Ontario Votes 2025: Hamilton East-Stoney Creek

• Read all of CBC Hamilton's coverage of the Ontario election here. 

Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, a lower-city riding stretching east from Hamilton's industrial sector to past Fifty Road, was an NDP stronghold for years until the 2022 election, when it went to the Progressive Conservatives. 

Before the 2022 election, former NDP MPP Paul Miller was removed from the party's caucus after he was accused of being a member of an Islamophobic Facebook Group. He ran as an Independent and lost to the PC's Neil Lumsden. 

Lumsden, a former Tiger-Cats football player and the current Minister of Sport, is hoping to hold onto the riding this time around.

Three of Lumsden's challengers – NDP candidate Zaigham Butt, an accountant and union leader; Green Party candidate Pascale Marchand, a political staffer in Hamilton's Ward 4 office; and Liberal candidate Heino Doessing, an economist on leave from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan – faced off at a debate on Wednesday.

Lumsden did not attend, one of many PC candidates across the province to decline participation in debates. 

Local issues that came up that night included maintaining jobs in the face of coming American tariffs, industrial emissions, the long-awaited Confederation GO station, housing affordability and health care access, particularly in light of the closure announcement of East Region Mental Health Services in the riding.

Here are the candidates on the ballot, according to Elections Ontario. CBC Hamilton distributed a questionnaire to the candidates of the four largest parties.

Also running is Heather Curnew for the Ontario Party, Wieslawa Derlatka for the New Blue Party and Drew Garvie for the Communist Party. 

Zaigham Butt, NDP

Butt did not fill out CBC Hamilton's survey. He was the NDP candidate in the 2022 election.

He is a recipient of the Order of Hamilton, which he earned in 2021 for volunteer efforts including beach cleaning, graffiti removal and being part of the Pakistan Business Association, which helped deliver monthly food hampers to families struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heino Doessing, Liberal

Doessing, 40, works in finance for the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. 

He said he's running as a Liberal candidate because the party is "laser focused on creating a more robust and dynamic economy" than the PC government. A stronger economy will help better fund health care and schools, he said.

"My kids are growing up here," Doessing said. "I care about this community and will fight for this community — because our community is also my community." 

Neil Lumsden, PC

Lumsden did not fill out CBC Hamilton's survey.

He has been the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP since 2022. His campaign's website lists contributions his government has made to the local area since then, including $1.03 billion to hire more educators and $5.3 million for hospitals to work on reducing wait times.

Pascale Marchand, Green

Marchand, 42, is a constituency assistant in the Ward 4 office, under Coun. Tammy Hwang, a job she began after running against Hwang in the previous municipal election.

Marchand is a long-time resident of her riding, and said for years she's seen gaps in the system. She describes herself as an advocate for francophone, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, as well as active transportation, environmental justice and accessibility.

"I do the work, and I get it done collaboratively," she said. "Based on my recent local government experience, I have the skills and knowledge to ensure that the residents of Winona, Fruitland, Stoney Creek, and East Hamilton are supported."

Also running

• Curnew, Ontario Party: At the debate, Curnew pledged to fight against the recognition of gender-diverse individuals and to limit the information children are taught about gender in schools. 
• Derlatka, New Blue Party: Little information is available online for Derlatka, other than a letter she wrote to the Stoney Creek News in 2018 against decriminalizing drugs. 
• Garvie, Communist Party: The Ontario leader of the Communist Party of Canada since 2019, he said the party was hoping to "build the fight against corporate greed" and to "put people's needs before corporate greed."