in St. Thomas, with several years' experience working with the Canadian Mental Health Association; no prior elected office in London.

SPECIFICITY4 concrete proposals · 5 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

Weekly public road/construction updates campaign site ↗
Monthly housing-approval-timeline reports
Quarterly downtown/business reviews
Public service-response dashboards
Infrastructure: 'fix infrastructure without excuses' — roads, construction disruption, transit reliability, snow response — priority area; underlying targets not numbered
Housing and family support: faster approvals, neighbourhood planning balancing affordability and quality of life — no figure given for how much faster approvals should be
Local business: reduce regulatory friction, improve commercial corridors, support downtown confidence
Fiscal responsibility: connect spending to measurable results, publish progress 'in accessible language' — no numeric tax target found
Waste collection: modernize for efficiency and neighbourhood cleanliness

NOTES

His site was re-read in full on July 3, 2026; it is a single-page site and the platform above reflects everything published on it.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL PHONE

Lawrence-Zachary Howe

A mayoral candidate campaigning on transparency, dignity, and hope whose site publishes an extensive self-told biography — including youth- and men's-shelter stays and transitional housing before moving to London at 28 — which he frames as his qualification on homelessness and poverty; no prior elected office was found.

SPECIFICITY9 concrete proposals · 3 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

Pledges to explain the reasoning behind every vote if elected, citing the sources that informed each decision — a process commitment campaign site ↗
A municipal construction company: an in-house city service to deliver London's own construction projects, which he argues would end contractor markups, delays and cost overruns — no cost estimate or implementation analysis published Major Positions page ↗
A trimodal inland port: a municipal short-rail corporation exploiting the 401/402 junction, airport cargo capacity and CN/CPKC mainlines, with the city charging handling, sorting, terminal and shipping fees as non-tax revenue — no cost estimates, feasibility studies or timelines published
Municipal vertical farms using French-intensive market-garden methods, staffed largely by volunteers, with on-site solar and wind offsetting electricity costs — aimed at food insecurity — the 31.5% food-insecurity figure the site cites is the campaign's own
License local tradespeople, engineers and construction workers to do minor side-road repairs at their own cost, verified afterward by city inspectors
Reclaim recycling-collection routes for businesses, non-profits and places of worship excluded under the provincial producer-responsibility shift (the site says 535 properties lost service) — the 535 figure and $3–4M savings account are the campaign's own
Police accountability: respond to Priority 2 calls as fast as Priority 1, judge performance on cleared rather than closed cases, and give no institution added funding until it demonstrates competence with current resources — the response-time figures cited (9m11s vs 9h27m) are the campaign's own
A heritage-protection bylaw stripping municipal operation and business licences from contractors and companies participating in historic-building demolition without council approval; stop selling historic properties and buy them back at fair market value 'once the revenue engines make it feasible'
Enforce the existing 15-storey height maximum for Urban Corridors and Major Shopping Areas with no exceptions
A 'Triple-Core Model': transition London from a single-hub to a triple-hub city for transit, utilities and emergency services to lower service costs across the city — concept only; no locations, costs or mechanism published
Stated primary policy focus: 'improving infrastructure and institutional reliability while maximizing prosperity'
Campaign centered on three values: Transparency, Dignity, Hope

NOTES

His 'Major Positions' page — which returned only a placeholder when fetched July 2 — was fully live by July 3, 2026 and is reflected above. A referenced minor-positions page was not located.

The site publishes many city-specific figures (31.5% food insecurity, 9h27m Priority 2 police response, $3–4M recycling savings, 535 properties losing collection, 84,000 residents without doctors) that are the campaign's own claims and were not independently verified here.

None of the major proposals carries a published cost estimate, revenue projection or implementation analysis; the port, construction-company and vertical-farm proposals are presented as self-funding or savings-positive without figures.

All biographical detail is self-published on his campaign site; no independent news coverage of his candidacy was located in this research.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL

Kirsten Krose

A 41-year-old London native, founder and president of government-relations firm SWON Public Affairs, with staff experience in the Prime Minister's Office under Stephen Harper and in federal ministerial and provincial government offices; no prior elected office.

