OPEN SEAT

Ward 4

Northeast London — Huron Heights · Carling · East London

Researched July 2, 2026 · updated July 4, 2026 · 6 candidates registered

Your ward at a glance

Ward 4 is an open seat: Susan Stevenson is running for mayor, not re-election, and six candidates have filed so far, including former councillor Stephen Orser (2006–2014). Nominations stay open until August 21, 2026. With the map redrawn, the race will likely turn on the northeast's own files: sidewalks, tree canopy, student rentals, safety. It won't be a rerun of the Old East Village homelessness fight — Old East Village is now in Ward 1.

What Ward 4 is wrestling with

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

■ CITY DECIDES

After the Huron Street shootings

Two linked shootings on October 15, 2025 in the Huron Street and Homestead Crescent areas drew a London Police Service major-crime response, with no injuries reported. Citywide crime severity has been falling, but neighbourhood-level risk in parts of the ward is cited as above city averages, concentrated in the western/Highbury area and student-rental zones.

The honest numbers ▾

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%), though the decline is driven by non-violent crime: violent crime severity (76.17 in 2024) is still about 19% above 2019. That is against a $672-million four-year police budget under which 69 officers were hired in 2024, 35 of them growth positions. No neighbourhood-level severity index is published. StatCan — Crime Severity Index by CMA, 2024 ↗

Ask your candidates

What would you vote to fund for safety in the Highbury corridor, and what number would tell us it worked?

■ CITY DECIDES

Where the sidewalks still don't go

Which streets get sidewalks is still an open file. The Huron Heights Neighbourhood Connectivity Plan led to a November 2023 council decision approving most proposed sidewalk locations while exempting dozens of crescents and courts from the city's Mobility Policy 349. Building them carries into the new term.

The honest numbers ▾

Council approved 17 of 20 proposed sidewalk locations, exempted 24 crescents and 14 courts, and deferred four streets.

Ask your candidates

Will you keep the Connectivity Plan sidewalks on schedule, and do the exempted streets stay exempt?

■ CITY DECIDES

The bike routes council cut

The ward lost planned bike routes last year. The Old North East Neighbourhood Association wrote a March 31, 2025 letter opposing the removal of Mobility Master Plan cycling additions on Huron, Taylor, McNay, and Gammage streets. Council split the difference on April 1, 2025: Huron survived as a medium-term cycling project, but the Taylor, McNay and Gammage routes were removed from the cycling network maps.

The honest numbers ▾

Per the April 1, 2025 council minutes: the motion to remove Huron Street from the cycling network failed 5–10, and Huron was instead moved to a medium-term cycling project (14–1); the Taylor, McNay and Gammage routes were removed 10–5 (opposed: Peloza, McAlister, Trosow, Franke, Ferreira). Council then approved the final Mobility Master Plan on July 22, 2025. council minutes, April 1, 2025 ↗

Ask your candidates

Would you move to restore the cycling routes cut from Taylor, McNay and Gammage, and would you speed up Huron's?

■ CITY DECIDES

Student rentals are changing the neighbourhood

Post-war bungalows here keep converting to student rentals, driven by Fanshawe College next door — a housing-character and affordability issue distinct from the downtown/Old East Village housing debate.

Ask your candidates

What specific rule or licensing change, if any, would you support for student rentals in this ward?

■ CITY DECIDES

Not enough trees, hotter streets

Old Northeast London sits well below the city's recommended tree canopy target, with the heat-island risk that comes with bare streets. The Old North East Neighbourhood Association's "Tree Canopy for All" initiative partnered with Reforest London, Nature Canada, and Nature London on a tree planting at Huron Heights Park in September 2025.

The honest numbers ▾

Roughly 30% of the city's recommended tree canopy target; the September 27, 2025 planting added 50–80 trees at Huron Heights Park.

Ask your candidates

Name one funded step you'd take at council to close the northeast's tree-canopy gap, beyond volunteer plantings.

■ CITY DECIDES

The northeast gets skipped for city money

When core-area money is handed out, this ward isn't on the list. The Core Area Action Plan formally covers Downtown, Richmond Row, Midtown, and Old East Village, not Huron Heights, so core-revitalization, safety, and homelessness budget lines flow to Old East Village (now in Ward 1) rather than the northeast. Old North East Neighbourhood Association co-founder Jacqueline Fraser has put the grievance directly: "Northeast London is often looked down upon by the decision-makers and influencers." There is also no BIA covering the Highbury Avenue commercial strip in the new ward.

Ask your candidates

Which capital project in the northeast would you fight to get into the next budget?

