INCUMBENT RUNNING

Ward 12

South London — White Oaks · Cleardale · Highland · Lockwood Park

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

Your ward at a glance

Ward 12 is a two-candidate race: two-term incumbent Elizabeth Peloza, who chairs the city's Budget Committee, against first-time challenger Ribal Zebian. This is London's southern gateway, the White Oaks, Cleardale, Highland and Lockwood Park area where many newcomers first settle, now living with the W12A landfill's approved doubling and rapid-transit construction on Wellington Road. The ward's exact new boundary lines were still unconfirmed at research time — check the city's map before assuming yours.

What Ward 12 is wrestling with

Honestly told: the situation, the numbers, and what to ask the people who want your vote.

■ CITY DECIDES

Two more years of Wellington Road construction

Wellington Road carries one of London's three bus-rapid-transit lines, and construction runs through the Wellington/White Oaks stretch of the ward toward a planned transit hub at White Oaks, with lane restrictions expected through fall 2026.

The honest numbers ▾

Phase 2A construction (Base Line Rd. to Wilkins St.) began May 6, 2026 and runs into early 2027; full BRT service is not slated until 2028. City of London — Wellington Gateway ↗

Ask your candidates

Name one concrete thing you'd do for Wellington Road residents and businesses during two more years of construction.

□ SHARED — CITY + PROVINCE

The W12A landfill is doubling

London's provincially approved expansion plan will roughly double the W12A landfill's capacity and widen its service area to a six-county region. The landfill sits inside Ward 12.

The honest numbers ▾

Approved April 25, 2024: landfill height raised roughly 25 metres, life extended to 2049, service area expanded to six counties (London, Huron, Perth, Elgin, Lambton, Middlesex). Ontario.ca — W12A Landfill Expansion Project ↗

Ask your candidates

What exactly should Ward 12 get in return for hosting a six-county landfill?

■ CITY DECIDES

What happens around White Oaks Mall

Big changes are proposed around White Oak Road and Dingman Drive. Westdell Development Corp acquired White Oaks Mall and has proposed a hotel, sports and entertainment facilities and new retail, while a city environmental assessment recommends widening Dingman Drive from two to four lanes with a roundabout at the Dingman/White Oak Road intersection.

Ask your candidates

What conditions should council attach to redevelopment around White Oaks Mall and Dingman Drive?

■ CITY DECIDES

Budget and property taxes

Not unique to Ward 12, but directly tied to this race: the incumbent currently chairs the city's Budget Committee, so this ward's councillor sits at the centre of the citywide tax-rate debate.

Ask your candidates

What tax increase is acceptable to you over the next term, and what would you cut to hit it?

■ CITY DECIDES

Build outward or build in?

Should London grow outward onto new land or build more within its current footprint? Ward 12 is one of the entry points for new development in south London, so the question is live both citywide and locally — and it is one of the few issues where a candidate position is on the record in this race.

Ask your candidates

Should London expand its Urban Growth Boundary, or grow within the current one?

Who’s running

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

PELOZA ZEBIAN

Elizabeth Peloza

Two-term incumbent Ward 12 councillor, first elected in 2018 and re-elected unopposed in 2022, who currently chairs the city's Budget Committee.

Voting record →

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 4 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

Campaign bio describes her as "a passionate advocate for creating safe community spaces for all, housing, and a comprehensive public and active transportation network," seeking a third term. Campaign site — About ↗
Does not support expanding London's Urban Growth Boundary — favours infill and intensification within the current boundary to control servicing costs (water, wastewater, hydro, transportation) and reduce environmental impact. — from a thrivinglondon.ca candidate-survey response seen only in a search snippet; the survey domain no longer resolves (DNS check, July 3, 2026), so no working source link exists — verify with the campaign before quoting
Describes herself as an advocate for safe, walkable, well-lit, transit-connected "complete neighbourhoods". — from the same offline thrivinglondon.ca survey response; consistent with the wording on her campaign site's About page
States she would support raising taxes as needed to fund housing, public health, transit, food security and climate-change preparedness. — stated willingness for named service areas; no figures attached; from the same offline thrivinglondon.ca survey response — verify with the campaign before quoting

Record — WHAT THEY DID

How they voted — the landmark-vote scorecard →

NOTES

Her growth-boundary, complete-neighbourhoods and tax positions are from a thrivinglondon.ca survey response seen only in a search snippet; the survey domain no longer resolves at all (NXDOMAIN via Cloudflare and Google DNS, checked July 3, 2026) and no Wayback snapshot of the page exists, so those positions remain unverifiable against a live source.

Her campaign site (re-fetched July 3, 2026) contains bio, endorsements and newsletters but no detailed policy platform page; the sourced platform line above is from her About page.

City web pages are inconsistent on her current committee role (Audit Chair vs. Budget Chair); Budget Chair is the better-supported reading but is unconfirmed against the live council roster.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL (CAMPAIGN)EMAIL (COUNCIL)PHONE (EXT. 4012)

Ribal Zebian

Western University mechanical engineering student and Schulich Leader Scholarship recipient, reported to be 19 years old, making his first run for elected office.

