ONTARIO VOTES: AN OVERVIEW OF MILTON RIDING

THE RIDING:

The Milton riding consists of the town of Milton and a small part of rural Burlington. As one of the most diverse communities in the country, young families make up a good portion of the electorate. Milton also leads the region in population growth, as it grew 20.7 per cent from 2016 to 2021.

THE RACE:

There are six candidates in the race, with Progressive Conservative incumbent Parm Gill seeking to return to Queen's

Park. The challengers are Sameera Ali from the Ontario Liberal Party and Katherine Cirlincione of the Ontario New Democratic Party, as well as Oriana Knox of the Green Party of Ontario, John Spina of the New Blue party, and Masood Khan of Consensus Ontario.

PARM GILL — PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE

If re-elected, Gill pledges to keep costs down for families and businesses and "continue to build Ontario's economy by fighting for new, good paying jobs."

SAMEERA ALI — LIBERAL

Ali — who is currently a Ward 4 town councillor — is pledging to be "a force for change" and serve the community "with a focus on getting results."

KATHERINE CIRLINCIONE — NDP

Running under the New Democratic banner, Cirlincione wants to build a new foundation "for our next generation" and revive the province's public health care.

JOHN SPINA — NEW BLUE ONTARIO

Spina, while pointing out that he is not a politician, pledges to "listen to resident's concerns and work hard for our community."

Candidates Knox and Khan had not responded to our questionnaire by press time.

THE ISSUES:

Affordability, rising cost of living, and housing are some of the top-of-mind issues for voters. Other issues raised include wage stagnation, transit and traffic gridlock, health-care funding, climate change, youth empowerment, and seniors support.

BACKGROUND:

Gill defeated then-incumbent Liberal's Indira Naidoo-Harris

by more than 5,000 votes in the new riding of Milton in the 2018 provincial election. The riding was created in 2015 following boundaries redistribution process.