As the 2025 provincial election campaign wound down Thursday, Jeff Burch said he had gotten an earful from Niagara Centre residents.
“People have responded well to our issues that we've been talking about,” he told ThoroldToday. “What we hear from people is to do with health care, that's the big issue on the campaign trail. People are also concerned about housing and the situation with homelessness.”
Burch won Niagara Centre in 2022 with 16,366 votes, ahead of Progressive Conservative Fred Davies with 15,516. Liberal Terry Flynn was well back in third with 5,494 votes. Green candidate Michelle McArthur received 1,865. Two other candidates, New Blue’s Gary Dumelie (1,148) and the Ontario Party’s Vincent Gircys (837) also ran.
This time around, Burch was surprised that his Progressive Conservative rival – Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele – has been absent from debates and has not spoken with the media.
“It's a curious way to run a campaign,” Burch said. “You can't run a campaign in secret. I always tell people it's like when you're applying for a job and your constituents are your boss, and you have to show up to the job interview or you're not going to get hired.”
Burch said he has heard from some that it could be a party strategy – PC candidates in Niagara Falls (Ruth-Ann Nieuwesteeg) and in St. Catharines (Sal Sorrento) have also skipped out on debates.
“What kind of representatives do you have locally, if they're just a yes person to the party,” Burch said. “If my party told me not to go to debates, I'd tell them where to go. Nobody's going to tell me not to not to go to debates and talk to media and do all the things that you're supposed to do in a democracy.”
ThoroldToday has reached out to the Steele campaign on several occasions over the past month and have received no response, including for this story.
Liberal candidate Damien O’Brien, meanwhile, said his first run at provincial politics has been positive.
“It's been great to connect with people,” he said. “There has been a very positive response to the Ontario Liberal plan from Bonnie Crombie, and people feel that Ontario Liberals are focused on the things that matter to them.”
Like Burch, he said PC candidates not showing up for local debates turned people in Niagara Centre off.
“I don't know why local candidates didn't ignore what seemed to be a directive from Conservative HQ,” he said. “It leaves people feeling like they won't serve the community but instead they just do as they're told.”
While out knocking on doors, O’Brien said health care came up as an important issue – particularly the future of the Welland hospital and Port Colborne urgent care centre.
“Education, affordability and housing also have come up a lot at the doors,” O’Brien said. “Under Doug Ford and the Conservatives, it's just constant cuts, chaos, and corruption. People I've spoken to feel it's all about him and his friends; and nothing for them.”
In addition to Burch, Steele and O’Brien, other candidates running to represent Niagara Centre include Natasha Bergen (Green), Jimmy Jackson (New Blue), Angela Brown (Alliance) and Darryl Weinberg (Ontario Party).
Keep an eye on ThoroldToday as the results come in later tonight.