ANALYSIS
BY DAVID JUDD
HALDIMAND-Norfolk continues to stand with Bobbi Ann Brady.
It should be no surprise the riding overwhelmingly re-elected its independent MPP in the provincial election last Thursday.
Ms. Brady fits Haldimand-Norfolk like a glove—size small-c conservative.
People in the two counties like things pretty much the way they are.
They like the slower pace of rural and small town life.
They don’t mind some change. But not too much.
They don’t want a new 40,000-population city plopped into the industrial area near Nanticoke.
And they don’t want Simcoe, Waterford and Delhi to double or triple in size in a few years to accommodate building thousands of new homes.
Ms. Brady in her 2½ years as independent MPP has doggedly fought the prospect of a Ministerial Zoning Order that would kickstart permission to build the new Nanticoke city.
Meanwhile, her PC opponent Amy Martin, as Norfolk mayor, presided over a county council vigorously lobbying the provincial and federal governments to kick in $300-million to build a $450-million central system to pipe water from Haldimand to five Norfolk towns.
Candidate Martin said if elected as a member of the PC government she would be well positioned to get provincial cash for all kinds of things, including water and sewer infrastructure.
That’s probably true. But with new infrastructure would come head-spinning growth.
Which is exactly what Haldimand-Norfolk people don’t want.
So they voted against Ms. Martin and for Ms. Brady as their way of saying no to Premier Ford.
Of course, other factors affected last Thursday’s vote.
Ms. Brady campaigned on the theme of “integrity matters.”
Many voters like having an independent MPP who speaks her mind and doesn’t toe a party line.
And Ms. Brady did her job well for the last 2½ years.
She has been everywhere in the riding and kept in touch with voters through social media and her weekly column in The Maple Leaf and other newspapers.
Ms. Martin has done well as Norfolk mayor for the last two years.
But residents didn’t like Premier Ford announcing Ms. Martin’s candidacy, the second election in a row he has not let Haldimand-Norfolk PCs choose their candidate.
(In 2022, the Premier appointed Haldimand mayor Ken Hewitt candidate over Ms. Brady, who also wanted the nomination. Ms. Brady ran as an independent and won.)
Ms. Martin shot herself in the foot when she dropped out of an all-candidates meeting in Caledonia because only Ms. Brady was there to debate her.
Ms. Martin should have gone one-on-one against Ms. Brady and defended her platform.
An event featuring the election’s two main contenders would have been well watched.
Mayor Martin quickly returned to the mayor’s chair.
Her job leading Norfolk council just got tougher.
Much of Norfolk’s infrastructure is getting old and needs expensive replacement.
If voters won’t play ball with Premier Ford, where will the money come from to build or renovate water and sewage treatment facilities?
About all council can do is charge more for municipal water and push up property taxes.
That won’t be popular.
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Originally published March 5, 2025
