It was a busy Sunday morning for Jason Moleski.
Outside the old Virgil public school on Four Mile Creek Road, he was hard at work putting up tents in preparation for Coun. Erwin Wiens’ largest public event since announcing in June he’d be running to become Niagara-on-the-Lake’s next lord mayor.
About 100 people attended Wiens’ campaign barbecue in Virgil on Sept. 13, where supporters put development and property taxes at the top of their list of priorities for the next council.
Moleski was there as one of Wiens’ supporters. He moved to NOTL from Port Colborne 13 years ago and volunteered to help set up the event.
He said his support for Wiens rests on how long the family has farmed in town.
“His connection to the community, plain and simple,” said Moleski. “His connections run deep.”
Speaking to The Lake Report, he addressed the subject of development, a contentious issue for some during this election campaign.
During Monday night’s lord mayor debate, Wiens spoke against candidate Vaughn Goettler’s call for a moratorium on all development in town, saying that could open the municipality up to legal issues and arguing the town should instead use governance rules at its disposal to control future growth.
Moleski said the town cannot halt development, so the next council has to approve the right projects and refuse the wrong ones.
“I would still look to protect the community as it is, but continue to grow and not be forgotten about,” he said.
At Sunday’s campaign event, Wiens spoke for a few minutes in the afternoon, then talked with attendees one at a time until the barbecue ended at 2 p.m. He said taxes and infrastructure came up most often, and that residents who disagree on those subjects still want the same town.
“We all have a vision, but everybody is on Team Niagara-on-the-Lake,” he said. “We just have to find out what that road map is to get where we are.”
Wiens joined council in 2018 and took the deputy lord mayor’s seat in 2022 after collecting the most votes of any council candidate. He’ll face Goettler and regional Coun. Andrea Kaiser in the Oct. 26 election.
He has campaigned on controlling municipal spending, opposing amalgamation and approving development only where the infrastructure can support it.
Later in the day on Sunday, the Farmworker Hub and Virgil’s Book Nook screened “We Lend a Hand: The Forgotten Story of the Ontario Farmerettes” at Cornerstone Community Church on Hunter Road. Erwin Wiens Vineyards sponsored the screening.
The documentary follows the 40,000 teenage girls who harvested Ontario crops while farmers and farmworkers served overseas in the Second World War. Many of them picked fruit on Niagara farms, including several in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Wiens said his campaign is planning another event next month at the Royal Manor Inn on Ricardo Street, to respond to questions from residents. Internet voting begins Oct. 5.
