OPEN SEAT

Ward 5

North London — Masonville · Stoneybrook · Stoney Creek · Uplands

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

Your ward at a glance

Ward 5 is an open seat: Jerry Pribil is on leave to run provincially, and two candidates have filed so far — sitting Ward 7 councillor Corrine Rahman and Abid Raza, for whom no public campaign presence was found. The race is about who manages a north end growing faster than its roads and buses. The redraw shifted the ward's lines east, and Rahman is running here because her home now falls inside them.

What Ward 5 is wrestling with

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

□ SHARED — CITY + PROVINCE

New subdivisions, two-lane roads, no buses

Sunningdale Road, a two-lane road through subdivisions built roughly a decade ago that still have no transit service, has become a flashpoint as the area keeps adding rooftops. Work at the Sunningdale/Richmond intersection was ongoing into 2026, with lane closures continuing through the construction season.

The honest numbers ▾

The province committed $18 million to widen Sunningdale Road from two to four lanes and add sidewalks, lighting, and cycling lanes. CBC News ↗

Ask your candidates

Which road, transit, or sidewalk gap in Ward 5 would you push to fund first, and by when?

■ CITY DECIDES

The city keeps growing north

The Uplands neighbourhood at the city's north edge continues to grow through new-home development (for example, Uplands Crossing), pushing the built-up area further north and adding to the same infrastructure squeeze.

Ask your candidates

Who should pay for the roads and services new north-edge subdivisions need: the developers or existing taxpayers?

■ CITY DECIDES

What roadwork money reaches Ward 5?

The $385-million Renew London capital program (roads, bridges, transit, underground infrastructure) is a citywide initiative that will touch growth-area wards like Ward 5, though no Ward 5-specific project list was found in this research pass.

The honest numbers ▾

$385 million citywide; no Ward 5-specific project list confirmed.

Ask your candidates

Which Renew London projects inside Ward 5 would you fight to keep on schedule?

■ CITY DECIDES

Nobody has represented this exact ward

With the incumbent not running and boundaries redrawn, Ward 5 voters are choosing a councillor for a ward whose exact makeup (which streets, which prior-ward neighbours) is new to everyone, including the candidate with council experience.

Ask your candidates

Which part of the new Ward 5 do you know least, and what will you do about that before October?

□ SHARED — CITY + PROVINCE

The big three: homelessness, safety, roads

A 2026 CBC London reader survey found homelessness, open drug use, and road infrastructure as the top issues driving voter concern citywide, with affordability, crime, and transit also ranking high. These were not reported ward-by-ward, so how acutely they register in Ward 5 specifically is not confirmed.

The honest numbers ▾

Survey results were citywide, not broken out for Ward 5; commentary suggested concern is most acute downtown and in Old East Village. CBC News ↗

Ask your candidates

Which of the big three do you hear most at Ward 5 doors, and what would you actually vote for on it?

Who’s running

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

RAHMAN RAZA

Corrine Rahman

Sitting Ward 7 councillor (2022–2026) and Fanshawe College business professor, running in the new Ward 5 because her home now falls within its boundaries; former Thames Valley District School Board trustee (2018–2022).

Council record (W7) →

SPECIFICITY0 concrete proposals · 3 aspirational themes

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

Platform — WHAT THEY SAY

"Smart Growth" — responsible development and planning. — theme, no ward-level commitments found campaign site ↗
"Community Wellbeing" — support for families and neighbourhood strength. — theme, no mechanism given
"Fiscal Responsibility" — responsible spending, efficient services, transparent government. — theme, no mechanism given

Record — WHAT THEY DID

How they voted — the landmark-vote scorecard →

NOTES

Her Facebook page is her Ward 7 constituency page, not yet updated to Ward 5 in sources reviewed.

Her campaign site does not explain the Ward 7 to Ward 5 move; that explanation comes from her CBC News interview, not her campaign materials.

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 ↗

Abid Raza

Listed on the City of London's official Ward 5 roster with a phone number and email only; no biography, professional background, or public campaign presence could be verified as of the research date.

SPECIFICITYNo platform published yet — checked July 3, 2026

PLATFORM, RECORD & CONTACT▾

NOTES

An "Abid Raza" appeared on the City's early-June nomination register as a candidate for London District Catholic School Board Trustee (Wards 1 & 14). On the City's current List of Candidates (checked July 3, 2026), the only Abid Raza listed is the Ward 5 council candidate, and the LDCSB Wards 1 & 14 race shows a different candidate — the same-name trustee filing no longer appears. Whether that earlier filing was withdrawn, or was ever the same individual, remains unconfirmed. City of London candidate list ↗

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

Our questionnaire QUESTIONS GOING OUT

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

EMAIL PHONE

Compare side-by-side ▾

	RAHMAN	RAZA
SPECIFICITY	0 concrete · 3 aspirational	No platform published
HELD OFFICE	Ward 7 councillor, 2022–2026; TVDSB trustee, 2018–2022	None found
ON GROWTH & INFRASTRUCTURE	"Smart Growth" theme; as Ward 7 councillor, publicly advocated widening Sunningdale Road and extending transit to underserved north-end subdivisions	No position published
QUESTIONNAIRE	Not yet sent	Not yet sent

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

The race

This is a two-candidate race as of the June 30, 2026 roster snapshot, though nominations remain open until August 21, 2026. The seat is open because sitting councillor Jerry Pribil has taken a leave of absence from his council seat to run as the Ontario PC candidate in London North Centre.

The matchup is lopsided on paper. Rahman brings a full term of council experience, committee leadership (chairing the Corporate and Protective Services Committee, vice-chairing the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, and serving as London Transit Commission vice-chair), and a documented advocacy record — including a vote against the November 2025 council compensation increase, which passed 9-6 without her support. But she is new to the specific geography of Ward 5 as newly drawn, and her record is from her prior Ward 7 constituency.

No public record, platform, or campaign infrastructure for Raza was located in this research pass to evaluate. The boundary change shapes the race too: Ward 5 has no incumbent seeking re-election under its new lines, so neither candidate is defending a Ward 5-specific record. Rahman's is the closest analogue, carried over from Ward 7.

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 5

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 5 boundary and neighbourhood list come from secondary summaries (a councillor's page relaying a 2024 workshop document); verify against the City's interactive ward map or Final Report PDF before relying on them.
No population figure found for the new Ward 5 (2026 or 2033 projected).
CBC.ca articles returned HTTP 403 on direct fetch in the July 2 pass; on July 3, 2026 both CBC articles cited on this page were fetched in full and the quoted claims ($18M Sunningdale commitment to widen from two to four lanes with sidewalks, lighting, and cycling lanes; 330+-response non-scientific citywide survey) were verified against the article text.
Discrepancy in Rahman's committee name persists and was re-verified against both live pages on July 3, 2026: the City's official councillor bio says "Corporate and Protective Services Committee (Chair)" while her campaign site says "Community and Protective Services (Chair)". Which is a typo is unresolved here.
Abid Raza: essentially no public record found; re-searched July 3, 2026 with no platform, website, or campaign coverage located. The earlier same-name LDCSB trustee filing no longer appears on the City's current candidate list (see his candidate caution).
Operational status of the Ward 5 seat during Pribil's leave of absence (vacant, covered, or still attended) was not confirmed.
Nominations remain open until August 21, 2026; additional candidates may file before certification on August 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.