Who’s running

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

BALECK CULL JOZIC ORSER PRUNNER WRIGHT

Bonnie Baleck

Listed on the City of London's official Ward 4 roster; no campaign website, social media presence, biographical information, or prior public record could be located as of the research date.

SPECIFICITYNo platform published yet — checked July 3, 2026

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

NOTES

The City of London's candidate list shows no contact information for her, and CBC's coverage of the race noted she could not be reached for comment. A fresh search on July 3, 2026 again found no campaign presence. CBC News ↗

Same-name individuals found in searches could not be confirmed as this candidate and are not included as background.

The absence of material here is a genuine information gap, not a judgment: she may not yet have built a public campaign presence this far ahead of the October 26 vote.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

Tom Cull

London's Poet Laureate from 2016 to 2018, co-founder and longtime director (2012–2025) of the Antler River Rally river-cleanup group, and currently Community Partnership Specialist at the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority; this is his first run for elected office.

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 1 aspirational theme

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

Commits to "work with Councillors around the horseshoe to build a better London," citing a track record of "meaningful collaboration and hard work"; names the state of downtown, affordability, public safety, traffic, and municipal services as the top issues he hears at the door. — biography-forward campaign; no itemized platform page, numeric targets, or named policy mechanisms found as of the research date. CBC's June 29 coverage corroborates the same five door-step issues and reports he had knocked on about 1,300 doors campaign site ↗

NOTES

On homelessness, his site describes what residents tell his campaign at the door — concern for the wellbeing of people experiencing homelessness, frustration with slow housing progress, and anxiety about public safety — without stating a policy response.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL

Mario Jozic

COO at Braxx General Contracting and founder of the London Wine Bar, a 20-plus-year Ward 4 resident with a Master's in Political Theory and Economics from Western University, who finished second to the incumbent in Ward 9 in 2022.

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 2 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

Frames his candidacy around "common sense leadership," naming homelessness, housing affordability, public safety, transit, and downtown parking enforcement as priority areas. — no numeric targets, dollar figures, or specific mechanisms located on the issues page campaign site ↗
Calls homelessness and downtown drug use a top campaign issue and says of solutions: "Anything that brings a solution to our homelessness crisis and that's viable, I'm a supporter of" — while calling Orser's homeowner-conversion idea a "one-dimensional" approach to a complex issue. — openness criterion stated, but no mechanism of his own published CBC News ↗

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL

Stephen Orser

Former two-term Ward 4 councillor (December 2006 – December 2014), first elected in an open-seat five-way race, now attempting a comeback after unsuccessful runs in 2014, 2018, and 2022; on the 2010–2014 council he was identified by local media as part of the "Fontana 8" — a media label for eight council members, including Mayor Joe Fontana, who frequently voted together as council's majority.

SPECIFICITY3 concrete proposals · 0 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

The "Homeowners Homeless Program" (HHP) — his campaign's stated cornerstone: city-incentivized conversion of homeowners' garages and basements into self-contained units housing "low-risk" homeless individuals; his site proposes 150 units citywide at a stated $25,000 a year each versus a $111,000-a-year status-quo cost, and he has converted his own garage (at 601 Ross St., permitted) as a working prototype. — cost figures are candidate-stated; CBC reports he spent about $50,000 of his own money on the prototype conversion campaign site ↗
HHP mechanics as reported by CBC: the city would grant homeowners up to $125,000 for conversion costs, paid in yearly installments over 10 years (converting to a loan if the homeowner exits the program), waive their property taxes while enrolled, and cap rent below market at half the tenant's provincial support benefits. — CBC notes his proposed flexible tenant-landlord contract would likely require an exemption from Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act; he compares the program's cost to the $7-million micro-modular shelter site CBC News ↗
"Backyard Free Eggs" — let residents keep laying hens to fight food costs, citing two chickens laying 18 eggs a week and saving a family $80 a month. — figures candidate-stated; CBC's June 2026 coverage notes backyard hens are already permitted under London's current bylaw

NOTES

The Ontario Ombudsman's 2013 report "In the Back Room" concluded that a February 23, 2013 restaurant lunch attended by then-mayor Joe Fontana and six councillors, including Orser, was an illegal closed meeting in violation of the Municipal Act's open-meeting rules. Ontario Ombudsman ↗

A second Ombudsman investigation, "Turning Tables" (2014), examined a June 24, 2014 City Hall cafeteria gathering of 12 council members, including Orser, held before a vote to fill a council vacancy; the Ombudsman concluded that gathering did not violate the Municipal Act's open-meeting requirements. Ontario Ombudsman ↗

He was part of the 2014–15 tire-expense affair: with three other defeated councillors, he expensed replacement tires on his personal vehicle after losing re-election but before his term ended — an allowable expense under the rules at the time, and the episode angered residents and prompted subsequent tightening of expense rules. CBC ↗

