West-central London — Oakridge · Hyde Park corridor
Incumbent Steve Lehman, on council since 2018, is seeking a third term against one challenger, Coralia Esterra Tudor. Neither has published a 2026 platform, so this race runs on Lehman's eight-year record — including votes on how development gets reviewed and on taxes versus community grants. Ward 8's lines likely carry over from the December 2024 approval; it wasn't among the late map amendments. Nominations stay open until August 21, so the field may change.
Honestly told: the situation, the numbers, and what to ask the people who want your vote.
Oakridge and the Hyde Park area sit inside the fast-growing part of the city that drove the citywide ward boundary review; the City has cited high growth in the north and west as a driver of the 2026 boundary shifts. The City also runs an "Oakridge Decides" participatory-budgeting page for the neighbourhood.
As the west end grows, name one thing in Oakridge or Hyde Park you'd fight to keep exactly as it is.
To hold down the tax impact of the 2024-27 Multi-Year Budget, Lehman and Deputy Mayor Lewis proposed in 2024 to cancel funding for the City's Capital and Innovation Grants and Neighbourhood Decision Making program for 2025-2027; the nonprofit sector, via Pillar Nonprofit Network, publicly opposed the cut. Reporting located in this pass confirms the proposal and the pushback but not the final budget outcome.
When taxes and community grants collide in the budget, which gives, and where specifically?
The City has an active Vacant Buildings By-law (A-35) and Property Standards By-law (CP-24), and local media have covered derelict-building demolition cases citywide, including a September 2023 property-standards order at 1154 Hamilton Road. No Ward 8-specific enforcement dispute was confirmed in this research pass.
Would you fund tougher enforcement of the vacant-buildings and property-standards bylaws, and with what money?
In 2023, council voted to dissolve the volunteer Urban Design Peer Review Panel after a motion co-sponsored by Ward 8's Steve Lehman and Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis, who argued it was redundant and added time and cost to development approvals. Some of its urban-design role moved to the Advisory Committee on Planning. The change affects how new buildings get reviewed in every ward, including this one.
Council voted 10-4 to dissolve the panel (Hopkins, Ferreira, Franke, and Trosow voted to keep it; Hillier was absent). CBC News ↗
Was dissolving the Urban Design Peer Review Panel the right call, and what, if anything, should replace it?
A CBC reader survey found homelessness, open drug use, and roads topping citywide concerns heading into the 2026 election. They are plausible doorstep issues in Ward 8 too, though no Ward 8-specific polling or reporting confirmed them as active local flashpoints.
The survey drew 330+ respondents and was non-scientific; results were citywide, not broken out for Ward 8. CBC News ↗
Which of homelessness, drug use, or roads do you hear most at Ward 8 doors, and what would you actually vote for on it?
Listed alphabetically. Identical treatment for every candidate — that’s the deal.
Incumbent Ward 8 councillor since 2018, seeking a third term; Western University computer science graduate and small-business owner who opened LifeStyles on Richmond Row in 1987, currently Chair of the Planning and Environment Committee with board seats including the London Police Services Board and London Transit Commission.
His campaign domain, stevelehman.ca, was re-fetched July 3, 2026 and still displays only a generic "under construction" placeholder ("An amazing site is coming to this web address") — no policy content, priorities, or platform text. His eight-year council record exists, but he cannot yet be evaluated on stated 2026 priorities.
A research-brief claim that he co-led a 2024-25 vacant-buildings enforcement push with councillors Susan Stevenson and Skylar Franke could not be corroborated against any council motion record, news article, or campaign material and is not reported as fact here.
The listed email and phone are his official council contacts. As of July 3, 2026, the City's official candidate list shows his name with no contact information at all — no campaign email, phone, or website. City of London candidate list ↗
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
Filed her nomination for Ward 8 councillor on May 29, 2026, per the City's nomination register; no occupation, professional background, or civic or community affiliation could be independently confirmed as of the research date.
No campaign website, social media presence tied to her listed contact, or news coverage of her candidacy was found beyond the bare listing on the City's official candidate roster (searched July 2 and again July 3, 2026). This is a data gap, not a judgment about the substance of her candidacy.
A phone-directory listing places a "Coralia Tudor" in London's southwest, but directory data can be stale or mismatched and this was not treated as a confirmed match.
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
| LEHMAN | TUDOR | |
|---|---|---|
| SPECIFICITY | No platform published (campaign site still under construction, July 3, 2026) | No platform published |
| HELD OFFICE | Ward 8 councillor, 2018–2026 (two terms); Planning and Environment Committee chair | None found |
| ON DEVELOPMENT REVIEW | Co-sponsored the successful 2023 motion to dissolve the Urban Design Peer Review Panel, calling it redundant and a driver of delays | No position published |
| ON TAXES & GRANTS | Co-sponsored a 2024 motion to cancel Capital and Innovation Grants and Neighbourhood Decision Making funding for 2025-2027 to hold down the tax impact; final outcome unconfirmed | No position published |
| QUESTIONNAIRE | Not yet sent | Not yet sent |
This is a two-candidate, incumbent-versus-challenger race, and the two are far apart in what is publicly knowable about them. Lehman has an eight-year council record across two full terms and a documented voting history (the Urban Design Peer Review Panel dissolution; the proposed community-grant funding cut that drew public opposition from Pillar Nonprofit Network) but no live 2026 platform site as of the research date. Tudor has no findable platform, record, or public campaign presence beyond her name and contact information on the City's official roster.
Lehman filed his nomination early; CBC's coverage of nomination-day filings specifically noted him seeking another term in Ward 8, and he is among the 12 of 14 sitting councillors reported as running again. No news coverage of a Ward 8-specific candidate forum, debate, endorsement, or head-to-head polling was located — consistent with the early stage of the campaign rather than an unusually quiet race.
One naming note: Sarah Lehman, a candidate in the separate, open Ward 14 race, is a different person from Ward 8's Steve Lehman. Search-indexed coverage characterizes her as a distant cousin, but that characterization came from an aggregated search summary and remains unverified. Either way, the two candidacies are independent: different people, different wards, no joint ticket or campaign.
Nominations remain open until August 21, 2026, so this two-candidate field could still change before certification on August 24, 2026.
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.
You’ll need ID with your name and address. Full voting guide — where, what to bring, who can vote →