Brian Barker will be the New Democratic Party candidate for the riding of Niagara Falls in the next federal election.

The announcement barely preceded widespread news reports that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning on dissolving Parliament as early as Sunday and call a federal election for Sept. 20.

Barker, of Niagara Falls, is a teacher and president of the Niagara area Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario.

He was the NDP’s federal candidate for the riding, which encompasses Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, during the 2019 election. He finishing third with 12,566 votes, garnering 18.02 per cent of the ballots cast.

“I think everyone except Justin Trudeau believes Canada should be focused on stopping a fourth wave (of COVID) instead of calling an election because he thinks the weakness of the Conservative party benefits him,” Barker said in a news release.

“Niagara has been hard hit by the pandemic and we need an MP who focuses on getting our neighbours back on their feet, not on winning elections,” he said.

“We’re literally watching Trudeau ignore the fact that the biggest businesses in this country got away with abusing COVID support programs while families continue to struggle – we need to send someone to Ottawa who says that isn’t right and does something about it.”