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 5 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

Housing and homelessness: "practical housing solutions" moving residents toward stability, with taxpayer-funded assistance framed as "a pathway to rebuilding, not a permanent system with no expectations" — tied to "cooperation, responsibility, and real effort toward work, training, treatment, or community contribution where appropriate." — clear conditional-assistance stance; no program design, cost or delivery mechanism stated campaign site ↗
Showcases his "MicroCity" modular-housing and deployment concept (simplified construction, low-cost transport, scalable implementation) as the housing model behind his campaign, with concept renderings and a floor plan on the site. — a named concept of his own creation; the site does not state a council-level commitment, site, unit count or budget for it
Safer streets and stronger neighbourhoods: "better enforcement, stronger neighbourhood planning, and practical responses to homelessness, addiction, and disorder."
"Fix the basics": prioritize road repairs, traffic flow, snow removal, garbage services, construction delays and infrastructure planning.
Taxpayer respect and accountable government: "Every dollar City Hall spends comes from someone who worked for it" — responsible budgets, clear communication, understandable decisions; the site also promises a "Promise & Progress Report" and a "100-Day Progress Report" to track his commitments. — the progress-report pledge is a named accountability mechanism, but its content and cadence are not yet defined on the site

NOTES

His campaign website was successfully retrieved on July 3, 2026 (it is a JavaScript-rendered Wix site that defeated the July 2 fetch); the platform above is quoted from it.

Biographical and recognition claims on his site (three books, Governor General's Academic Medal, founder of Generous Homes) are self-described and were not independently verified; his Schulich Leader Scholarship and the wooden Mercedes-Benz G-Class replica are corroborated by CTV News coverage linked from his own site. CTV News ↗

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL PHONE

Compare side-by-side ▾

	PELOZA	ZEBIAN
URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY	Opposes expansion; favours infill within the current boundary (survey-derived; survey site offline as of July 3, 2026)	No position published
HOUSING & HOMELESSNESS	Advocate for housing and "complete neighbourhoods"; would support tax increases to fund housing among other services (survey-derived)	Conditional-assistance stance — taxpayer support as "a pathway to rebuilding, not a permanent system with no expectations"; showcases his MicroCity modular-housing concept
PROPERTY TAXES	Would support raising taxes as needed for housing, public health, transit, food security, climate preparedness	"Taxpayer respect": responsible budgets, clear communication; pledges a "Promise & Progress Report" to track commitments, no dollar specifics published
EXPERIENCE	Two-term councillor; Budget Committee chair; London Transit Commission; Tourism London	First campaign; engineering and design projects, no civic or policy record

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

The race

This is a two-candidate contest: a two-term incumbent and sitting Budget Chair against a first-time candidate who is a 19-year-old engineering student. CTV News covered the matchup on May 7, 2026, reporting that both candidates were keeping their campaigns focused on Ward 12 and citywide issues.

Peloza has a multi-term committee record and a citywide profile: Budget Chair, London Transit Commission, Tourism London, and committee chairing roles stretching back to 2019. She was re-elected unopposed in 2022, so this is her first contested race since 2018.

Zebian's public profile so far rests on youth-achievement media coverage rather than civic experience: a national Schulich Leader Scholarship, and a working modular micro-home he built as a teenager aimed at homelessness and housing affordability.

His campaign site (retrieved July 3, 2026) organizes his run around four priority areas: conditional taxpayer-funded assistance for housing and homelessness, safer streets, "fix the basics" city services, and taxpayer respect, plus his MicroCity modular-housing concept. The stances are clear but none yet carries dollar figures, targets or delivery mechanisms.

Before you go

The rest is showing up

You’ve read the ward. Ward races here can come down to a few hundred ballots, sometimes fewer. In a race that close, your vote is one of the ones that decides it. You don’t need to know everything. You just need to show up, informed.

How to vote in Ward 12

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 ▾

New Ward 12 boundary lines are not confirmed — the neighbourhood description here is an approximation from the old ward's identity; verify against the City's interactive ward map before relying on it.
Peloza's current committee assignments are inconsistent across City web pages (Audit Chair vs. Budget Chair); confirm her live 2026 committee roster on london.ca.
Peloza's survey-derived positions (growth boundary, complete neighbourhoods, taxes) are sourced only via a search snippet from thrivinglondon.ca; the domain no longer resolves (NXDOMAIN, checked July 3, 2026) and no Wayback snapshot exists, so they cannot currently be verified against any live page. Her campaign site itself carries no policy platform page.
Zebian's campaign website was retrieved July 3, 2026 and his platform rebuilt from it; the earlier fetch-failure caveat no longer applies. The site's biographical claims are largely self-described.
No Zebian response to the thrivinglondon.ca survey was confirmed; the survey site itself was offline (NXDOMAIN) as of July 3, 2026, so whether the survey program is still running could not be determined.
A May 7, 2026 CTV headline referenced an unspecified health matter involving Peloza; no detail was found in accessible sources and none is asserted here.
A high-rise development near Westminster Ponds approved by council in April 2026 could not be confirmed as located within new Ward 12; it is excluded from the ward's issues pending verification.
Candidate list reflects the City's official List of Candidates as re-checked July 3, 2026 (still a two-candidate field); nominations remained open at research time (certification before Aug 24, 2026).
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.