After placing behind the NDP’s Wayne Gates in the race for the Niagara Falls seat in last night’s provincial election, both Ruth-Ann Nieuwesteeg and Shafoli Kapur were appreciative of their supporters and reflective on the lessons they learned during their campaigns.
For Niagara Falls city councillor Nieuwesteeg, lesson number one was how different the three municipalities - Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls and Fort Erie - are in the riding.
“That became very apparent as I knocked on thousands and thousands of doors,” she told The Local this morning. “People do have their own needs in those particular areas, even though we have our all-encompassing needs such as health care, safety and education.”
Nieuwesteeg also acknowledged how difficult it can be for a candidate well-known in one of those municipalities to make headway in the other two.
“When you have two communities that you have to get yourself known in, and such a short period of time to do it, that made for a difficult task,” she said, adding that the entire process was a marked difference from running her municipal campaign in 2022.
The incumbent Gates topped the polls in the riding with 29,549 votes Thursday evening. Niuewesteeg came in second with 18,569 while Kapur finished a distant third with 3,398. NDP incumbents Jeff Burch and Jennie Stevens were also re-elected in Niagara Centre and St. Catharines, respectively. The PC’s Sam Oosterhoff cruised to an easy victory in Niagara West for the lone Niagara seat for Doug Ford’s Conservative government.
“Wayne’s always been there, and I’ve known him personally; he’s a very nice man and I want to congratulate him,” Niuewesteeg said. She went on, however, to express disappointment that her party didn't gain ground in the region.
"The results show that we have an NDP stronghold here in Niagara," lamented Nieuwesteeg. "It creates a problem. When you don’t align with the government, it’s hard to get things done no matter how hard they try. I hope Ford will continue to listen to us.”
Though she didn’t win the seat at Queen’s Park, Nieuwesteeg insists she is still a winner in the way she ran her campaign and the support that rallied around her.
“I think we did everything right,” said Nieuwesteeg. “It was so heartwarming to see the support I had from volunteers and my whole team. They were out there in the cold day after day, slipping and sliding and hammering signs into frozen ground. And the supporters grew and grew in numbers as the campaign continued.”
New to politics, Kapur said running an even shorter campaign than her opponents was an “exceptional experience.” Though the election was announced on Jan. 27, Kapur was not chosen as the Liberal candidate for Niagara Falls until February 7.
“I have learned so much and I understand now how much more work is required for the next time,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “I know I need to get out into the community much more.”
The Toronto resident admitted, too, that the fact she is not a resident in any of the riding’s three municipalities was indeed an issue.
“The people of the riding very clearly and bluntly told me that it doesn’t work like that,” she said. “I got that message loud and clear.”
Unlike Gates and Nieuwesteeg, who watched the results come in with their supporters at a sports pub and a banquet hall, respectively, Kapur was with a small group of her team at an Air B’nB when she learned of her third-place finish.
“It’s clear that people love him,” Kapur said of Gates. “It was a big win for him. People have said once again that they love him and want him there. All credit and respect to him, and I wish him the best.”
Kapur was a bit disappointed that Gates participated in a bit of “mudslinging” against her late in the campaign, pointing out her donation to a provincial Conservative candidate in a previous election.
“That was done out of friendship when I donated to a family friend,” insisted Kapur. “I also donated once to an NDP candidate because he worked with me when he was a TDSB trustee. It had nothing to do with either party.”
Kapur was disappointed that Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie didn’t win the Mississauga East-Cooksville riding but pleased with the gain in seats for the party as a whole. Crombie placed second, just over 1,200 votes behind the PC’s Sylvia Gualtieri.
“I think she did a phenomenal job,” Kapur said of Crombie. “I’m really proud of her and the way she ran her campaign. I learned a lot from watching all of her moves. And we got official party status.”
While campaigning in the riding, the immigration consultant who runs TDOT Immigration Services Inc. says she met with a real estate agent in hopes of opening a satellite office in Niagara Falls.
And she hopes to see her name on the Niagara Falls ballot in four years, or whenever the next provincial election is called.
“It’s a great location to establish my business here,” she said. “I want to put in the work to run in this riding again, if the party will allow me. Once I get the new office up and running, I plan to move here permanently . You’re going to see a lot of me in the next while.