She plans on engaging with the Canadian Federation of Students, lobbying the university, and working alongside other student unions such as the Arts & Science Student Union (ASSU). 

As an Executive Associate for the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU), Kinderman is hopeful that her background in student government will help her to engage students face-to-face. 

“Student unions have to engage directly with the base. This is a mobilizing role — this is not a role where you sit in an office and just do reports.”

He proposed socials for all USTU election candidates to break the ice pub-night style. “They really need to see each other… so it doesn’t feel too competitive, because that’s what UTSU elections have been for the past couple years. It’s been very, very competitive, very political, very cutthroat,” he told The Varsity.

Lam also wants UTSU pop-ups to be present at every college building. He thinks the Student Commons building is too geographically removed from student life and contributes to the fragmentation of campus communities.

Onikoyi wants the UTSU to move in a more practical direction than existing “puppy yoga days.” She wants to give students back the money they need to get through school, such as reviewing some of the existing student fees and expanding the UTSU’s grants, bursaries, and scholarships. 

She also wants to scale up the UTSU’s grocery gift card program to “every month, preferably every week at the food bank.” 

To keep the UTSU accountable and transparent, Onikoyi plans to integrate a dashboard to the UTSU website that lets students know what the monthly budget spends were. 

Onikoyi promised that if she is elected, “you will see our faces more. You will see us meeting with more MPs, you will see us making more statements. We will be more visible.”

Financial transparency is also a goal for Kashkari. “I do think students deserve clarity,” she said, explaining that she plans to hold monthly town hall meetings to review the budget and answer students’ questions.

Kashkari also wants to expand student opportunities within the UTSU, saying, “I would like to expand the [Community Resource Specialist] roles, and… explore maybe creating an additional student employment stream.” Additionally, she would like to expand the UTSU’s scholarship program, proposing bi-yearly awards — instead of the current yearly awards — and “increasing both the number and the monetary value of those awards.”

In terms of budget allocation, Guo mentioned a number of key items: to give money to Regenesis — the agricultural club at U of T, fund a soup kitchen, and get rid of the Uber ridesharing program. “I don’t think we should be supporting Uber [and its] politics. We don’t need to give money to that organization.”

Guo hopes to publish every budget and “declassify all the transactions” of the UTSU, adding that the UTSU was “a mess.” Guo acknowledged that fees would continue to increase, and explained that to address this issue, he “will have to figure out how to do things for cheap, or to do things for free.”

Guo said, “I don’t think I should convince you [to vote for me]. If you think I have a strong enough proposition, if I can provide the services that I want to provide, then it should be your decision. […] I hope I convinced you via my three-ish spaghetti brain answers of what I want to do.”

Her platform focuses on affordability: improving the capacity and frequency of the  UTSU Food Bank, advocating for more student housing, and continuing to lobby the TTC and meeting with city councillors to introduce a lower student fare.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, and it’s better when we’re all working on it collaboratively,” said Dina. “Not just the UTSU working on something and then letting students know about it, but having students directly involved in that process.”

After launching the College Advisory Committee this year, Dina plans to create more avenues for students to connect directly with the executives and learn about ongoing campaigns.

“I think a lot of people tend to walk past these elections or student government… they feel like it doesn’t really make as much of a difference whether they’re involved or not. I would like to change that — it does make a difference.”

Jackiw hopes to expand the hours of the current UTSU rideshare program and is interested in lowering the TTC fare cap. “I want to use commuter data to support these negotiations, and I don’t want to promise what isn’t possible.” She discussed incremental changes, and raising awareness for TTC pop-ups on campus, which provide accessible opportunities for students to obtain a student pass for a reduced TTC fare.

With reference to Bill 33’s passing, Jackiw said that her “responsibility as VP PUA would be to ensure that its implementation doesn’t undermine student services.” She spoke about advocating for food banks, accessibility services, legal aid, student clubs, and publishing student-friendly summaries of any future fee changes to the UTSU.

“I may not come from student government, but I come from the student experience.”

Kusumakar’s campaign is centred around three main concerns: sustainability, equity and transparency. He is focused on divestments and “divulging every major university investment, so that the student cohort can be more up to date with [the] university’s activities.”

