During his 10-year incumbency as Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau did prove - in some ways - to be an advocate for the Niagara Region extending from suburban Toronto to such border municipalities as Niagara Falls and Fort Erie.
Government-backed initiatives helped with the development of a new regional hospital in Niagara Falls while also helping to secure a $100 million, 200,000-square-foot new Fort Erie plant by the Siltech Corp. Other programs dealt with such issues as affordable housing and senior care.
Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop offered his insight into how the Trudeau government has impacted the economic and daily landscape in Southern Ontario’s Niagara Region.
“I think that by and large he’s been as responsive here as any of his predecessors,” Redekop said. “You’d have to go back to the days of Judy LaMarsh and Joe Greene who were the representatives of this area and they were high-powered cabinet ministers and they were able to get a lot of stuff done, but we’re talking 50 years ago.”
However, the Trudeau government's top regional role was ensuring the robust international trade between Canada and the U.S. continued to foster and grow, despite challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, a roller coaster-like economy on both sides of the Niagara River, and other roadblocks.
Consider: on an average day, more than $241 million of goods crosses the region’s two international bridges that accept commercial traffic and nearly 1,100 Canadian-owned companies employ an estimated 79,000 people in New York State.
University at Buffalo professor Cecil Foster, who was raised in Canada, said Trudeau has left his mark on the Niagara Region.
“I think he was effective for the Niagara region and some of the problems for Ontario. The Liberals were very popular at the federal level in the Ontario region,” Foster said.
Trudeau is expected to step down once a new leader can be found for the Liberal Party that he has run since 2013. A formal Canadian election for the Prime Minister post will occur later this year.
