Mike Schreiner in Kitchener; NDP reacting to surprise Green endorsements

With less than two days left until polls close on this whirlwind election, local candidates and provincial party leaders are making one last push in their bids for election.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will be in Kitchener on Wednesday, joining Kitchener-Centre incumbent and Green Party candidate Aislinn Clancy on the campaign trail around local neighborhoods.

In the leadup to the election, a pair of Green Party candidates have decided to put their own campaigns on the back burner to secure victories for their opposition.

Green candidates in the Kitchener-Conestoga and Waterloo ridings have endorsed NDP candidates to unify voters.

“I think that vote splitting in our current electoral system is a concern for anybody in such a volatile time,” said Waterloo’s incumbent MPP and NDP candidate Catherine Fife. “I’m surprised that the conservative is closer than they’ve ever been in Waterloo.”

On Monday, Green candidate Shefaza Esmail endorsed Fife in her bid for re-election.

“When you’re in Waterloo riding right now, there is a worry that by taking votes away from the NDP, the PC government might come back in Waterloo,” said Esmail in a statement.

“Shefaza cares about Waterloo,” said Fife. “We don’t want to lose another seat to Doug Ford, because he’s done so much damage to the province of Ontario.”

At an all candidates meeting in New Hamburg, Brayden Wagenaar of the Ontario Greens announced that he is backing his NDP opponent Jodi Szimanski.

NDP leader Marit Stiles made stops in Cambridge and Waterloo on Tuesday, her last visits to Waterloo Region before the election. She reacted to those Green Party endorsements by stating that she’s proud of the work local NDP candidates have done to this point.

“I’m looking to flip blue seats to orange, that’s my aim,” said Stiles.

570 NewsRadio has reached out to Schreiner’s team for comment on the Green Party endorsements of NDP candidates but have yet to receive a response.