Having heard the complaints of students, Kusumakar, if elected, would address rent stabilization near campus and TTC fare relief. Furthermore, he is interested in the implementation of an anonymous student policy reporting platform to create a semesterly report on all the recurring and key issues that the student body is facing. “I want people to be more informed,” Kusumakar told The Varsity, “I want this information to be way more accessible.”

Miller-Buza believes that the VP PUA office lacks a properly defined mandate, which prevents its elected candidate from getting anything done — “It’s really easy for PUAs to get lost, to get confused.” He felt the absence of a coherent mandate most when he ran for the same position in the 2024 UTSU election. 

Miller-Buza wants the PUA to stand for more than just issuing statements. His focus as VP will be tackling affordability issues like the cost of transit, and working with the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario to tackle changes made to the grants and loan structure of OSAP this month.

He will also work to hold the U of T administration accountable to their promise that education will remain affordable. Miller-Buza believes his experience working on the UTSU Board of Directors has given him the knowledge to achieve goals, not just make flourishing promises.

To ensure that all clubs have equitable access to funding, Odhiambo plans to run workshops for club executives to explain the funding application process. This is to make sure that “It’s not just the big groups that are getting a large proportion of that funding.”

“A major theme in my campaign is community. I want everyone to feel a part of the UTSU, not just small, isolated individuals,” Odhiambo said. She plans to achieve this by increasing capacity at UTSU events, ensuring more student participation. 

Odhiambo also wants the UTSU to improve their campus presence by integrating the UTSU into each college’s orientation, so that students are aware of the UTSU’s initiatives. To engage first-year students beyond orientation, Odhiambo wants to implement “community hours” and other events staggered throughout the year.

“Many campus events don’t necessarily align with commuter schedules… and they often conflict with class times, or they’re held too late in the day. So I would like to implement more pop-ups and more events that range around people’s schedules and bring more sense of community for commuter students,” Perera Gunawardane told The Varsity. 

Perera Gunawardane wants to focus on initiatives like raffles for TTC PRESTO card reloads, and commuter lounges with chargers and snacks. If elected, she promises a commuter buddy system to match first-year commuters with upper-year commuters so younger students can “gain a better understanding of what to do as a commuter, how to make friends, and how to be safe.”

She also wants to start an airport volunteer program during peak arrival times to welcome new students to U of T in partnership with international student clubs. Perera Gunawardane also wants to revamp the UTSU Student Life Instagram with short reels featuring underground clubs.

In 2025, Areiza ran unsuccessfully for the VP Student Life position. Reflecting on his loss, Areiza said that his previous goals were better matched to VP Equity and that his prior experience as a Community Research Specialist with the UTSU has given him valuable insight into student struggles. 

“My experience working at the UTSU has really given me the best of all the worlds, where at the food bank and at the front desk, I’m able to see issues affecting students, especially underrepresented and racialized students, and also queer students.” 

Areiza’s platform for VP Equity builds on his experience working with students firsthand. If elected, he would increase the UTSU spaces — such as prayer spaces and ablution rooms — and establish a leadership scholarship for Black and Indigenous students.

“As a queer, neurodivergent person of colour, I think my identities have allowed me to connect with students who come from all walks of life and really understand the issues that have been affecting them.”

“I’d like to dig deeper into the root causes of why students don’t feel like they should participate in UTSU elections. Every student is paying the salaries of UTSU executives, and I would really like to see more students feeling empowered and represented to increase voter turnout in future years.”

If elected as VP Equity, Sanderson hopes to establish a major advisory body of Indigenous leaders to ensure the UTSU is “an active player in reconciliation, not just a passive ally.”

Sanderson noted that, despite being a first-year student, his Indigenous background informs his policy goals. He hopes to increase student leadership and volunteer opportunities at First Nations House. 

“There weren’t really a lot of [opportunities] that I saw. […] I know that I’m not the first one and I won’t be the last one to come into the school wanting more in [the Indigenous] sphere.” He also plans to expand the Transitional Year Programme, an access-to-university program for adults lacking the formal qualifications for post-secondary admission.