Cynthia Lai

Cynthia Lai was a Canadian politician who represented Ward 23 Scarborough North on the Toronto City Council from 2018 to 2022.

Background

Lai immigrated to Canada from British Hong Kong in 1972. Her cousin is Tony Wong, is a former Member of [Provincial Parliament (Canada)|member of Provincial Parliament] and municipal councillor.
Prior to entering politics, Lai worked as a realtor and was president of the Toronto Real Estate Board, the first Hong Kong-Canadian woman to hold that position.

Lai was elected to the Toronto City Council in the 2018 municipal election to represent Ward 23 Scarborough North. She served on the council until her death in 2022.

Lai was hospitalized on October 20 during the 2022 election campaign. She died on October 21, 2022, two days after her 68th birthday and just three days before the municipal election. She had been suffering from gallbladder cancer.
She was interred at York Cemetery in Toronto. Flags at Toronto City Hall, Metro Hall and Toronto civic centres were flown at half-mast, and the Toronto Sign was dimmed in her honour.
In 2025, the City of Toronto re-named Rosebank Park to Cynthia Lai Park in her honor.

Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Registration Date	Notes
Cynthia Lai	5,589	27.02%	May 28, 2018	Endorsed by Toronto Sun.
Maggie Chi	4,137	20.00%	June 19, 2018	Worked as a constituency assistant to former Councillor Chin Lee, Ward 41, for 5 years. Endorsement and support from Chin Lee, Glen De Baeremaeker, Shaun Chen, Tom Chang, Gary Loughlin.
Felicia Samuel	3,702	17.89%	July 25, 2018	Former provincial NDP candidate. Endorsed by Toronto & York District Labour Council, Progress Toronto, Toronto Star, and NOW magazine.
Neethan Saba	2,808	13.57%	July 27, 2018
James Chow	1,487	7.19%	May 16, 2018
Ashwani Bhardwaj	1,259	6.09%	July 25, 2018
Sheraz Khan	453	2.19%	July 27, 2018
Dameon Halstead	391	1.89%	June 12, 2018
Mahboob Mian	335	1.62%	July 9, 2018
Sandeep Srivastava	273	1.32%	June 26, 2018
Anthony Internicola	254	1.23%	May 8, 2018