Ontario election 1 year away - 5 things that will matter for Hamilton
Ted McMeekin says he'll announce this month if he plans to run again
By the time election day comes to Ontario, the provincial Liberal government will have been in power for almost 15 years.
The politics might change, but the administration continues on.- Mayor Fred Eisenberger
Is it time for a change? We'll find out exactly one year from today. And there's plenty to consider between now and then. There will be 15 new ridings. Corporations and unions have been banned from giving donations to political parties. And the PC's have a new leader.
More than likely, there will be change in the Hamilton area too. Will Andrea Horwath stay on as leader of the NDP if the party remains in third place? Will Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Glanbrook, run again? Who will win the new riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook? And what happens to teen politician Sam Oosterhoff?
We'll take a look at four things that might change before election night is over, and one thing that won't, no matter who wins.
1. What won't change: LRT
This one will be simple. No matter who wins, Hamilton's light-rail transit (LRT) system will be provincially funded.
The Liberals have already agreed to fund the $1 billion project. The NDP is "committed from day one to the LRT," says leader Andrea Horwath. "Absolutely. One hundred per cent."
And PC leader Patrick Brown says he stands behind his comments last year that he'd respect the province's commitment to fund the cost of building LRT.
"I will work with the City of Hamilton on their transit priorities and I will continue to honour the commitments the provincial government has made to municipalities on infrastructure," he said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
The impact of politics on LRT is one that's driven plenty of speculation. Coun. Lloyd Ferguson once headed a construction company that built Highway 407 and other major provincial projects. He also wants LRT.
"I'm suggesting that unless we get a hitch in our giddyup, we're going to be in trouble," he said at the time.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger doesn't see it as an issue. Shovels won't be in the ground, he said, but the city will likely have signed a legally binding master agreement with Metrolinx by then. Metrolinx will have hired a contractor and purchased property. About $70 million will likely have been spent on the project.
"The politics might change, but the administration continues on," Eisenberger said. "The political commitments have been made."
2. The future of Ted McMeekin
McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Glanbrook, says he'll announce by the end of the month whether he'll run again. He's talking to "dozens and dozens of people" as he ruminates on this, he said. "I think people have a right to know one way or the other."
If he does run, it'll likely be in the Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas riding. "That's the biggest part of my existing riding, which I've served for the last 17 years," said McMeekin, who lives in Waterdown.
3. The future of Andrea Horwath
As of next year, Horwath will have been Ontario NDP leader for nine years. That's more years than Stephen Lewis, and fewer than Howard Hampton and Bob Rae. Horwath says she's not thinking about her future as leader right now, just about her party winning in 2018.
"My head's not even there right now," she said Tuesday. "I'm more focused on the next campaign and putting forward ideas."
Horwath says her party's campaign will focus on electricity rates, hospital funding and other issues.
4. The new riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook
Elections Ontario has redrawn ridings to match the federal ones, which first got a test run in 2015. The new riding includes most of the rural parts of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and Niagara West-Glanbrook.
Last year, PC leader Patrick Brown said his party would "invest time" in the riding, which is held federally by Conservative David Sweet. The Liberals are feeling hopeful too.
McMeekin is, after all, the closest the riding has to an incumbent, said Mark Ungar, president of the Flamborough-Glanbrook Provincial Liberal Association. "We feel good about it, and will treat this very much as a riding in play."
5. Sam Oosterhoff versus the moderate Tory image
The Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP was just 19 when he won a byelection in November, but for analysts, he was significant in other ways.
Brown portrays himself as a moderate. His ads show him in the Toronto Pride parade. He has also said that he's pro-union and that he favours putting a price on carbon.
Oosterhoff, meanwhile, is a social conservative. He's expressed views against abortion. When asked about Wynne's sex education curriculum, he said parents should be the main educators of their kids. On election night, he sidestepped questions about whether he thought homosexuality is a sin.
So far though, Oosterhoff has kept fairly quiet about social issues. He was questioned about them hard, though, when he was sworn in two days later than a fellow MPP in Ottawa, missing a vote on same-sex parenting. He said he wanted to spend time with his family while his nephew was being born.
