Why 2 parties are paying close attention to Hamilton East-Stoney Creek

Sometimes you can tell which election ridings are in play by where the party leaders stop. And if that's the case, the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek race is shaping up to be an interesting one.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh visited last week for an announcement with Hamilton candidates, hoping to reclaim a riding that was orange for two terms before Liberal Bob Bratina won it by 2,888 votes. Then on Monday, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau stopped at a King Street East plaza to shake hands and pose with Bratina.

Bratina said he doesn't take any victory for granted. But "my sense is we're doing very well."

Last election, "we were running third and we were coming from 6,000 votes," he said."Now we're coming from 19,000. Hopefully the Liberal flag is planted strong in Hamilton, as it was for so many years."

Bratina, a former mayor who co-chairs the federal steel committee, has had some controversy.

Local members of the United Steelworkers Local 1005 say Bratina shouted "F--k the steelworkers" and "F--k those Stelco pensioners" at them during a tense meeting this spring. Bratinadenied saying that, but said he regrets the inferences that came out of the meeting.

The union still plans a "show Bratina the door" rally on Oct. 3 outside hisKing Street campaign office. Bratina said he's walked picket lines with steel workers. The latest protesting is justpartisanship.

"You have to understand that the steelworkers union, especially a certain core of the actual union, is devoted and attached to the NDP," he said. "Soit's not so much a steelworkers issue as it is an NDPelection issue."

NDPcandidate Nick Milanovic, a lawyer with a history of working for unions, said Bratina's dismissal of the alleged comments shows he "hasn't been at the door."

"I have been and it's come up repeatedly, especially with retirees," Milanovic said.

And "they're still struggling as a result of the hair cut they took" by the federal government when Stelco went into Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act and changed hands, temporarily leaving retirees without health benefits.

"It's clear to me that we can reclaim this riding."

Conservative candidate Nikki Kaur is a lawyer who specializes in family and real estate law. She said people have brought up the heated meeting to her.

"People didn't expect to see an MPact the way he did," she said.

When she door knocks, she said, she hears about affordability and the carbon tax. She said she was "extremely shocked" to see Trudeau's historic brown- and blackface images, two from high school and one from 2001.

"He's not fit to govern the country," she said.

Bratina said residents he talks to aren't worried about the old photos. They want to hear about issues like healthcare and theeconomy.

"I can honestly tell you most of the people I talked to didn't want to get engaged beyond 'Why can't we move on? He apologized. Next.'"

Green candidate Peter Ormond wouldn't comment on Bratina's steelworker meeting. It's more important, he said, to talk about the transitioning economy and the increasingly dire issue of climate change.

"We really need people to realize it's now or never," he said. "This partisanship is what's preventing us from having real discussions."

The riding takes in a pieceof the city's industrial north end,industrial and commercial areas along the QEW and includesa mix of high density residential and lower density suburban areas.

Hamilton East-Stoney Creek has 107,848 residentsas of the 2016 census. In a 2011 National Household Survey, 14 per cent of the region were listed as being of Italian descent.

HESC was created in 2004from 58per cent of Hamilton Eastand 53per cent of Stoney Creek. Since its creation the Liberals won in 2004, and Wayne Marston of theNDP won itin 2006, 2008 and 2014.Bratina unseated him in 2015.

NDP MPP Paul Miller represents it provincially.