Image from hickslaw.ca
Former municipal politician and past Grey County warden Selwyn Hicks will be the Liberal candidate for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in next month’s Ontario election.
A spokesperson for the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Provincial Liberal Riding Association confirms Hicks is on track to be the party’s nominee. He is finalizing paperwork to formalize his candidacy.
Hicks, 62, lives in Hanover and currently works as a lawyer. He was a longtime local politician who served on Hanover council from 2006 until 2022, when he was defeated in his bid to be re-elected as deputy mayor in the southern Grey County town. He also served as Grey County’s warden in 2019, and 2021-22.
After exiting elected political office in 2022, Hicks has remained involved with many local boards and committees. He currently chairs the Hanover Police Services board and Bruce Grey Child and Family Services. He also sits on the boards of Victim Services Bruce Grey and the Owen Sound Affordable Housing Group, and is involved with the Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force.
“I’m not sure Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound is being well served, if I’m going to be very honest,” Hicks says. “Not to take a poke at anybody else. But we are the epicentre for the hospital crisis in Ontario. We see people lining up, hundreds deep … in the cold because they don’t have a doctor. We have hospital closures. And for me, in particular, from Hanover, with (Chesley & Durham hospitals service reduced) Hanover Hospital is facing unprecedented strain in terms of its service levels.”
“So I’m watching problems that aren’t being addressed,” Hicks adds.
This would be the third attempt by Hicks to try and win the riding for the Liberals. He garnered about 20 per cent of the vote share in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in the 2022 Ontario election, finishing second to outgoing Progressive Conservative MPP Rick Byers. Hicks also ran for the Liberals unsuccessfully in the 2007 provincial election.
“I don’t have blinders on here. I’m well aware that we’re in a riding that is Conservative. That has habitual voting. That has generational voting,” Hicks explains. “But I’m going to convince the people that I have a track record. Of the candidates you’ll see, no one will have the education I have … I have a history of social services. I have the longest track record of service. I do what I say I’m going to do. I’m a fighter. And I’m going to be there for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound.”
The Ontario election campaign officially commenced yesterday with the dissolution of the legislature at the request of Premier Doug Ford. Election day in Ontario is Feb. 27.
The Progressive Conservatives and Green Party have already confirmed candidates in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound. Former Meaford councillor Paul Vickers is running for the PC Party. And Grey Highlands Coun. Joel Loughead is the Green Party of Ontario nominee for the riding.