Tammy Abi-Khalil
Our questionnaire ◌ GOES OUT AFTER AUG 24
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
INCUMBENT RUNNING
NOT YOURS? ↗Ward 9
Southwest London: Byron · Lambeth · Talbot Village · River Bend
ALL-CANDIDATE MEETING
Wednesday, September 17, 2026 · 7:00-8:00pm
Byron Library (1295 Commissioners Rd. W.)
Urban League of London ↗Organized by a third party, not London Decides. Dates and locations can change.
THE SHORT VERSION
Your ward at a glance
Incumbent Anna Hopkins, on council since 2014, is seeking a fourth term against five challengers, none of whom has previously held elected office. Nominations closed August 21, 2026, and the City certified the candidate list on August 24. The race is about growth in the city's fastest-growing quadrant: how much, how dense, and whether roads, schools, and sewers can keep up. That question got a concrete answer on June 23, 2026, when council approved buildings up to six storeys on Colonel Talbot Road in Lambeth. The boundary redraw appears to leave the ward's footprint largely intact, with all of Lambeth staying inside it.
Three candidates carry a prior election record. Anna Hopkins, the incumbent, was elected Ward 9 councillor in 2022 with 4,281 votes (62.07%) of five candidates, per the City's certified results. London used Ranked Choice Voting for the 2018 election only; results since have used the standard one-vote system. Matt Millar ran for Ward 9 council in 2018, finishing second to Anna Hopkins with 2,355 first-round votes (25.00%) under Ranked Choice Voting, per the City's official results. Veronica Warner ran for Ward 9 council in 2022, receiving 323 votes (4.7%), per the City's certified results.
The rest of the field, in alphabetical order: Tammy Abi-Khalil, Dino Jose, and Luke Thomas.
THE FIELD
Who's running
Listed alphabetically. Identical treatment for every candidate. That's the deal.
Anna Hopkins
Incumbent Ward 9 councillor
- WEBSITE
- WEBSITE (CAMPAIGN)
- Ahopkins@rogers.com
- 519-661-2489,4009
- 226-927-0439
Elected Ward 9 councillor in 2022: 4,281 votes (62.07%) of five candidates, per the City's certified results.
Our questionnaire ◌ GOES OUT AFTER AUG 24
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
Dino Jose
Our questionnaire ◌ GOES OUT AFTER AUG 24
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
Matt Millar
Ran for Ward 9 council in 2018: finished second to Anna Hopkins with 2,355 first-round votes (25.00%) under Ranked Choice Voting, per the City's official results.
Our questionnaire ◌ GOES OUT AFTER AUG 24
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
Luke Thomas
- WEBSITE
- Lukethomasward9@gmail.com
- 519-860-8425
Our questionnaire ◌ GOES OUT AFTER AUG 24
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
Veronica Warner
- Ward9warner@gmail.com
- 519-495-8682
Ran for Ward 9 council in 2022: 323 votes (4.7%), per the City's certified results.
Our questionnaire ◌ GOES OUT AFTER AUG 24
Identical questions go to every declared candidate. Answers are published verbatim; “no response” is reported plainly.
No endorsements · Same rules for every candidate · Sources linked · Answers published word for word · How we research →
WHAT'S AT STAKE
What Ward 9 is wrestling with
Honestly told: the situation, the numbers, and what to ask the people who want your vote.
■ CITY DECIDES
Colonel Talbot Road upgrade wrapping up mid-campaign
The Colonel Talbot rebuild is finishing right in the middle of the campaign, so lingering deficiencies or delays are a live local issue. The city has been converting the two-lane rural road with ditches and gravel shoulders into a two-lane urban complete street connecting Talbot Village and Lambeth, with new sidewalks, multi-use pathways, and boulevard bike paths.
The honest numbers ▾
The project entered its final paving stage as of the City's May 29, 2026 notice: underground infrastructure, drainage and servicing are complete, with restoration and clean-up continuing through the 2026 construction season at limited traffic impact. City of London – Colonel Talbot Road project enters final paving stage (May 29, 2026) ↗
Put them on the record
After Colonel Talbot Road wraps up in summer 2026, which corridor should be next?
