Icy stairs and snow bank signs: campaigning in Ontario's winter election

NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa, running for re-election in the riding of Kiiwetinoong, poses in Sioux Lookout, Ont., in this Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025 handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Sol Mamakwa

Falling down stairs, pushing stuck cars out of snow banks and cancelling events are just some of the challenges candidates have faced on the winter campaign trail, but Sol Mamakwa may have them all beat.

This is Ontario's first winter election campaign since 1981 and the incumbent NDP candidate for Kiiwetinoong in northwestern Ontario has rented a plane with skis so he can try to visit some of the 24 fly-in First Nation communities in his riding that spans nearly 300,000 square kilometres.

"(It's) not too bad, but it's frickin' cold right now," he said recently during a break from campaigning in Pickle Lake. "Last week has been minus 40."

He was trying to visit two to three fly-in communities a day with his plane over the last week or so of the campaign. At a cost of $6,000 to $8,000 per day that's about all his campaign can afford, so he is trying to maximize his flying time.

In Kenora-Rainy River, directly south of Kiiwetinoong, the temperatures were similarly bone chilling, and the Progressive Conservative incumbent has been feeling it while out canvassing.

"I look like Kenny from South Park," Greg Rickford said, describing how he bundles himself up from head to toe.

"Once you get past minus 30, if your skin is exposed and you're out there for any amount of time, you're putting yourself at a little bit of risk."

Rickford, who has several provincial and federal campaigns under his belt, said he usually likes to door-knock four to five hours a day, but it's just not possible this winter. He has pivoted to canvassing by phone at some points, largely for the sake of his team.

"These are volunteer folks from the riding and from other parts of Ontario," he said. "I'm extremely grateful for them, but I'm especially grateful because this has been an uncharacteristically very cold, sustained winter so far."

Even down in Toronto's Willowdale riding, incumbent Progressive Conservative candidate Stan Cho has been limiting his team's exposure to the elements, with truncated canvassing shifts. When the volunteers get back to the office to warm up, there are sweet and sour chicken wings, sausages and egg salad sandwiches – all made by his mother to provide the fuel.

And, as in many campaign offices across the province, hand warmers aplenty are on offer.

Back up north, meanwhile, Mamakwa has been outfitted in ski pants, a parka, a homemade hat made with moose hide and beaver fur and sturdy boots and mitts that belonged to his late father.

He has also been making use of the winter roads, often built over frozen lakes and rivers until the spring thaw, with his team also using them to deliver lawn signs. He put one up in the middle of frozen Sachigo Lake during an ice fishing derby.

Though in this election, whether it's in Kiiwetinoong, Kanata, or King-Vaughan, calling them "lawn" signs is a bit of a misnomer.

"Order your very own decorative orange snowbank sign!" NDP incumbent candidate Jennifer French wrote on social media to supporters in her Oshawa riding.

Candidates and canvassers have been getting creative with how to put up the lawn-turned-snowbank signs, as much of the province has seen large amounts of snow.

"Tie them, or screw them into anything that's already fixed that you think is a reasonable thing to do," said Ottawa South incumbent Liberal candidate John Fraser.

There seem to be fewer signs up this election, he said, perhaps due to an element of futility.

"What ends up happening is you get two feet of snow," Fraser said. "Then your signs get buried in a snow bank or covered, or the snowblower goes by...and just wipes out your sign."

Across the province, various canvasses and campaign events have been cancelled due to inclement weather, particularly during two massive snowstorms earlier this month.

Even on nicer days, canvassing teams have not been able to get to as many doors as usual, Fraser said. During warmer weather campaigns, teams speed walk or run between doors, but snow banks and hidden patches of ice below the snow force everyone to slow down, he said.

"People have slipped and fallen," Fraser said. "Thankfully, nobody's broken anything."

The NDP's incumbent candidate in Waterloo, Catherine Fife, wrote on social media that she slipped down some stairs, but called it a "strong canvass" nonetheless after she got to meet a cute baby.

While out canvassing in Willowdale, Cho has helped not one, not two but three drivers whose cars were stuck in the snow.

"(For one driver), we had to go into his recycling bin, pick out egg cartons, like the whole 30-egg type of egg cartons, to get some traction under the tires, because he was just spinning out," he said.

"That one took a little longer than most, but generally it's just a little push. Happy to do it for the neighbours."

Though for all the fun winter campaigning war stories the candidates are amassing, Fraser said Ontario should not even be in an election right now.

The Liberals, NDP and Greens all say they don't buy Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford's justification of needing a new mandate to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump and tariffs, and suggest he called the snap election to capitalize on good poll numbers.

"There's a reason that we don't have elections in winter," Fraser said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2025.

Allison Jones and Liam Casey, The Canadian Press