Oosterhoff overwhelms opponents
He may be just 20 years old, but Sam Oosterhoff is already a veteran campaigner.
The freshly re-elected MPP for Niagara West just finished his fourth election fight of his young career, which includes a byelection, this general election and two battles to win the nomination to represent the Progressive Conservatives in his riding.
By 9:30 p.m., Oosterhoff had collected more than 24,000 votes, 10,000 more than runner-up Curtis Fric of the NDP. Joe Kanee of the Liberals was third with 4,200 votes.
“I think the votes of Ontario have made it clear that after 15 years of Liberal waste and mismanagement they don’t want it to continue,” Oosterhoff said. “We are looking forward to a PC majority that listens to the people and puts their priorities first and listens to the people and cuts taxes and makes it easier for people to get ahead here in Ontario.”
This riding was created following the 2012 federal electoral redistribution and includes portions of the former Niagara WestGlanbrook, Niagara Centre and St. Catharines ridings. It includes the towns of Grimsby, Lincoln, and Pelham, the townships of Wainfleet and West Lincoln and St. Catharines.
Oosterhoff, 20, is a former policy analyst and legislative assistant at the House of Commons.
Fric, 20, of the NDP is a fulltime student at Brock University who completed his second year in political science and spent four years as a part-time dietary aide in a long-term care facility.
“My personal goal was to hit 30 per cent of the votes. I think we may very well have done that,” he said.
“I will probably be back in four years.”
Also running were Jessica Tillmans of the Green party, Geoffrey E. Barton of the Multicultural Party of Ontario and Libertarian Stanfos Karatopis.