After the 2021 federal election, Liberal candidate Andrea Kaiser said the only thing that would entice her to run again was if Mark Carney were the Liberal leader and Pierre Poilievre were the opposition.
That day has finally come: Kaiser is the face of the Niagara Falls—Niagara-on-the-Lake Liberals in this April’s election.
She said she wasn’t planning to run in a federal election for the third time, but the final push came as the current U.S. administration was beginning to challenge Canada’s sovereignty.
“When I looked around and saw the threat Canadians are under — with our economy and our sovereignty — I just knew I couldn’t stand by. I had to step up,” Kaiser told The Lake Report.
This snap election was certainly required, Kaiser said, and she was excited to take the lead for the Liberals in this riding.
“We’re not negotiating our sovereignty and we’re going to build a strong Canada,” she said.
“This is a critical moment in time that none of us have experienced.”
She’s no stranger to the economic side of Canadian politics.
Kaiser has run as the Liberal candidate for NOTL’s riding twice before, once in 2019 and again in 2021.
In 2019, Kaiser received the most votes ever for a Liberal candidate in the history of what was then the Niagara Falls riding.
Two years later, Kaiser took home 33.5 per cent of the vote.
Kaiser currently holds the position of NOTL regional councillor, representing the municipality at the Niagara Region, winning the election in 2022 with 44 per cent of votes.
She is ready to put up a fight again.
“For this election, for this moment in time, I feel like it was made for me,” she said.
“All of my experience over the last 30 years in business has put me in the front as really the only choice for our riding.”
Kaiser is well-known in NOTL for her involvement in the wine community as the daughter of Inniskillin co-founder Karl Kaiser and proprietor of her brand, Drea’s Wine Co.
In the past, Kaiser has been chair of Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake and retail manager at Reif Estate Winery.
“My dad was a pioneer for the Canadian wine industry and modern Canadian winemaking transformed our community and Canada, so I want to make sure that Niagara takes center stage in Canada in terms of our prosperity,” she said.
“Everything that this riding needs, I have touched — and I am ready to lead and take action.”
In the last two years, Kaiser worked in regional government to stop wasteful giveaways from taxpayers to developers and asked for help reopening Lakeshore public lands to access Lakeshore park, she said.
“I have been delivering for our community for many years,” she said.
“Quite frankly, I look across the table at the (Conservative MP) and I can’t think of one thing that Tony (Baldinelli) has taken for the betterment of our community and economy.”
Going forward, Kaiser’s focus will be on Canada’s economy and sovereignty, she said.
“I’m going to, when elected, help unite Canada and we’re going to make Canada stronger than ever.”
