This local election in Newmarket-Aurora will likely be a hard fought race between the Liberal and Conservative candidates.

First time candidate and former Mayor of Aurora, Tim Jones, will run for the Liberals. He takes over from Liberal MP Belinda Stronach who decided to leave politics and not seek re-election. He has a lot of experience and is well know locally.

Lois Brown, business owner, will run again for the Conservatives. She ran in the last election, placing second after Belinda Stronach. With Ms. Stronach (who benefited from her well-known status and strong following) now gone and solid showing of Conservative support in the polls, Ms. Brown hopes to win this electoral district. Judging by the number of lawn signs, she is definitely moving in that direction.

From what I’ve read, Mike Seaward, former trade unionist, will run again for the NDP after representing the party in the last provincial election.

Glenn Hubbers, professional engineer and project manager, runs again for the Greens. He hopes to build on the Greens rise in popularity as well as the recent provincial election where Green candidate John McRogers won 9% of the vote. He placed third after the NDP. This time around, the Green campaign hopes to capture 10-15% of the vote. This would be around 3 times the vote obtained back in the 2006 election.

At the moment this looks to be a tight race and will be interesting to see who pulls through to win the riding.

Looking at the riding to the north, York-Simcoe, the race is most certain. This large rural riding is prime Conservative territory. Peter Van Loan, the Conservative candidate as well as Cabinet minister, who won the last two Federal elections, is expected to win here with ease. Judith Moses is running for the Liberals. She has a lot of political experience working with government ministers and within the Privy Council. John Dewar will run again for the Greens. Like Mr. Hubbers, he’s an excellent green candidate and should do well. Also, Sylvia Gerl will run again for the NDP.