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Niagara Falls
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
A sign of the times: Election season is coming

Niagara Tory candidate's mobile billboard heralds upcoming provincial campaign

Bob Gale, the Progressive Conservative candidate for Niagara Falls riding, has parked a mobile billboard along Niagara Stone Road – literally the first sign that a provincial election is barely three months away.

A spokesperson for Elections Ontario told The Lake Report, “Political campaigning and advertising can occur and appear at any time before the writ period, provided that it is paid for by the constituency association or party.”

The “writ” period is the 28 days leading up to election day, which is made official through the creation of “writs” for every electoral district in the province.

“All political advertising needs to have proper authorization indicating who sponsored or paid for the advertising,” Elections Ontario said.

By law, an Ontario election needs to be held by June 2.

Gale is running against incumbent MPP Wayne Gates of the New Democrats and Ashley Waters, representing the Liberals.

Gates has held the riding, which includes Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie, since Liberal Kim Craitor resigned in 2014.

Since then it's primarily been a two-party race between the Tories and the NDP.

Gates won in 2018 with a whopping 50.79 per cent of the vote, beating second-place PC candidate Chuck McShane by more than 15 points.

The Liberal party's Dean Demizio garnered a mere 9.95 per cent of the ballots cast, the Grits' worst showing in the 100-year history of the riding, according to data from Elections Ontario.

 

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