New Fort Erie mayor Tom Insinna outlines priorities ahead of taking office

After election night Monday, the municipal government in the Niagara Region saw many changes, including the big change in the Town of Fort Erie.

It was a big upset in Fort Erie on election night, as the mayoral incumbent Wayne Redekop, who has been the town’s mayor for the past 12 years, lost his position to Regional Counc. Tom Insinna.

“The majority of people, when we went talking with people from door to door, they would say it feels like Fort Erie has stalled a little bit,” said Insinna.

Fort Erie voters have elected Insinna as their next mayor, over the incumbent Redekop.

Insinna received 52.2 per cent of the vote, compared to Redekop’s 40.9 per cent.

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“It’s kind of unbelievable right now, somebody said to me, ‘did it sink in yet?’ — no,” said Insinna.

Insinna previously worked in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police until 2018, when he became a regional councillor for Fort Erie.

He says after the province decided to slash the regional councillors, he decided to run for mayor.

“It was at that moment in time that people were ready to move forward,” said Insinna.

Fort Erie has dealt with a lot of issues surrounding the Fort Erie Urgent Care Centre, with hours being reduced, physician shortages, and its planned permanent closure in 2028, when the South Niagara Hospital opens in Niagara Falls.

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“I believe it would take pressure off the system there — yes, it’s a brand new hospital, state of the art, fantastic, 100 per cent behind it, but we still need something local,” said Insinna. “I’m going to reach out and I’m starting to do it now, to reach out to the province, reach out to Niagara Health to say, ‘okay, can we sit at the table, can we discuss this?”

He also wants to find ways to save money in the budget.

“I wanna do a review of the things we have to have, as opposed to the things that are nice to have,” said Insinna. “Can we do without it for a while? Can we save some money here? If we can do that, let’s do it.”

It’s a big change in the mayor’s position in Fort Erie, but there has been only one change in town council, where Daniel Turner was elected over the incumbent in Ward 4.

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