THE LOWDOWN ON NEWMARKET-AURORA BEFORE JUNE 2 ELECTION

RIDING UP FOR GRABS AS CONSERVATIVE INCUMBENT AND HEALTH MINISTER CHRISTINE ELLIOTT NOT SEEKING RE-ELECTION

THE RIDING:

The Newmarket-aurora riding was created for the 2004 federal election, merging half of the York North riding with one quarter of the Vaughan-king-aurora riding. It contains the two towns and a very small portion of East Gwillimbury. The riding covers 62 square kilometres and, in 2015, there were 83,108 electors and the average income was close to $50,000.

The provincial riding is currently represented by Conservative Christine Elliott, who served as health minister and deputy premier, but she is not seeking reelection.

THE RACE:

Conservative: Dawn Gallagher Murphy. The Aurora wife and mother has been the constituency manager for Elliott for the last four years. With Elliott not seeking reelection, she is running with hopes of keeping the riding Conservative. Gallagher Murphy has 25 years experience in the secure payments industry, including 15 years managing her own consulting business. She worked as a highly-specialized card program solution development professional serving the Canadian and international banking industry. votedawngallaghermurphy.ca

Liberal: Sylvain Roy. He is a neuropsychologist and a mental health and disability advocate. For many years, Roy was the lead clinician at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health's psychosocial rehabilitation service, and currently works at the Inner City Family Health Team. He is also co-lead of the City of Toronto's Mental Health Support Strategy. As the former president of the Ontario Psychological Association, Roy sat on the government's Opioid Emergency Task Force, the Ontario Disability Support Program adjudication working group as well as the Structured Psychotherapy Advisory Panel. sylvain4na.ca

NDP: Denis Heng. The Aurora resident has spent the last two years on the front lines of the pandemic, working as an epidemiologist at York Region Health. Heng is a member of the Town of Aurora's Community Advisory Committee. He has donated blood more than 200 times. Heng lives in a bilingual English/french household with his wife and two children. na-ndp.ca/our-candidates/ denis-heng-provincial-candidate/

Green: Carolina Rodriguez. She is an environmental governance major at the University of Guelph. The party is holding her up as a voice of youth who can help make a difference for generations to come. https://gpo.ca/ candidate/carolina-rodriguez/

New Blue: Iwona Czarnecka. A wife and mother, she is an entrepreneur with 20 years' experience solving family, social and community problems, Czarnecka is an advocate for child health and education. The Aurora resident stresses she is not a professional

politician, a member of the establishment, old guard or a lobbyist. newblueontario.com/newmarket-aurora

Ontario Party: Krista Mckenzie Ontario Moderate Party: Yuri Duboisky

THE ISSUES:

A major issue during the upcoming term will be determining the location, scope and funding of Southlake Regional Health Centre's future acute care hospital while, at the same time, developing the current Newmarket location into an ambulatory care centre. Southlake serves one of the fastest growing and aging populations in Ontario. While not on the mind of the average voter, a significant issue facing the riding is the future of the Upper York Sewage Solution. Sewage capacity is critical in determining future growth and without the UYSS or an alternative, Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwillimbury won't be able to accommodate development down the road. York Region spent $100 million on an environmental assessment and design of the UYSS, which would direct sewage to a state-of-the-art plant on Lake Simcoe, and waited seven years for approval from Queen's Park. But last year, the province put the brakes on the project and said it was establishing an expert advisory panel on the UYSS to provide a recommendation on how to move forward. The Chippewas of Georgina are worried about the impact of the UYSS on Lake Simcoe. Another issue is the province's increasing use of minister's zoning orders (MZOS) to override local planning decisions to allow developments wanted by the provincial government. Residents are worried about the ballooning costs of housing, food, gas and other necessities, while business owners are concerned about bouncing back from the pandemic.

BACKGROUND:

From 2018 to 2022, the riding was represented by Elliott. In the last election, she beat then-incumbent Chris Ballard, who was the Liberal MPP from 2014 to 2018. While the provincial riding of Newmarket-aurora was created in 2007, the communities beforehand in differently configured ridings have swung between Conservative and Liberal MPPS over the last 35 years. Conservative Frank Klees represented the area for several years, from 1995 to 2014. Before Klees, Liberal Charles Beer was the MPP for the community from 1987 to 1995.