---
title: "Bahira Abdulsalam: candidate for mayor, Toronto 2026 | voche.me"
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/toronto-2026/candidates/bahira-abdulsalam"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:09:38.768Z"
meta:
  description: "Bahira Abdulsalam is on the City of Toronto’s list of certified candidates for Mayor, with a nomination filed on May 14, 2026. Her campaign website says sh..."
  "og:description": "Bahira Abdulsalam is on the City of Toronto’s list of certified candidates for Mayor, with a nomination filed on May 14, 2026. Her campaign website says sh..."
  "og:title": "Bahira Abdulsalam: candidate for mayor, Toronto 2026"
  "twitter:description": "Bahira Abdulsalam is on the City of Toronto’s list of certified candidates for Mayor, with a nomination filed on May 14, 2026. Her campaign website says sh..."
  "twitter:title": "Bahira Abdulsalam: candidate for mayor, Toronto 2026"
---

**

Mayor · Toronto 2026

# Bahira Abdulsalam

Engineer and educator running for Mayor, facing a professional discipline hearing.

Bahira Abdulsalam is on the City of Toronto’s list of certified candidates for Mayor, with a nomination filed on May 14, 2026. Her campaign website says she is a structural engineer with a PhD and that she ran for Mayor in 2023. Her plan includes free TTC service, repair of City infrastructure and open budgets. She faces a Professional Engineers Ontario discipline hearing over social media posts, and no decision was found.

Explore priorities  Campaign links 

Researched by voche.me · Not a campaign-authored page

Candidate space2026

Bahira AbdulsalamToronto municipal election

*Bahira AbdulsalamMayorv.*

01 / Introduction

## About Bahira Abdulsalam

Bahira Abdulsalam appears on the City of Toronto’s list of certified candidates for Mayor. A certified candidate is one whose nomination the City Clerk has accepted. The list shows the nomination date as May 14, 2026. The campaign website she gave the City calls her Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng.

Her campaign website says she is an educator and structural engineer, a former professor of construction project management in Ontario colleges, and the founder of the Be The Change Movement. It says she holds a PhD in structural engineering from Université de Sherbrooke. The Local describes her as a certified professional engineer in Ontario. The Local and The Jerusalem Post report that she ran for Mayor in the 2023 by-election, and The Local reports that she ran as an independent in Don Valley West in the 2025 provincial and federal elections. voche.me did not check her degree or her licence with the university or the engineering regulator.

Her campaign website says she is an independent candidate with no party affiliation and that she has ended her involvement with the Liberal Party of Canada. The Local reports that her LinkedIn page says she volunteered for the Ontario Liberal Party beginning in 2020.

Allegation. The Jerusalem Post reported on August 4, 2026 that the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation (CAEF) started a complaint to the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) Discipline Committee about social media posts of hers that it says praised the October 7, 2023 attacks. The Local reports that she says the proceedings stem from her social media posts about Palestine and sex education in public schools. In a statement dated July 14, 2026, quoted by the Jerusalem Post, she said she is before the tribunal because of what she posted in her own name and on her own time, and she challenges the regulator's authority over off-duty political speech. The Jerusalem Post reports that she served a notice of constitutional question on the attorneys general of Canada and Ontario. The Jerusalem Post, citing her own announcement, gives hearing dates through August 13, 2026. No decision was found in the pages opened, and the PEO's own tribunal page did not load, so voche.me has not seen the regulator's record. This is an unresolved allegation.

The Local also reports that on social media she has been critical of LGBTQ+ identities, gender expression and sex education in schools. voche.me did not open those posts.

Read the sources 

02 / The issues

## Priorities & positions

Campaign-source summary

Summarized from the campaign’s published profile. These are stated positions, not an assessment of results or a complete platform.

01

### Fix City infrastructure first

Her campaign website says the City manages $215 billion in infrastructure and has an $18 billion repair backlog (the site marks both figures as approximate), and that she would repair what the City owns first. It says she would keep the Gardiner Expressway under City control.

<details>

<summary>Read the full position

</summary>

The dollar figures are the campaign's, and voche.me has not checked them against the City's budget.

</details>

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website · Seven promises ](https://bahira.ca/)

02

### Homes people can afford

Her campaign website promises to keep public land public, put homes people can own on it, build more affordable housing and protect tenants.

<details>

<summary>Read the full position

</summary>

The Local reports that her website proposes 99-year community land trust leases to build homes people can own.

</details>

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website · Seven promises ](https://bahira.ca/)

03

### Free TTC

Her campaign website says her goal is a free, frequent and on-time TTC. Until it is funded, it proposes a fare freeze, lower weekly and monthly caps and the Fair Pass for low-income riders.

<details>

<summary>Read the full position

</summary>

It says the TTC should stay publicly owned and governed by the City.

</details>

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website · Toronto in Motion ](https://bahira.ca/)

04

### Open budgets

Her campaign website promises honest budgets, open books, independent audits, a live projects dashboard and a full public accounting of World Cup spending.

<details>

<summary>Read the full position

</summary>

It says police funding should show results, and that she would take the Mayor's seat on the Toronto Police Service Board herself.

</details>

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website · Seven promises ](https://bahira.ca/)

05

### Community safety

Her campaign website lists action on guns and trafficking, violence interruption and youth outreach, treating the drug crisis as both safety and health, a safer TTC and ending human trafficking.