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 8 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

'Traffic That Moves': reducing congestion, 'smarter transportation solutions' — no specific traffic-flow metric found campaign site ↗
'A City That Feels Safe': stronger community supports, better infrastructure, 'visible enforcement', with particular attention to violence against women and girls and downtown-core safety
'Services That Work': reliable road maintenance and snow removal
'Respect for Taxpayers': spending 'wisely, transparently, and responsibly' — no numeric tax target found
Housing/homelessness: 'assessing the reality' of housing and homelessness challenges and 'creating a viable plan' — plan unspecified
Reducing red tape for small businesses and attracting investment
Healthcare and social services: strengthen London's community health infrastructure, mental-health supports, and access to social services — pillar-level commitment citing her provincial social-services policy background; no program named
Veterans and community support: honour commitments to veterans and invest in 'wraparound supports' for the most vulnerable, citing her involvement with Homes for Heroes, the Veterans Wellness Alliance and the Garrison Community Council

NOTES

Her site was re-read in full on July 3, 2026, adding the healthcare and veterans pillars above; it also hosts campaign-trail blog posts (a London Cares facility tour, homelessness commentary) that signal focus areas but state no additional mechanisms.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL PHONE

Bronagh Joyce Morgan

A registered mayoral candidate with no campaign website listed on the official candidate contact table; research located a London legal writer and former Green Party of Ontario provincial candidate of the same uncommon name, but could not confirm they are the same person.

SPECIFICITYNo platform published yet — checked July 3, 2026

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

NOTES

Identity match unconfirmed: a Queen's Law graduate, legal writer/editor, and former Green Party of Ontario candidate (London North Centre 2003, later Elgin–Middlesex–London) shares this uncommon name and London residency with the mayoral candidate, but no source directly ties the two together as certainly the same person. That biography is not attributed here; verify via the campaign's own contact before publication.

No 2026 mayoral platform statement was located in this research pass or in repeat searches on July 3, 2026 — no campaign site, social account or news coverage of her platform surfaced. This is a genuine research gap, not a judgment on the candidate.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.

Josh Morgan

Incumbent mayor

Incumbent mayor since 2022 (elected with 65.7% of the vote), previously Ward 7 councillor 2014–2022, budget chair, and deputy mayor; he chairs the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Big City Mayors' Caucus and is the first London mayor to seek re-election since 2010.

RECORD · 2022–2026 →

SPECIFICITY1 concrete proposal · 1 aspirational theme

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

Pledged to keep the 2026 increase under 5%; the proposed 3.6% was trimmed to 3.4% by a committee amendment that stood (per CTV News, Nov. 26, 2025 — see record) — the planned 4.7% for 2027 is a forecast, not adopted; mechanism is strong-mayor budget direction CTV News ↗
'Practical leadership' framing: affordability, safety, and progress reaching 'every neighbourhood and every Londoner', citing record housing starts, parks/community-space revitalization, office-to-residential conversions, and micro-modular shelters — the campaign site offers theme-level messaging; re-checked July 3, 2026 — still no consolidated platform page with numbers or timelines campaign site ↗

Record — WHAT THEY DID

How they voted — the landmark-vote scorecard →

NOTES

Two specific commitments listed on this page's July 2 version — finalizing a Master Mobility Plan within the first year, and calling an emergency provincial meeting on mental health and addictions (with alternate ambulance/police drop-off locations, a local paramedic dispatch system, and permanent COAST funding) — were traced on July 3 to coverage of his September 2022 platform, not 2026 campaign material, and have been removed from his 2026 platform list. BlackburnNews (Sept. 14, 2022) ↗

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.

WEBSITE ↗

Susan Stevenson

Sitting Ward 4 councillor

A 59-year-old accountant and Ward 4 councillor since 2022 who built her council profile around Old East Village — which she calls 'ground zero for our city's drug crisis' — and demands for line-by-line accountability on homelessness spending; she is not seeking re-election in Ward 4.

