The electoral district of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek is located along the southwest shore of Lake Ontario, from Toronto. The constituency includes part of the City of Hamilton as well as a number of communities which include Stoney Creek, north and south of the Niagara Escarpment.
Since 2004, the constituency has shifted back and forth between the NDP and Liberals. Member of Parliament Bob Bratina, former mayor of Hamilton, was re-elected to represent the riding for the Liberals in 2019 with 38.6% of the vote. At that time, NDP candidate Nick Milanovic took 28.6% of the vote.
Before Bratina took office representing the Liberals in 2015, Wayne Marston held the constituency for the NDP between the years 2006 and 2015.
In May 2021, Bratina announced that he will not run in this election following policy differences with his leader. It is now up to Liberal candidate Chad Collins, a city councillor for Ward 5 since 1995, to win back support for the Liberals in the riding.
Collins is up against Nick Milanovic, a labour lawyer, who seems poised to take back the riding from the Liberals.
According to the latest projections by 338Canada.com (August 21), which uses algorithms that take into account results of all major polls, the NDP are ahead of the Liberals by 4.1%.
A traditional unionist area, strengthened by a workforce dependant on former steel giants Stelco and Dofasco, the constituency is more diverse today. Milanovic told the Corriere Canadese that the riding “has more people from around the world who work in industry in Hamilton East, live in suburban areas in Stoney Creek and farm rich land in the city, growing peaches, cherries and other tender fruit in places like Winona”.
In line with his party’s messaging, Milanovic said the constituents in the riding are concerned with housing affordability and better supports for seniors and expressed his desire to “work with a government that will take action to make sure that life is affordable for everyone”.
Hamilton is characterized as an established and aging immigrant population. Roughly one in four people in the district were born outside of Canada. Italians represent one of the largest ethnic groups at 15% in the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek electoral district. According to the 2016 Census, 15,635 constituents are of Italian heritage, representing the highest concentration of Italians among all districts in Hamilton.
Candidate Ned Kuruc aims to garner support for the Conservatives. Josh Lowry is the candidate selected by the People’s Party of Canada. No candidate has been named for the Greens.
The candidates for the other major parties did not provide comment prior to our going to print.
Photo credit: Electoral District of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, Elections Canada
