I want to preface this by saying I am not a fan of any politics being hosted at any religious-related centres. IMO, politics and religion should never mix.

With that said, I understand that there have been a few of these hosted at different centres of faith, not just one. Which to me, I guess makes it a bit more acceptable. 

The thing I am having a hard time understanding is the set up of the one located at the Muslim Association of Milton earlier today. For one, as you can see from the pictures posted publicly from the event, there is a big yellow banner next to the side of the candidates that is essentially begging for donations. Why is this being promoted? Was this event and space truly being used as a neutral ground to host the debates? Or was this event hosted as just a way to promote the centre and a donation cash grab? I think it was highly inappropriate to place this banner right next to the candidates. Was the focus of the event to donate money or to truly be a neutral host of the debates? I can’t help but feel like it was the former.

Not to mention: if you look at the pictures of the crowd, you will see that even though this was held outside, the seating area is completely separated by gender. How is this ok? This is Canada. And this was supposed to be a Milton mayoral debate, not a religious event. Why and how are women and men being segregated by gender in terms of seating? How is this remotely ok if this was truly a “mayoral debate”? We do not segregate by gender in Canada at mayoral debates. Who even thought for a second this set up was a good idea? Was this set up for all Miltonians or just a certain group? 

I am very disappointed that this is what our town has turned into. And I was really hoping that Muslim Association of Milton would really step up to the plate and not make it so obvious that this is just religious motives mixing with politics. 

Is anyone else also disappointed? 

Zainab Azim's flyer is a masterclass in promising things a Milton mayor cannot deliver. I read it as a voter, not a researcher. Here's my view:

1. She has never held elected office, and this flyer reads like she doesn't know what the job is. Almost everything on here — transit, GO trains, policing, universities — needs a council majority plus the Region, the province, or Metrolinx to agree. A mayor proposes and lobbies. She doesn't get to announce these as deliverables. The flyer is written for applause lines, not for how the job actually works. That should worry you.

2. "Buses every 20 minutes." Current frequency is 35 minutes on weekdays — that's the town's own number from its September 2025 announcement. Going to 20 means roughly 75% more buses on the frequent routes. The town's net transit cost is $46.76 per resident (2024), and the transit plan already budgets $1.1M in 2026 and $1.5M in 2027 for modest expansions. Town-wide 20-minute service would cost several million more per year, every year — my estimate, but the order of magnitude is right. That's higher taxes or cuts elsewhere. And for what? The town's own 2023 survey found transit satisfaction at 42%, and residents said multiple cars have become a necessity. Milton is a bedroom community — people leave town to work because the jobs aren't here. Nobody is abandoning a financed car because the bus comes more often. This is a massive recurring bill for a service most households won't use.

3. "All-day GO." Fantasy. Two-way all-day GO on the Milton line needs dedicated tracks or a freight bypass — roughly a $6 billion provincial project with no funding, no timeline, and no construction started. Mayors have lobbied for this for 25 years and nothing has been delivered. A mayor can ask Queen's Park nicely. That's it. Putting it on a flyer as a mayoral promise is misleading, full stop.

4. "Careers close to home." Noble idea. But businesses locate where the market tells them to, not where a flyer tells them to. What is she actually proposing to create market demand? Milton businesses are dealing with US-Canada trade tensions and cost pressure — they're cutting costs, not opening satellite offices because a mayor asked nicely. And Ontario's Municipal Act (s.106) generally bars towns from handing cash or sweetheart deals to private businesses. So what's the mechanism? The flyer doesn't say, because there isn't one.

5. "Education Village: Innovation Hub." The Education Village already exists. Laurier opened its Milton academic centre in September 2024. Conestoga opened Milton campuses in 2024. Done — by the province and the town, before she filed to run. What does adding the word "hub" change? And universities are provincial jurisdiction, not municipal. This is taking credit for someone else's finished work and rebranding it.

6. Entertainment square, faster snow clearing, more policing. All good ideas. All cost money. Who pays? The family living paycheck to paycheck. The parents saving for their kids while supporting family. The people working two jobs to survive this economy, watching most of their paycheque go to a mortgage, a couple of missed payments from disaster. Anyone can write "brilliant" ideas on a flyer. Governing means saying what it costs and who pays. She doesn't.