RECORD · 2022–2026 →

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 3 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

'More and more Londoners have been calling out for greater transparency and accountability, lower taxes and a safer downtown' — campaign statement on entering the race; no tax-rate target, homelessness-spending figure, or housing-unit target was found on her campaign site or in coverage as of July 3, 2026
Mission: 'ensure the accountability and transparency of the municipality's operations', involving 'reassessing goals, openly engaging the public, and rebuilding a realistic, evidence-based plan' — the plan itself is not specified
Calls for 'leadership that is clear and accountable to the taxpayers who are funding this $1.4 billion corporation' — re-checked July 3, 2026: her campaign site still displays branding and donate/lawn-sign/volunteer calls-to-action with no itemized platform page; her positions must currently be pieced together from her council record and public statements

Record — WHAT THEY DID

How they voted — the landmark-vote scorecard →

NOTES

Integrity Commissioner misconduct finding (1 of 2): a December 2023 reprimand (council vote 9–6) over X/Twitter posts that photographed recognizable unhoused people. council minutes (Dec. 19, 2023) ↗

Integrity Commissioner misconduct finding (2 of 2): a December 2024 finding of 'harassment, bullying and targeting' of Deputy City Manager Kevin Dickins via social media, resulting in a 30-day pay dock of roughly $5,400 (council vote 8–6). Her response: she rejected both findings ('I disagree with the findings'), characterized the IC process as procedurally unfair, said a 'small group continues to weaponize investigations because they cannot win arguments on their merits', and pursued a judicial review of one finding at an estimated $20,000–$30,000 in legal costs, which council declined to fund publicly. council minutes (Dec. 17, 2024) ↗

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL PHONE X ↗INSTAGRAM ↗

Mustafa Zeboon

A mayoral candidate who says he recently returned to London after time overseas — including study in Japan, which he credits for his transit views — running on housing, transit, walkability, and fiscal priorities; no prior elected office in London was found. (The official candidate list spells his surname 'Zeboon'; his campaign domain and site use 'Zebuun'.)

SPECIFICITY1 concrete proposal · 6 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

An 'immediate, top to bottom independent audit' of City Hall spending to eliminate waste and keep property taxes 'fair and predictable' — no numeric tax target found campaign site ↗
Housing action: streamline approval processes, reduce red tape, and improve coordination between City Hall, developers and community stakeholders to increase supply across housing types — no dollar figure or unit target found Zebuun Plan ↗
Homelessness and recovery: partner with healthcare providers, community organizations and the province to expand recovery-focused programs (treatment, counselling, life-skills, employment pathways), measuring success by how many people regain stability and employment
Walkable streets: resurface damaged roads, repair sidewalks, improve pedestrian crossings, upgrade aging intersections, and shift to proactive maintenance
Rapid transit: review routes for inefficiencies, improve connections to employment hubs, and support dedicated transit corridors 'where appropriate' to cut commute times
Fiscal focus: cut 'wasteful municipal spending', maximize tax efficiency, and pursue lower taxes 'where fiscally responsible'
'Zebuun Plan' framing: infrastructure first (road repair, transit modernization, utility upgrades over 'vanity mega projects') and community-driven growth (removing bureaucratic obstacles for small businesses, streamlining affordable-housing approvals)

NOTES

His /plan and /about pages were read in full on July 3, 2026 and are reflected above; the plan is essay-style — directional commitments without dollar figures, timelines or named projects beyond the audit pledge.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL INSTAGRAM ↗X ↗

