Parthi Kandavel Is Running Again. The OPP Investigation Isn’t Finished.

Scarborough Southwest voters now know at least one name that will be on the ballot this October.

They don’t yet know whether an Ontario Provincial Police investigation involving that candidate will be finished before they get there.

Ward 20 Councillor Parthi Kandavel has registered to seek re-election in Toronto’s October 26 municipal election while an OPP investigation into allegations involving the first-term councillor remains active.

There is nothing preventing him from doing so. Kandavel hasn’t been charged with a crime, and an investigation isn’t a finding of guilt. He remains a sitting councillor and is legally entitled to ask voters for another term.

But voters are also entitled to know what’s happening.

The investigation traces back to a complaint received by Toronto’s Integrity Commissioner on July 8, 2025. The matter was subsequently referred to the Toronto Police Service and then to the OPP. The investigation is being handled by the OPP’s Anti-Rackets Branch, a specialized unit that deals with complex fraud, corruption and financial crime investigations.

Reporting has connected the complaint to developers associated with a proposed development at 708-712 Kennedy Road.

Kandavel has previously said he was surprised to learn of the investigation and has maintained that he has tried to uphold high ethical standards while serving on council. None of the allegations has been proven.

That last sentence needs to remain attached to this story wherever it goes.

An investigation can uncover wrongdoing. It can also determine there wasn’t sufficient evidence of wrongdoing in the first place. Until police finish their work, the public doesn’t know which of those possibilities applies here.

Unfortunately, municipal elections don’t wait for police investigations.

Kandavel has made his decision. He’s running.

Scarborough Southwest voters may now have to make theirs without knowing how the investigation ends.

That creates an uncomfortable situation, but not necessarily an unfair one.

There will inevitably be people who argue Kandavel shouldn’t run while an investigation remains active. There will be others who argue the investigation should have no bearing whatsoever on the election unless charges are laid.

Neither position leaves much room for voters themselves.

Kandavel doesn’t lose his democratic rights because police are investigating allegations against him. The presumption of innocence isn’t something we extend only when it’s convenient.

Voters don’t lose their right to consider the investigation either.

They can look at Kandavel’s record on council, his response to the allegations, whatever information becomes publicly available during the campaign and the fact that an investigation remains unresolved. They can decide how much weight any of it deserves.

That’s democracy, even when the information available to voters isn’t as complete as anyone would like.

There is another question here for Toronto.

The city’s integrity process exists because councillors occupy positions of considerable public trust. When a complaint becomes serious enough to move beyond an ethics process and into a police investigation, there is understandably going to be public interest in what happens next.

But the city can’t run a parallel criminal process, and it can’t simply remove an elected councillor because allegations have been made. Creating a system where an accusation alone could effectively disqualify someone from seeking office would present democratic problems considerably larger than the one Toronto is confronting now.

The alternative can be messy.

A councillor remains in office. Police conduct their investigation independently. An election arrives. The candidate runs. Voters are left to assess the information available to them.

There may be no satisfying procedural solution to that.

What Toronto can provide is transparency wherever the law permits it. Voters should know the status of the investigation, what stage the city’s own processes have reached and what information can legitimately be released without compromising either the investigation or Kandavel’s rights.

Then voters can do their job.

Kandavel’s registration makes the timing more significant. October 26 is no longer some distant date on the municipal calendar. A campaign is beginning, and an unresolved police investigation involving one of its candidates is going to be part of it whether Kandavel, his opponents or the city particularly wants it to be.

If the OPP investigation concludes before election day, Scarborough Southwest voters will have more information on which to make their decision.

If it doesn’t, they’ll have to decide with what they have.

That’s an imperfect situation.

It’s also their decision to make.