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Aurora Votes 2026: Meet Your Council Candidates – Nicholas Kashef, Ward 6

October 19, 2026   ·   0 Comments

Nicholas Kashef wants to bring the voice of his generation to Aurora Council.

Kashef says he’s always had an interest in public policy, politics, and history, and has always known that he wanted to lead a life of service, but several circumstances came together over the last year or so to underscore to him that now was the right time to put that drive to be a difference-maker into action.

“To be frank, I have struggled with depression for a long time in the past and I have been working my way out of it and being able to contribute more,” says Kashef, who recently took on the presidency of York Pride. “I feel like I’m at the point now where I’m able to actively contribute more and that’s a big part of it, too. Another impetus to run was seeing how certain Council votes in the last session turned out.”

One such Council vote that inspired him to run was the planned Men’s Transitional Housing build earmarked for the south end of Yonge Street, which was ultimately vetoed by Mayor Tom Mrakas using Strong Mayor Powers. The decision by incumbent Ward 6 Councillor Harold Kim to support the veto, was a factor that led him to enter the race in Ward 6, rather than in his home of Ward 5.

“It’s no accident that I live in Ward 5 and there’s a vacancy in Ward 5, but I still chose to run in Ward 6,” he says. “It’s a basic function of society to make sure that everyone has the necessities of life. Everyone needs to have health care, everyone needs to have education, everyone needs to have food, and everyone needs to have shelter. The fact that there are just so many homes that are vacant and so many people on the street, that’s just the fundamental disconnect of net need and capacity is just an ongoing embarrassment for the country, honestly. That’s how I see it. Any one of our fellow people sitting on the street is, frankly, a national shame. That’s just what it comes down to.”

As he goes door-to-door in Ward 6 with his platform, he’s doing so advocating for an enforcement of legislation related to a vacant property tax to bolster housing supply, improved transit to improve traffic and reduce emissions, and fostering community connection.

“A market is supposed to be economizing resources for what you need and what is able to be built,” he says, noting that while certain factors exist where it might be cheaper for a property owner to have a property left vacant rather than opening it up to tenants, and a tax would not only incentivize more units coming onto the market, but bring more money into municipal coffers.

“When it comes to motor vehicles, they’re really good for low density developments when you’re getting from place to place. But whenever you’ve got a lot of people trying to get to one place and a lot of people coming from one place and going to another, it makes a lot more sense to have other modes of transportation because they’re able to not only be more efficient, but they can also be safer,” he continues. “One of the benefits of public transit is you don’t have to be constantly looking at the road and you can occupy yourself with other things as you’re getting to your destination.”

A more connected community is a destination Kashef says he has in mind. He points to his work with York Pride as just one example of ways events can bring people together and build that all-important sense of community.

Issues like traffic calming and windrows have also been shown to be unifying themes within Ward 6, he says, adding with a laugh that his support for windrow removal was what led to the first household in the area putting up one of his campaign signs.

“I understand that the capacity is limited for Aurora when it comes to windrow removal because we only just did the pilot project. But I think a slow buy-in at an initially high price that is going to allow it to fund itself and grow slowly over time as residents want it is something that’s practical, usable and achievable,” he says, before turning his attention to traffic calming. “Especially with families with young kids, the traffic calming that I want to put into residential neighborhoods that are newly developed and the traffic calming that works being implemented Town-wide as we resurface the roads. Making sure that the traffic speeds are slow enough that it’s safe for kids to play on the street, that is something that really hits a chord.”

Kashef, whose family came to Canada from Iran more than 50 years ago, says that at the end of the day a key skill he hopes to bring to the Council table if elected on October 26 is “being able to understand other people’s perspectives.”

“I think that’s a big one when it comes to understanding where people are coming from and what they are concerned about,” he says. “I think that’s going to be a benefit on Council.”

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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