Compare side-by-side ▾

	FEHER	HOWE	KROSE	MORGAN	MORGAN	STEVENSON	ZEBOON
PROPERTY TAXES	'Fiscal responsibility' — tie spending to measurable, publicly reported results; no numeric target found	Proposes non-tax revenue engines (municipal trimodal port and rail fees) to ease the burden on homeowners; no tax-rate target	'Respect for Taxpayers' pillar — spend 'wisely, transparently, responsibly'; no numeric target found	No stated position found	Pledged sub-5% for 2026; proposed 3.6%, trimmed to 3.4% by a committee amendment that stood (per CTV News, Nov. 26, 2025); 2027 forecast 4.7%	Campaign says 'lower taxes'; no stated target or mechanism found	Independent audit of City Hall spending to 'stabilize' property taxes; no numeric target found
HOMELESSNESS / DOWNTOWN SAFETY	Faster housing approvals; no specific homelessness mechanism found	No homelessness program published; cites lived shelter experience; municipal vertical farms aimed at food insecurity (campaign's own 31.5% figure)	'Assess the reality' and build a 'viable plan' (unspecified); names violence against women and girls and downtown safety specifically	No stated position found	Housing Accelerator Fund ($74M→~$81.5M), Fund for Change ($37M+ raised), hubs strategy; largely funded outside the tax levy	Opposed BIA-area resting spaces; demanded line-by-line shelter accountability; calls for a 'realistic, evidence-based plan' but no published plan	Recovery-focused strategy (treatment, counselling, employment pathways) with province and healthcare partners; streamline approvals; no dollar figure found
POLICING	No stated position found	Respond to Priority 2 calls as fast as Priority 1; judge on cleared (not closed) cases; no added funding without demonstrated competence	'Visible enforcement' named under safety pillar; no budget position found	No stated position found	Authored the $672M four-year, 189-position police budget (2024)	Has demanded accountability on shelter/drop-in spending specifically, not the police budget directly; no stated police-budget position found	No stated position found
HOUSING SUPPLY / APPROVALS	Faster approvals, neighbourhood planning balancing affordability and quality of life	Would strictly enforce the 15-storey height bylaw ('no exceptions'); no supply or approvals position published	'Assessing the reality' of housing/homelessness, viable plan (unspecified)	No stated position found	Office-to-residential CIP ($35K/unit), surface-parking-lot redevelopment directive, HAF-funded unit targets	No stated position found	Streamlined approvals for affordable housing; part of 'community-driven growth' plank
TRANSIT / MOBILITY	Transit reliability under 'infrastructure' priority	'Triple-Core' three-hub model for transit/utilities/emergency services; municipal construction company to deliver infrastructure	'Traffic That Moves' — reduce congestion, 'smarter transportation solutions'	No stated position found	No 2026 transit platform published; the year-one Mobility Plan pledge often cited traces to his 2022 platform (see profile)	No stated position found	'Rapid transit' — route reviews, employment-hub connections, dedicated corridors 'where appropriate'
ACCOUNTABILITY / TRANSPARENCY	Concrete: weekly/monthly/quarterly public reporting and service dashboards	Pledges to publicly explain sourcing/reasoning behind every vote; would make withholding documents from council oversight a fireable offence	Public reporting language under 'Respect for Taxpayers'; no specific mechanism found	No stated position found	Points to the strong-mayor process and his record of roughly 25 invocations with zero budget-amendment vetoes (2024–2025) as evidence of collaborative governance	Central campaign theme; cites her own record of demanding line-by-line accountability; two Integrity Commissioner misconduct findings against her personally, which she rejects (see her profile)	Independent audit of City Hall spending
STRONG-MAYOR POWER USE	No stated position found	No stated position found	No stated position found	No stated position found	Used ~25 times total as of mid-2025, mostly to direct staff, not veto; says he could 'never contemplate' vetoing council	No stated position found on how she would use the powers herself	No stated position found
PRIOR ELECTED OFFICE	None found	None found	None found	None found	Mayor since 2022; Ward 7 councillor 2014–2022; budget chair, deputy mayor	Ward 4 councillor since 2022	None found

Same rows for every candidate. “No position published” is information too.

The race

The contest is widely treated as a two-way race between incumbent Josh Morgan, seeking a second term after winning in 2022 with 65.7% of the vote over Khalil Ramal (22.6%), and Ward 4 councillor Susan Stevenson, who entered on May 11, 2026 after building a profile as City Hall's most vocal critic on homelessness, drug use, and downtown/Old East Village safety.

Kirsten Krose, a public-affairs consultant with federal and provincial political staff experience, entered May 1, 2026 (the day nominations opened) on a fiscal-accountability and public-safety platform, and also drew dedicated launch coverage from CBC and CTV. The remaining four candidates have no prior elected office in London and have not received sustained news coverage: John Feher, Lawrence-Zachary Howe, Bronagh Joyce Morgan, and Mustafa Zeboon run on varying mixes of infrastructure, fiscal-accountability, and transparency messaging.

The office itself is bigger than one vote among fifteen. Under Ontario's strong-mayor rules, in force in London since 2023, the mayor alone writes and proposes the budget, can veto council amendments (two-thirds needed to override), can veto or propose bylaws tied to provincial priorities like housing targets with just one-third council support, and can hire or fire the city manager alone.

Morgan has invoked the powers roughly 25 times as of mid-2025, mostly to direct staff work such as studying surface-parking-lot redevelopment, and has vetoed zero budget amendments across the 2024 and 2025 cycles, saying he could 'never contemplate' using the veto. No other candidate has stated how they would use the powers.

