'You get a fighter,' NDP candidate Brian Masse says launching re-election campaign

NDP candidate Brian Masse kicked off his re-election campaign Monday by telling supporters at his Walker Road campaign headquarters that he gets things done.

"When you invest in a New Democrat, you get a fighter," said Masse, the incumbent. 

"We've got the Gordie Howe bridge. We got the parkway, Ojibway Urban Park — even though it's not exactly the way we want it right now — a whole slew of auto investment, other things, because we partner."

Masse, first elected in 2002, is seeking his ninth term of office in the federal election scheduled for April 28. The election comes at a time when support for his party has plummeted — as polls show a resurgence for the Liberals, under new leader Mark Carney.

He is facing off against the Conservative Party's Harbinder Gill, Green party candidate Louay Ahmad, the People's Party's Jacob Bezaire and the Communist Party's Joey Markham. The Liberals have yet to confirm a candidate in the riding. 

The campaign comes after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has imposed tariffs on Canada that violate the Canada U.S. Mexico free trade agreement, threatened further tariffs, and repeatedly threatened to annex Canada by economic force. 

Masse told reporters Monday that the stakes are different in the current election compared with previous ones because of the threats from Canada's largest trading partner.

"And I hear it on the doorstep that people do have anxiety about what's taking place now," he said.

But he said politicians like him also need to fight to make sure recent improvements to the social safety net, like childcare and pharmacare, don't get rolled back.

"All I've heard in the last year in Ottawa is about austerity," he said.

"And it's cuts — not because they would cut things to make sense on anything. It's because they cut out of ideology."

Masse touted his record of advocacy for the riding, including pushing back against plans to turn the E.C. Row Expressway into a truck route and pushing for a new cross-border bridge instead of twinning the Ambassador Bridge.

Focus will be on dynamics with the United States

Julie Simmons is a professor of political science at the University of Guelph. 

She says Masse is well-positioned as a longtime MP to keep his seat for the NDP, but also said it's shaping up to be a two-person race at the national level. 

"The more that at the national level this becomes a two-person race between Mr. Poilievre and Mr. Carney, then the more people who might be willing to consider voting Green or for the Bloc Québécois… or in some cases the NDP, the more they might consider throwing their votes behind one of those two leading political parties so that they have a role to play in determining the outcome."

While it's far from the only issue a new government will face — she noted child care, housing, immigration and inflation as others — who Canadians want in negotiations with foreign governments, especially the United States, will take centre stage.

"If the provincial election is any indication, our focus will be on dynamics that really have been created south of the border and how we can best respond to them and who we think is best able to represent our interests in that response," she said. 

Simmons added that she expects the NDP to campaign heavily on the expansion of dental and pharmacare, as well as emphasize their connection with unionized workers who will be hit hard by possible tariffs. 

Masse, for his part, described his supporters as being part of "the positive politics that's under siege right now."

"Thank you," replied one supporter in the crowd. 

"What I believe we have to be a bastion of is not being on the cruel, vindictive, hate and social media attacking side that we see others going to," Masse said.

"I always remember Jack Layton … And he always ensured at our caucus meetings that we remember that despite our challenges, we went forth with that vision."