Marco Martins — Candidate for Toronto Ward 9 Davenport
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Candidate — Toronto Ward 9

Marco Martinsfor Davenport

Practical action. Accessible leadership. Real accountability.

Responsive representation, responsible decisions and stronger neighbourhoods — from Fairbank to Little Portugal.

Meet Marco Read the plan
Marco Martins, candidate for Toronto Ward 9 Davenport
Vote Oct 26
2026
Knock doors• Volunteer• Donate• Vote• Oct 26, 2026•
Marco Martins with a young hockey player at the community ice rink in Ward 9 Davenport
Why Marco is running

A councillor who answers. A city that works.

Ward 9 deserves a councillor who answers the phone, respects how hard residents work for every dollar, and focuses on solutions that improve daily life.

Davenport is changing, but residents too often feel that decisions are made before they are heard. I'm running to bring practical judgment, direct accountability and neighbourhood-level service back to the councillor's office. I'll listen first, explain decisions clearly and measure progress publicly.

For many years I've run community initiatives with my neighbours — a natural environment ice rink in the winter, and upcycle and clean-up events in the spring. We do it because someone did the same for us when we were children. It taught me something simple: when the city and the community come together, great things can happen.

Many yrs Of community service
100% Volunteer powered
Join in

Let’s build a stronger Davenport together

This campaign is powered by neighbours. Knock doors, deliver flyers, host a meet-and-greet or request a lawn sign. Pick how you'll help bring practical leadership to Ward 9.

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The plan

My priorities — an action plan for Davenport

Davenport is a collection of proud, distinct neighbourhoods. Residents deserve a councillor who answers, listens and delivers. Tap a priority to read more.

A councillor must be present, accessible, and accountable. I will:

  • Respond to your calls and emails, and find solutions that work for you.
  • Hold meaningful community consultations to ensure your input is reflected at City Hall.

We deserve to feel safe in our neighbourhood. Davenport needs a councillor who works with government agencies to deliver real security. I will:

  • Advocate for visible, community-friendly policing.
  • Strengthen communication amongst all advocacy groups.
  • Push for faster response times and demand measurable public safety results.

Residents are working harder, paying more, and receiving less. They need a councillor who makes life more affordable. I will:

  • Review city spending, identify unnecessary costs, and push for real accountability.
  • Demand strong oversight and help cut excessive “red tape,” especially for small businesses.
  • Fight for Davenport’s fair share of services, parks, and funding — our ward gets half of the capital investment per person compared to other wards.
26%

Property-tax increase in Davenport since the last election, including 7% in 2023 and 9.5% in 2024, all under the current councillor.

We need to get more people moving and reduce time-wasting gridlock — and we all deserve to travel safely, including pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers. I will:

  • Support safe, connected cycling infrastructure.
  • Advocate for more service on overcrowded bus and transit routes.
  • Pursue practical solutions to congestion and gridlock and make sidewalks safer while reflecting the needs of the entire community.

New development must improve our neighbourhoods, not overwhelm them. Residents deserve smart, community-friendly projects. I will:

  • Support housing growth that offers more places to live while respecting existing communities.
  • Ensure infrastructure and transit planning keep pace with development.
  • Push for faster and more accountable municipal approvals.

Local entrepreneurs and independent businesses make Davenport what it is, and they need a councillor in their corner. I will:

  • Help cut excessive “red tape” and speed up City permitting for small businesses.
  • Work with every local BIA and independent-business representative in Ward 9.
  • Press for clean commercial streets, safe loading areas and practical parking and delivery rules.
In the community

Many years of community service

A natural environment ice rink through the winter, and upcycle and clean-up events in the spring — run by neighbours, with hoses, shovels and a lot of volunteer hours.

Someone did this for us when we were children and it was inspiring.

“I really feel like the community having a role in city parks is important. It's like a field of dreams. It really fills my heart — all of the volunteers who are out here, all that hard work, and seeing little kids learning how to skate. The next year they're zipping by, and they just became a great skater.”

“When the city and the community come together, great things can happen — and this is a part of that.”