In 2018 he said he would grant the London Free Press an interview only if it made a $5,000 donation to the Sisters of St. Joseph Hospitality Centre — a donation he offered to match — which drew criticism from media experts in CBC's coverage; Orser was unavailable for comment in that coverage. CBC ↗

His 2022 campaign proposals — a federally/provincially partnered "homeless highrise" and a municipal "repatriation fund" to pay travel costs for unhoused people to return to family supports elsewhere (which critics, including #TheForgotten519's Dan Oudshoorn, read as exporting the problem) — do not appear on his 2026 site, which instead centres the Homeowners Homeless Program. Global News (2022 interview) ↗

Biographical claims on his 2026 site — 25-year Ward 4 homeowner, a Governor General's Medal of Meritorious Conduct for saving a life, "no criminal record," and his account of forcing the demolition of the Outlaws motorcycle clubhouse — are self-reported and were not independently verified in this pass.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

WEBSITE ↗EMAIL PHONE FACEBOOK ↗

Randi Prunner

Listed on the City of London's official Ward 4 roster; no campaign website, social media presence, biographical information, or prior public record could be located as of the research date.

SPECIFICITYNo platform published yet — checked July 3, 2026

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

NOTES

Same-name individuals found in searches could not be confirmed as this candidate and are not included as background.

The absence of material here is a genuine information gap, not a judgment: she may not yet have built a public campaign presence this far ahead of the October 26 vote.

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

Bob Wright

Former Thames Valley District School Board trustee for the area then designated Ward 4 and the 2022 Ward 3 runner-up (second to Peter Cuddy in a five-candidate field), a Huron Heights homeowner of roughly six years making, per CBC, his fifth run for elected office.

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 1 aspirational theme

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

On Orser's homeowner-conversion proposal: open to the concept, contingent on cost scrutiny — "Conceptually, building those kind of units in areas with single-family homes is exactly what the province has in mind," and "For me, it wouldn't be a hard no, it's 'Let's take a good look at it.'" — an evaluative position, not a costed commitment; his campaign site (rechecked July 3) carries only a biographical statement, so this remains the only sourced position located CBC News ↗

NOTES

His campaign site returned a 403 in the July 2 pass; on July 3 it loaded and carries a biographical statement — semi-retired lawyer, career mediator at the Ontario Labour Relations Board (construction-industry disputes), Western student leader (USC, SOGS, Board of Governors), "two term school board trustee" — but no platform positions. His only sourced policy position remains CBC's coverage. campaign site ↗

Residence details differ across sources: CBC coverage of the 2026 race describes him as a Huron Heights homeowner of roughly six years, while his campaign site says he and his wife "moved back a decade ago" to a home in Ridgeview Heights. The discrepancy (neighbourhood name and timing) was not resolved in this pass. campaign site ↗

The exact years of his school-board trustee service were not confirmed against TVDSB records (his own site describes him as a "two term school board trustee"), and his identification as Ontario Liberal Party Regional Vice-President, South West rests on a single Facebook page title that was not independently corroborated.

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 ▾

	BALECK	CULL	JOZIC	ORSER	PRUNNER	WRIGHT
SPECIFICITY	No platform published	0 concrete · 1 aspirational	0 concrete · 2 aspirational	3 concrete · 0 aspirational (costs candidate-stated)	No platform published	0 concrete · 1 aspirational
HELD OFFICE	None found	None (Poet Laureate 2016–2018 was an appointed civic role, not elected)	None	Ward 4 councillor, 2006–2014	None found	TVDSB trustee (term dates unconfirmed)
ON HOMELESSNESS	No position published	Describes resident concern heard at the door; no mechanism proposed	Names it a top issue; open to "viable" solutions; calls Orser's plan "one-dimensional"	Homeowners Homeless Program: 150 homeowner-conversion units; per CBC, grants up to $125K over 10 years, tax waiver, rent capped at half of benefits	No position published	Open to Orser's homeowner-conversion concept, contingent on cost scrutiny
QUESTIONNAIRE	Not yet sent	Not yet sent	Not yet sent	Not yet sent	Not yet sent	Not yet sent

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

The race

Ward 4 is a genuinely open contest: no incumbent is defending the seat, since Susan Stevenson is running for mayor rather than re-election. It is also being fought for the first time on redrawn boundaries that swap out the ward's highest-profile file. CBC has framed the race as "wide open," reflecting both the open seat and the lack of an obvious front-runner or defining issue.

