Kitchener Centre top election issues include homeless, addictions care and housing options

Kitchener Centre a riding of more than 105,000 people is at the heart of the region of Waterloo.

The riding faces issues affecting many cities in the province, including housingandpeople experiencing homelessness.The city has recently seen an encampment near the train station double in size in the span of a month and it is also home to A Better Tent City, a program to give people tiny homes to keep them off the streets.

The city is also dealing with the ongoing opioid crisis. Kitchener is home to Waterloo region's only consumption and treatment site.

The downtown core of the city was where the region'sBlack Lives Matter march was held in June 2020 and the city has seen conversations around racism grow, including in the school system and there have been calls to defund police. Kitchener's Victora Park saw people gather for vigils when the remains of Indigenous children who attended residential schools were uncovered in 2021.

Kitchener's city hall was the scene of protests by high school students in April 2019 who were upset with proposed cuts to education at the time and to teachers who rallied during difficult contract negotiationswith the province in February 2020.

The downtown core has also seen a construction boom in condo towers since the previous provincial election, with half a dozen that weren't there in 2018.

The following candidates are on the ballotin Kitchener Centre (in alphabetical order by last name):

• Peter Beimers, New Blue Party of Ontario.
• Laura Mae Lindo, Ontario New Democratic Party.
• Wayne Mak, Green Party of Ontario.
• Jim Schmidt, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
• Kelly Steiss, Ontario Liberal Party.

Incumbent seeks second term

The incumbent in Kitchener Centre is Laura Mae Lindo, the NDP candidate.Lindo won the seat in 2018, beating incumbent Liberal MPP Daiene Vernile.

Lindo is a member of the NDP and serves as the party's critic for anti-racism, colleges and universities. She's also the chair for the Ontario Black Caucus.

In that role, Lindointroduced a billto fight racism at all levels of the education system, although it was in committee when the legislature was dissolved and would need to be reintroduced in order to be passed.

Riding history

The riding has existed since 1999 and was created from the ridings of Kitchener and Kitchener-Wilmot.

The first Member of Provincial Parliament to serve the riding was Progressive ConservativeWayne Wettlaufer, who held the seat in Kitchener from 1995 to 1999, then Kitchener Centre from 1999 to 2003.

In 2003, Wettlaufer lost his bid for re-election to Liberal John Milloy. Milloy servedas the riding's MPP, and served in several cabinet positions, until 2014, when he did not seek re-election. In 2014, TV broadcaster Daiene Vernileran for the Liberals and won.

Vernile was defeated by Lindoof the NDPin 2018.