Province drops writ for byelection for Kitchener Centre

After months of waiting, the Ontario government has finally announced a date for the Kitchener byelection.

It issued a writ on Thursday, declaring that voters in Kitchener Centre will head to the polls on November 30 to elect a new MPP.

The area has been without representation since mid-July when former NDP MPP Laura Mae Lindo vacated the role.

She had announced back in January that she would be leaving the post to take a job at the University of Waterloo as a professor.

The other three main parties announced candidates months ago, but last Friday the Tories issued a release declaring that Rob Elliott, who lives in Keswick, would be their candidate.

In addition to serving in various PC party vice-president roles over many years, Elliott led the transition team for the Progressive Conservative representative for Kitchener South-Hespeler, Jess Dixon, after the 2022 election and currently works in data analytics.

He will face a couple of city councillors, Ward 10’s Aislinn Clancy (Green Party) and Ward 9’s Debbie Chapman (NDP), as well as Liberal candidate Kelly Steiss, when voters head to the polls next month.

Clancy has only been on council since last fall’s election, and is on leave from her work as a social worker for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

Chapman has been on council since 2018 while also teaching political science and global studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Steiss works in community services for the city of Kitchener.

Under the Election Act, elections must be called on a Wednesday and held the fifth Thursday after the date of the issue of the writ. Voting day will be November 30, 2023.

*With files from Canadian Press