■ CITY DECIDES
The big Lambeth application was approved, not left pending
The ward's most-watched development file is decided. On June 23, 2026 Municipal Council approved the Official Plan amendment and rezoning for 3924, 4012 and 4050 Colonel Talbot Road, applied for by the City of London and Auburn Developments Inc. (the Heathwoods lands in Lambeth). The adopted site-specific policy permits single detached dwellings, stacked townhouses and apartment buildings on portions of the lands, to a maximum height of six storeys and a maximum density of up to 100 units per hectare, and allows garage and driveway widths up to 60% on lots with frontage of 12.0 metres or less. Council also supported red-line revisions to the Heathwoods draft plan of subdivision. The approved motion opened "Notwithstanding the recommendation of the Director, Planning and Development", so council departed from the staff recommendation; the staff report itself was not read in this research, so what staff recommended is not established here.
The honest numbers ▾
Approved June 23, 2026, with the by-laws enacted the same day: C.P.-1512(eb)-189 (Official Plan amendment) and Z.-1-263447 (rezoning). The committee report carrying the item passed 14 to 0 (one member absent); the item itself is recorded as "Motion Passed" with no recorded division; third reading and enactment of the bills passed 11 to 0 (four members absent). City of London – Municipal Council minutes, June 23, 2026 (item 2, 3.1) ↗
Put them on the record
Council has approved six-storey buildings on Colonel Talbot Road. What has to be built alongside them before people move in, and who pays for it?
■ CITY DECIDES
How fast should the southwest grow?
Lambeth, Talbot Village, and the surrounding southwest are the centre of London's fastest-growing quadrant; one planning summary describes the area as "all about development in the next 10 to 15 years." The rulebook is the Southwest Area Secondary Plan, which the city has been reviewing to decide whether to update it or fold it directly into The London Plan. That review has now produced a recommendation to fold it in, which went to council in July 2026 (see the next file).
The honest numbers ▾
The Southwest Area Secondary Plan was approved by the Ontario Municipal Board in 2014 and is divided into 13 neighbourhoods, including the Bostwick and North Lambeth residential neighbourhoods. Get Involved London – SWAP Detailed Review ↗
Put them on the record
Should the Southwest Area Secondary Plan be updated on its own or folded into The London Plan?
■ CITY DECIDES
SWAP's future went to council July 21; the outcome wasn't published as of August 2
The recommendation now in front of council is to amend The London Plan to remove the Southwest Area Secondary Plan as a standalone secondary plan, carry specific SWAP policies into The London Plan for continued implementation, and make several land-use redesignations; a committee amendment also added 443 and 447 Exeter Road (Light Industrial to Shopping Area, with transition provisions). It reached the July 21, 2026 Municipal Council agenda as item 9 (3.3), tied to Bill No. 271 (Official Plan amendment) and Bill No. 286 (zoning, with holding provisions). As of August 2, 2026 the July 21 minutes are not posted, only the revised agenda, and there has been no council meeting since, so the outcome cannot be confirmed here. We are not stating that council passed it, and the absence of a posted notice is not evidence that it failed.
The honest numbers ▾
Planning and Environment Committee recommended it 5 to 0 on July 14, 2026 (item 3.3, SWAP Detailed Review, OZ-25029); the Exeter Road amendment also carried 5 to 0. What council did with it on July 21 is not yet confirmable from published minutes. City of London – Planning and Environment Committee minutes, July 14, 2026 ↗
Put them on the record
If the Southwest Area Secondary Plan is folded into The London Plan, which of its rules would you insist survive the move?
■ CITY DECIDES
Lambeth's sewage plant can't keep up
How much new housing Lambeth can take is partly a plumbing question. The local sewage plant (the Southland Water Treatment Plant, London's smallest, built in 2003 and developer-owned to service the Talbot Village subdivision) runs well below its rated capacity because it is highly susceptible to wet-weather flows and sediment loading. That gap limits how much new Lambeth-area housing can be serviced without further infrastructure investment.