The outgoing Ward 4 was defined publicly by the Old East Village homelessness and encampment debate, and by Stevenson's own conduct controversies (two Integrity Commissioner findings). Neither carries into the new ward. Old East Village moves to Ward 1, and the new Ward 4 is the Huron Heights / Carling / East London corridor — a lower-profile area whose civic infrastructure is younger and whose issues (sidewalks, tree canopy, cycling routes, student rentals, a grievance about being skipped for city money) are less visible than the Old East Village fight was.

Two candidates carry prior officeholding. Stephen Orser is a two-term Ward 4 councillor (2006–2014) attempting a comeback after three consecutive losses, now running on a published 2026 platform centred on his "Homeowners Homeless Program" — and carrying a documented record that includes an Ombudsman-substantiated open-meeting violation (a second Ombudsman investigation involving him found no violation). Bob Wright is a former school board trustee and 2022 Ward 3 runner-up now contesting his fifth campaign. As Wright himself notes, "More than half the people in this ward are new to Ward 4."

Mario Jozic brings one prior campaign (a distant second in Ward 9, 2022) and a values-forward platform without numeric specifics. Tom Cull is the only first-time candidate with an established public profile located in this pass (former Poet Laureate, environmental-nonprofit director), running a relational, biography-forward campaign that has not yet produced an itemized platform. For Bonnie Baleck and Randi Prunner, this research located no campaign presence, no City-listed contact information, and no comment to the one outlet that tried to reach them.

The clearest daylight between candidates so far is on homelessness policy mechanism, not on whether it is a priority — and Orser's proposal has become the race's reference point. His Homeowners Homeless Program is the field's most specific plan: 150 homeowner-conversion units and, per CBC, grants of up to $125,000 over 10 years, a property-tax waiver, and rent capped at half the tenant's provincial benefits. Its cost figures are candidate-stated, and CBC notes the flexible-eviction element would likely need a Residential Tenancies Act exemption.

The other candidates are already positioning against it. Wright is openly weighing the concept favourably, contingent on cost scrutiny. Jozic calls it "one-dimensional" while saying he supports any viable solution. Cull's site describes the issue's emotional and safety dimensions for residents without proposing a mechanism. Whether any candidate connects that citywide debate to Ward 4's own northeast-specific issues (the Connectivity Plan sidewalks, tree canopy, cycling routes, or the money-fairness grievance) was not established for any candidate in this research pass.

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 4

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 ▾

RESOLVED July 3: Bob Wright's campaign site now loads (it 403'd July 2); it carries a biographical statement but no platform positions, so CBC's coverage remains his only sourced position. A residence discrepancy between CBC (Huron Heights, ~6 years) and his site (Ridgeview Heights, "a decade ago") is noted on his card.
RESOLVED July 3: The CBC article covering the race (June 29, 2026, by Andrew Lupton) was fetched and read in full; the quotes attributed to Wright, Jozic, and Cull on this page match the article text verbatim.
Bonnie Baleck and Randi Prunner have no located platform, contact information, or public record (re-searched July 3); both should be re-checked closer to the August 21, 2026 nomination deadline in case campaign material appears.
Possible same-name matches for Prunner found in searches are unconfirmed and are not treated as established.
RESOLVED July 3: Mario Jozic's "one-dimensional" characterization of Orser's proposal is confirmed against the full CBC article text.
Stephen Orser's orser.vote site, not pulled in the July 2 pass, was fetched July 3: it carries a 2026 platform (the Homeowners Homeless Program and "Backyard Free Eggs"), which replaces the 2022-positions placeholder shown previously. Its cost figures and biographical claims are candidate-stated.
Bob Wright's TVDSB trustee term dates were not confirmed against trustee records, and his reported Ontario Liberal Party regional role was not independently corroborated.
Ward 4 population (current or post-redraw) was not found; only 2011 Huron Heights neighbourhood-level figures were available, which pre-date current boundaries and are not presented as ward population.
RESOLVED July 4: The April 1, 2025 council minutes answer the cycling question — the motion to remove Huron Street failed 5–10 and Huron was moved to a medium-term cycling project (14–1), while the Taylor, McNay and Gammage routes were removed 10–5. The cycling issue card above now carries the minutes as its source.
No candidate's platform, in material located so far, explicitly addresses the ward's Huron Heights-specific files (Connectivity Plan sidewalks, tree canopy, cycling routes, the capital-equity grievance) — this may reflect a genuine gap in platforms this early, or a gap in what has been publicly reported.
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.
A caution about a reported "duck off" email to a constituent during Orser's backyard-chickens campaign was removed pending sourcing: the only coverage located (a 2022 BlackburnNews article) no longer resolves to the article, and no other verifiable source was found in this pass.