Candidates vying to represent Niagara West riding share their platforms

Residents of Niagara West have the opportunity to elect or re-elect their member of provincial parliament (MPP) this coming election.

Niagara West is a massive area spanning from Grimsby to Pelham and the shores of Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.

The Green party’s MPP candidate for the area is Mark Harrison. He says if elected, he would protect the farmland in the area.

“I’ve been working for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, and have done some work at the David Suzuki Foundation,” he said. “That opened my eyes to farmland disappearing.”

Harrison says he would work to prevent urban sprawl, noting Canada needs the farmland to combat potential tariffs from the U.S.

“We have to keep our farmland, we have to use our own food,” he said. “We can’t afford to be importing food from other countries.”

He also wants to address affordability, specifically housing affordability.

“We need to build maybe modular homes that can be built very very quickly, get rid of the red tape,” he said. “It’s also a transition for people moving from shelters, they need a more permanent structure to live in, have a base, and then get jobs and be a part of society again.”

The NDP candidate for the area is Dave Augustyn.

“Ontario should be a province of opportunity,” he said. “For so many folks, it’s not. After seven years of Doug Ford and the PC government, it’s unaffordable.”

Augustyn says he would focus on addressing concerns surrounding access to healthcare in the area, the overcrowding of schools and housing.

“The NDP will fix these things, we will build homes, we will provide doctors for people and we have programs to do that. we will make life more affordable, and we will fix the schools,” he said. “The school here in West Niagara, the new school is totally crammed with kids, they are just on top of each other.”

Augustyn says his experience as the former mayor of Pelham has made him fiscally responsible.

“When I was mayor we kept our property taxes below inflation for 12 years,” he said. “That’s the kind of approach I would want to bring to the government as well.”

Meanwhile, Progressive Conservative candidate Sam Oosterhoff is looking to get re-elected.

“The last four years were really about getting it done when it came to the priorities of the families and job creators and seniors here in Niagara West,” he said “Rebuilding the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, something the liberals had cancelled and supported by the NDP. Addressing the cost of living by cutting the gas tax, by getting rid of licence plate sticker fees, making life more affordable and investing in infrastructure.”

Oosterhoff says he’s keeping his eyes on the potential tariffs from the U.S. going into this election. He says they could cost people their jobs.

“When I have been knocking on doors across the riding they see the need to protect Ontario, that’s why we have an ambitious plan to build infrastructure, to support workers, to help affected businesses, because its core to our entire society that people are able to work, put food on the table, put something away for a rainy day,” he said.

The Liberal candidate is Shauna Boyle.

The Liberal Party website describes her as a “community leader and dedicated advocate.”