The honest numbers ▾
The Southland Water Treatment Plant has a rated capacity of 564 m³/day but an actual operational capacity closer to 300 m³/day. City of London – Southwest Area Sanitary Servicing Master Plan appendix ↗
Put them on the record
What sewer and servicing investment would you require before approving more Lambeth-area housing?
□ SHARED: CITY + PROVINCE
The big three: homelessness, safety, roads
Homelessness, drugs, and roads topped voter concerns citywide in London polling ahead of the 2026 election. Ward 9's version of "roads" is the Colonel Talbot and Southdale construction, and affordability here plays out through new-subdivision servicing and pace-of-development questions rather than downtown-style disputes.
The honest numbers ▾
A CBC London reader survey ahead of the 2026 election ranked homelessness, drugs, and roads as top voter concerns citywide. CBC News – top election issues survey ↗
Put them on the record
On homelessness, drugs, or roads, name one thing you'd vote for that would actually reach Ward 9.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL OCTOBER
Change can start now, at any point
The ballot is one tool, not the only one. Between elections, the people who show up are the ones who get heard, and you can start today, not next fall.
- Email or call your councillor. Every office lists a phone number and address, and a single resident's message still lands. City of London ↗
- Speak at a committee. Any resident can register as a delegation and take five minutes to address a Standing Committee on an item that's on its agenda. City of London ↗
- Read the record. Agendas, staff reports, and every recorded vote are posted publicly on the city's meeting portal. City meetings ↗
None of it waits four years. The people already in the room are the ones who asked to be.
DON'T STOP AT ONE RACE
Also on your ballot
Your School Board Vote
The most overlooked race on your ballot: four boards, one of them under provincial control
YOUR WARD’S TRUSTEE RACES
Thames Valley · Wards 7, 8, 9, 10 & 13 →London District Catholic · Wards 8, 9 & 10 →French-language boards →
Only one is on your ballot; which depends on your school-support designation. The guide above explains.
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.
BEFORE OCT 26
How to vote in Ward 9
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 ▾
- August 8, 2026 region audit: “Bostwick” removed — the Bostwick planning district is 100% Ward 10 (checked with the City’s Planning Districts layer sampled against the official 2026 ward polygons (scripts/check-ward-regions.mjs)).
- The City's friendly planning pages lag its minutes. The planning-application page for 3924, 4012 and 4050 Colonel Talbot Road still reads "Council Resolution – not available at this time", but that page's last-modified date is June 11, 2026, twelve days before council actually approved the application. It is an un-refreshed page, not evidence of an undecided file. Treat the eScribe minutes as authoritative and check them before describing any application as pending.
- What staff recommended on the Colonel Talbot application is not established. The approved motion opened "Notwithstanding the recommendation of the Director, Planning and Development", which means council departed from the staff recommendation, but the staff report was not read in this research. Do not characterize the staff position (in particular, do not say staff recommended refusal) without reading the report.
- SWAP's council outcome is unconfirmed. Planning and Environment Committee recommended it 5 to 0 on July 14, 2026 and it reached the July 21, 2026 council agenda (Bill No. 271, Bill No. 286), but as of August 2, 2026 the July 21 minutes are not posted and there is no council meeting between July 21 and August 2 (summer recess). Follow-up: watch eScribe for the July 21 minutes, or an August public-notices Notice of Adoption. Trap to avoid: eScribe silently returns the revised AGENDA when minutes for July 21 are requested, and that agenda carries unassigned by-law placeholders, so a proposed by-law reads like a passed one. Also note the Colonel Talbot by-laws were independently confirmed as enacted and still have no notice posted, so a missing notice is not evidence of non-passage.
- Precise new Ward 9 boundary not confirmed. The official map PDF exceeded research fetch limits; indirect evidence indicates the footprint carries forward largely intact. Verify against the City's interactive ward map before relying on boundary details.
- Ward 9 population (current or post-redraw) was not found in this research pass.
- Nominations closed August 21, 2026, and the City certified the list on August 24.