7. "Alive After Five." The silliest item on the flyer. An entertainment square and more parks and community space are already in the town's own downtown plans — she's rebranding existing work as her vision. The rest is a vibe, not a policy: no price tag, no timeline, no specifics. And "Alive After Five" implies the town is dead before 5 — tell that to everyone whose day ends well after 5 because they're working, commuting, or raising kids.

8. The credentials. The flyer lists Harvard Teaching Fellow, Minister of Finance's office, UN Ambassador, Mamdani campaign. Some of it checks out — her Mamdani campaign role is confirmed by an independent organizing network. But let's be clear about what a field organizer is: it's entry-level campaign infantry — knocking doors, managing volunteers, working 80-hour weeks. No credential required; thousands of 22-year-olds do it every cycle. It's a skill for winning elections, not for running a city. Nothing about it teaches you to read a municipal budget, chair a council, or navigate the Municipal Act. And the government claims are self-reported; I couldn't find any independent record of the Finance Minister's office role. Impressive titles on a flyer aren't verification. Voters deserve to know the difference between a claim and a confirmed record — and between campaigning and governing.

Bottom line: read the flyer again and count the price tags. There are none. Every one of these promises either needs council + the province + millions of dollars, or it's already underway from previous councils. She's selling a vision she can't deliver, at a cost she won't name, to voters she assumes won't check. Don't be that voter.

[MOD PLEASE DO NOT DELETE. THIS IS FACTUAL AND DUE DILIGENCE]

Found something very suspicious about Zainab Azim…

Zainab Azim’s father, Azim Rizvee, founded MinMaxx Realty which is one of Milton’s biggest real estate brokerages.

Ontario law literally says that a parent’s known financial interest can be treated as the council member’s own financial interest. It also bars members from using their office to influence matters where they have that kind of interest, subject to the Act’s exceptions.

If I had to guess, I’d question whether MinMaxx stands to benefit from having his daughter in the mayor’s office. If your father runs a real-estate business in the same town you want to govern, people should absolutely be asking what happens when a planning, development or land decision could benefit him or MinMaxx. I was not able to find this anywhere.

In fact, her own campaign has been running weekly campaign events out of 1220 Main Street East, the exact same address MinMaxx lists as its brokerage office.

And then there’s the weird UN claim. Her campaign calls her a “United Nations Ambassador & Mentor.” But the actual Space4Women material and other coverage I can find describe her as a mentor/role model, not a UN ambassador.

So where did “UN Ambassador” come from?

Sources:

MinMaxx profile for Azim Rizvee

Azim Rizvee on REALTOR.ca

Ontario Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

Zainab Azim campaign website

UN/UNOOSA Space4Women participant list

10 Candidates but honestly 3-4 serious ones the rest are reaching, jokes or totally over their heads. Being a serious candidate doesn't mean I'd endorse them it just means they have some semblance of experience to make them qualified to be on the ballot. As it is we have teenagers running....

Group #1 Legitimate & Experience

Gord Krantz

• Incumbent has been Mayor for 40 years
• Saw Milton grow to what it is today for better or worse
• Brought in large infrastructure projects but also got fleeced by CN and has seen urban sprawl w/o infrastructure

George Minakakis

• Current Ward 1 Councilor
• Sat on Milton Hydro Board (Chair) and chaired Action Milton.
• Spent 20 years working as COuntry GM for Luxottica (Retail)
• Authored 3 books, MBA.

Sameera Ali

• Ward 4 Councilor
• Involved with the fiasco in 2025 trying to bring middleeast Geopolitics into a town hall meeting
• Serves on Halton Police Board
• Ran for Liberals in Provincial election

Nadeem Akbar

• Ran for Burlington North - Milton West for federal PC party and prior in 2021
• Listed living in Burlington last year, is now a longtime Miltonian
• Did work on the Halton Police Board
• Experience doesn't line up across prior campaigns, not much in the way of serious accomplishments

Group #2 IMHO Unserious

Asif Khan

• Makes / spams social media with lots of AI pics (Including him meeting celebrities etc.)
• 25 years of experience working with pretty much every major city
• No easily found Linkedin profile verifying nay of his claims
• Says a lot with AI w/o saying much of anything
• There are social media posts from a lady in Brampton saying she filed Sexual Harassment charges against this guy and that he had been harassing her and her family

Zainab Azim

• Puts a great image out there of someone very experienced.
• Involved in the community
• Age and work experiences don't line up - Grossly exaggerating work experiences.
• I.E. Teaching Fellow = TA in Canada

Chez Amun

• No website or visible platform, last LI post is 6 months ago
• DJ
• Platform? Experience? Good luck finding it

Maliha Ahmed

• CEO of Milton Muslim Moms
• President of Milton Federal NDP Riding Association
• Not much real work experience outside of politics

Arjun Joshi

• 19 years old - Student

Abdulkareem Akbik

• Identifies real issues but hard to find work experience for him
• Reads like a staffer or intern making a massive jump

MODS, PLEASE DON'T DELETE: THIS IS A CIVIL POST EXPRESSING MY OPINION BASED ON THE AMA.