Help build the campaign
Marco Martins flooding the natural environment ice rink with a hose in a Ward 9 park
Flooding the rink — one of the initiatives Marco has run with neighbours over many years.
Marco Martins at home in Davenport with his partner and their dog
At home in Davenport.
Neighbourhoods

Ward 9 neighbourhood action plan

Ward 9 stretches across communities with different built forms and pressures. The councillor's job is to connect them without flattening their differences. These proposals are starting points for resident consultation — not promises that every neighbourhood wants the same solution.

Fairbank, Oakwood-Vaughan & Eglinton/Rogers

  • Create a flooding-and-construction resident desk for Fairbank-Silverthorn sewer work, with clear escalation and restoration tracking.
  • Prioritise road restoration, safe crossings, construction access and business support around Oakwood, Rogers and Eglinton.
  • Work with local BIAs on storefront vitality, cleanliness, lighting and multilingual outreach.
  • Track service and access impacts tied to major transit and redevelopment projects.

Corso Italia, Earlscourt & St. Clair Gardens

  • Protect the main-street character and independent businesses of St. Clair West through coordinated loading, parking and construction plans.
  • Audit park amenities at Earlscourt and nearby facilities: washrooms, fountains, lighting, fields, rinks and accessibility.
  • Improve connections to streetcar and bus service, and address unsafe turning, speeding and cut-through locations.
  • Require development proposals to explain heritage, shadow, public realm, servicing and local-business impacts.

Junction Triangle, Wallace-Emerson & Symington

  • Coordinate rail-bridge, road and development work so residents receive one understandable construction schedule.
  • Improve pedestrian routes, lighting and wayfinding around stations, trails, bridges and underpasses.
  • Support family housing, tenant protection and community benefits where growth is concentrated.
  • Develop a parking, loading and school-safety review using block-level data.

Bloordale, Bloorcourt & Dovercourt Village

  • Partner with BIAs on storefront vacancy, cleanliness, public washrooms, loading, patio and construction issues.
  • Improve TTC reliability and station/bus-stop accessibility along Bloor, Dufferin, Lansdowne and Ossington.
  • Use community-safety audits for laneways, parks and transit approaches, including lighting and maintenance.
  • Balance new housing with renter protection, local retail, tree canopy and public-realm improvements.

Brockton Village, Dufferin Grove & Little Portugal

  • Protect neighbourhood businesses during construction and improve waste, loading and sidewalk management on Dundas, College and Dufferin.
  • Address park maintenance, washrooms, programming and safe routes to schools and community facilities.
  • Use targeted parking and traffic reviews rather than ward-wide assumptions.
  • Support cultural events and community organisations that reflect Portuguese, Latin American and other local communities.

West Queen West and the south end

  • Coordinate nightlife, noise, waste, safety, patios, deliveries and resident quality-of-life through a local working group.
  • Support independent culture and retail while improving late-night safety and transit access.
  • Strengthen tenant protections and public-realm contributions as development continues.
  • Improve walking connections, street cleanliness, shade, seating and accessible curb space.

Ward-wide commitments

  • Quarterly Ward 9 service dashboard and open issue tracker.
  • Annual neighbourhood walkabout in each area, with published follow-up actions.
  • A construction coordination calendar covering City, TTC, utilities and major development work.
  • Participatory priority-setting for small local capital improvements, subject to legal and budget rules.
  • Ward-wide map of speeding, collision, parking, accessibility and loading concerns, followed by transparent prioritisation.
First 100 days

A credible delivery agenda

What happens in the first 100 days after election day.

  1. 1 Publish councillor-office response standards and escalation routes.
  2. 2 Open the Ward 9 public action tracker and construction calendar.
  3. 3 Meet every Ward 9 BIA, major resident and tenant group, police division, TTC service-planning team and key City division.
  4. 4 Hold three listening sessions — north, central and south Ward 9 — and publish what was heard.
  5. 5 Launch audits of park amenities, chronic transportation trouble spots and construction communication.
  6. 6 Table or request the reports needed to turn priority commitments into Council action.
  7. 7 Publish a 100-day report distinguishing completed actions, active work, City dependencies and longer-term goals.
Contact

Tell me what matters to you

The best way to reach the campaign is email — I read it personally.