Platform depth shifted between the July 2 and July 3 research passes. Neither Morgan nor Stevenson has published a consolidated platform document. Morgan's site remains theme-level, and two specifics previously attributed to his current campaign (a year-one Master Mobility Plan; an emergency provincial meeting on mental health) turned out to trace to his 2022 platform coverage and were removed. Stevenson's messaging remains values language (transparency, lower taxes, safer downtown) with her documented council record standing in for a forward platform.

Among the challengers, Howe's 'Major Positions' page (a placeholder on July 2) was fully live by July 3 with roughly ten named proposals (a municipal construction company, an inland trimodal port, vertical farms, a heritage-demolition licensing bylaw), making it the platform with the most named mechanisms in the field, though without any costings. Feher's public-reporting cadences and Zeboon's independent-audit pledge remain the other concrete exceptions.

No debate, forum, or polling data was located as of July 3, 2026; the two-way (or three-way) framing reflects media coverage volume, not polls. With nominations open until August 21, this field will likely grow.

Before you go

It comes down to who shows up

Everyone in London votes for mayor, and it’s decided by whoever turns out. In a low-turnout election that’s a smaller group than you’d think, so your vote weighs more, not less. You’ve got the whole race. The rest is October 26.

How to vote

ADVANCE

Oct 1

ADVANCE

Oct 3

ADVANCE

Oct 5–10

ELECTION DAY

Oct 26 · 10 am – 8 pm

You’ll need ID with your name and address. Full voting guide — where, what to bring, who can vote →

WHAT WE COULDN’T CONFIRM YET ▾

The candidate list will grow: nominations remain open until August 21, 2026, and the list is not certified until before August 24. Re-check london.ca's official list immediately before publication.
No consolidated, numbered platform document exists for Morgan or Stevenson; the specifics attributed to them are pieced together from news coverage of speeches, State of the City addresses, and budget votes. If either campaign publishes a formal platform, re-run the specificity check.
Two commitments previously listed as Josh Morgan 2026 platform items (Master Mobility Plan finalized in year one; emergency provincial meeting on mental health/addictions including permanent COAST funding) were traced on July 3 to his September 2022 platform coverage (BlackburnNews, Sept. 14, 2022) and removed. Treat any Morgan 'specifics' found in secondary summaries with the same suspicion until a 2026 platform is published.
Bronagh Joyce Morgan's identity is not fully confirmed: the Green Party provincial candidate found in search shares an uncommon name and London residency with the mayoral candidate, but no source directly ties the two together. No platform, site, or coverage was found in repeat searches July 3. Verify via the campaign's own contact before attributing any biography.
Lawrence-Zachary Howe's 'Major Positions' page, a placeholder on July 2, was fully live by July 3 and is now reflected in his profile; a referenced minor-positions page was not located. All of his proposals lack costings, and the city statistics his site cites are the campaign's own.
CBC.ca blocked direct fetches on the July 2 pass; on July 3, CBC pages fetched normally (the May 1 nominations story was read in full). The two Integrity Commissioner findings are sourced directly to council minutes, which were re-verified as reachable on July 3.
No debate, forum, or polling data was located as of July 3, 2026; the 'marquee two-way (or three-way) race' framing reflects media treatment and coverage volume, not polling.
The strong-mayor use figure (~25 times) comes from an aggregate reported in search results, not independently verified against a primary tally; re-confirm the number as of a later date.
Kirsten Krose's positioning as a 'third notable candidate' is the researcher's synthesis from coverage patterns (dedicated CBC/CTV launch stories, structured four-pillar platform), not a claim any outlet made explicitly. Treat as informed framing, not verified fact.
Candidate-site coverage is now near-complete: Feher's single-page site, Krose's homepage and blog, Zeboon's /plan and /about, Howe's major-positions and background pages, Morgan's site, and Stevenson's site were all read in full on July 3, 2026. Stevenson's site still publishes no platform page.
Tax and budget figures for Morgan's record are drawn from the seed budget-accountability document, which flags several figures as multi-year cumulative totals presented for rhetorical effect and notes 2027 numbers are forecast, not adopted.
Some cautions and honest-numbers claims on this page are not yet tied to a linked primary source; they are pending primary-link verification before final publish.