Well, there you have it. I went into Zainab's AMA skeptical, especially after the concerns I raised about her family's real estate interests, but genuinely open to hearing her out. Somehow, I came out even more skeptical.

My biggest issue was how often incredibly specific questions didn't get specific answers. Someone asked for the largest team she's managed, number of direct reports and largest budget she's personally managed. Instead of numbers, we got a long answer about her experience and leadership. The commenter literally had to ask again and still wasn’t answered.

The conflict-of-interest questions weren't much better. We already know conflicts are regulated. Repeating rules about declarations and recusals doesn't address why people are concerned. At times it felt like, "I can't be corrupt, that's illegal!" That wasn't the question.

My favourite was Milton.com. She was asked who owns it and what the campaign's financial arrangement is. Her answer first said the campaign owns it, then was edited to say it leases it. When people asked from whom, for how much and under what arrangement, she didn't elaborate and instead asked why the Town hadn't bought it first.

Then there's the AMA itself. She showed up late and repeatedly mentioned being busy with work without elaborating on what that work is, even after multiple questions. Better yet, somehow there was time for four massive replies about Alive After Five while critical questions remained unresolved.

If this AMA was even a small test of organization, prioritization and responding under scrutiny, it didn't inspire confidence in me.

I genuinely didn't think an AMA could make me trust a candidate less, but here we are. I have to thank Zainab for organizing it though. At least for me, she made the decision of who not to vote for extremely clear.

I’m finding this particular Milton mayoral election really difficult because there are so many candidates, and I’m not sure who to vote for. I also feel that some candidates may be running more for their own interests or personal agendas rather than focusing on what Milton actually needs. I want to make an informed decision based on who genuinely understands the city’s challenges and has a realistic plan to address them.

This feels quite intrusive to me.. I have never received a text asking me to vote ever while I’ve lived in Milton— it strikes me as slightly odd. I wonder how they obtained my number. Are they simply broadcasting this to anyone with a Milton area code?

1 (866) 545-9218
ASIF is having his minions call people to persuade their vote. They are asking for personal demographic information. I declined to answer any questions but made sure they heard me when I shared my disgust with his behaviour online.
I do not consent to being contacted especially by this low life. If you receive this number calling you answer and let them know how disgusted you are too.

It is disappointing that I cannot find a single candidate I'd confidently vote for. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on overlooked candidates. Who could genuinely be a good candidate and be good to Milton?

I moved to Milton from the US (Georgia) in 10 months ago; love the city so far.

With the election coming up; and all the signs that have been put up.

I can’t help but think; who has been responsible historically for cleaning up
all those yard signs and getting our walkways clean again?

I don't think I've come across any of the mayoral candidates discuss curbing rampant crime in Milton. Curious if it's an oversight on my end or if candidates haven't highlighted it. It likely falls under provincial jurisdiction, but given all sorts of lofty claims, I'm wondering if crime has been addressed and how they may be looking to tackle it.

Hey neighbours — I put together a voter guide for our municipal election (advance voting Oct 12–15, Election Day Oct 26). It covers every candidate on the ballot with sourced facts on their backgrounds and records. Not promoting anyone, just information for voters.

https://muse.ai/s/website-xwb6y42wuxr9i

Limeskey is a person I know and I read his post about the Milton Reddit AMA's. I will submit one in the next couple days as I am campaigning for Milton Ward 3 Regional Councillor.

But wanted to ensure people know I am on Reddit and have been a member on r/Milton for several years.

Don't hesitate to ask me any questions directly. Fastest way is probably through Whatsapp (416-821-1219). But you can also just comment or ask me on here as well.

If anyone would like to ask questions in person or even do a "interview" (you don't have to tell me the questions in advance, I'm fine with real questions real interviews as long as they are non-partisan and not traps). I'll come to your home or you can come to mine, or we could even meet at Tim Hortons or some public place. I'm fairly open.