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website · Community safety initiatives ](https://bahira.ca/)

06

### Equal treatment and anti-Palestinian racism

Her campaign website pledges equal dignity in City services, hiring and decisions for every resident, and endorses a Vote Palestine call and an Arab Canadian Lawyers Association framework on anti-Palestinian racism.

<details>

<summary>Read the full position

</summary>

The website says these endorsements are not endorsements of her campaign by those groups.

</details>

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website · Justice for all ](https://bahira.ca/)

Research status

## What voche.me has checked

Evidence reviewed on October 4, 2026: the City of Toronto's list of certified candidates, the home page of her campaign website, The Local's candidate page, an article of The Jerusalem Post dated August 4, 2026, the account of the same hearing published by the complainant, the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, and a fundraising page she organized. Her plans, her degrees and her community roles come from her campaign website and are written here as her campaign's statements. The hearing description comes from the Jerusalem Post, the complainant and The Local, with her own statement.

Gaps. The Professional Engineers Ontario tribunal page returned HTTP 403, so the regulator's own record of the hearing, its dates and any decision were not read. The two accounts of the hearing come from the complainant and a news outlet, and the outlet's report ends before the August 10 and 13 hearing days. The posts at the centre of the complaint were not opened. Her X account did not load and her TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts were not opened, so nothing from them is used directly. Her degrees, licence, awards and school board roles were not checked with the issuing bodies. The City's published 2023 results were not opened. The questionnaire has not been sent.

[City of Toronto · list of certified candidates](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/candidate-list/) [Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website](https://bahira.ca/) [The Jerusalem Post · Toronto candidate faces hearing over posts comparing Zionism to Nazism, August 4, 2026](https://www.jpost.com/international/article-904578) [The Local · Toronto Mayoral Candidates 2026](https://thelocal.to/toronto-mayoral-candidates-2026/)

03 / Background

## Experience & community

2023

### Candidate in the Toronto mayoral by-election

The Local and The Jerusalem Post report that she ran in the June 2023 by-election. voche.me did not open the City's published results.

[The Local · Toronto Mayoral Candidates 2026](https://thelocal.to/toronto-mayoral-candidates-2026/)

2025

### Independent candidate in Don Valley West

The Local reports that she ran as an independent for both the provincial and federal Don Valley West seats in 2025.

[The Local · Toronto Mayoral Candidates 2026](https://thelocal.to/toronto-mayoral-candidates-2026/)

Dates not checked

### Engineer, educator and community organizer

Her campaign website says she is a structural engineer, a former college professor, and the founder of the Be The Change Movement, and lists parent advisory roles with the Toronto District School Board. These are the campaign's own statements.

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website · About](https://bahira.ca/)

04 / Questions & answers

## Questions for the candidate

Proposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.

No questions and answers have been supplied.

### Have your own question?

Ask Bahira Abdulsalam directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.

05 / About this page

## Questions about this page

Facts voche.me can state about Bahira Abdulsalam's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.

<details>

<summary>Is this an official page for Bahira Abdulsalam?</summary>



No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Bahira Abdulsalam's own campaign.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Does Bahira Abdulsalam currently hold public office?</summary>



Not according to this profile. voche.me has not listed a current public office for Bahira Abdulsalam.

</details>

<details>

<summary>How many sources does this Bahira Abdulsalam profile cite?</summary>



This profile lists 6 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Why do some questions on Bahira Abdulsalam's page show no answer?</summary>



The "Questions &amp; answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Bahira Abdulsalam in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.

</details>

<details>

<summary>When is the election Bahira Abdulsalam is running in?</summary>



The 2026 Toronto municipal election, including the Mayor race, is decided on October 26, 2026.

</details>

06 / Candidate contributions

## Space for campaign updates

### No campaign updates yet

Announcements, event details and messages can be added here, with their source and publication date. No campaign submission has been added.

## Sources & transparency

- [City of Toronto · list of certified candidates ](https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/candidate-list/)Checked October 4, 2026
- [Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website ](https://bahira.ca/)Checked October 4, 2026
- [The Local · Toronto Mayoral Candidates 2026 ](https://thelocal.to/toronto-mayoral-candidates-2026/)Checked October 4, 2026
- [The Jerusalem Post · Toronto candidate faces hearing over posts comparing Zionism to Nazism, August 4, 2026 ](https://www.jpost.com/international/article-904578)Checked October 4, 2026
- [Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation · Toronto Candidate Faces Hearing Over Posts Comparing Zionism to Nazism, August 5, 2026 ](https://www.caef.ca/post/toronto-candidate-faces-hearing-over-posts-comparing-zionism-to-nazism)Checked October 4, 2026
- [GoFundMe · Defend free speech against coordinated attacks (organized by Bahira Abdulsalam) ](https://www.gofundme.com/f/defend-free-speech-against-coordinated-attacks)Checked October 4, 2026

Missing information does not imply a candidate’s position. [Read our editorial standards.](https://voche.me/on/toronto-2026/about)

Campaign contact

## Campaign links & contact.

Find the candidate’s website, social accounts and contact information.

[Bahira Abdulsalam campaign website](https://bahira.ca/) [Bahira Abdulsalam on X](https://x.com/BahiraR) [Bahira Abdulsalam on TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@bahiraabdulsalam) [Bahira Abdulsalam on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/bahira.abdulsalam)

## View more candidates.

[All candidate spaces ](https://voche.me/on/toronto-2026/candidates)

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Candidate Q&A

## Ask Bahira Abdulsalam a question.

Give your name, email and question. We send it to the campaign, and publish their answer here if we get one.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/on/toronto-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.
