As part of our Ontario Votes election coverage, BradfordToday plans to profile each of the candidates in the York-Simcoe riding. Here's our look at Brent Fellman, the New Blue Party hopeful:
The local New Blue candidate wants to help empower residents.
As premier, Ontario PC leader Doug Ford called an early provincial election on Jan. 28. Since then, candidates have been lining up to offer their visions for the riding of York-Simcoe before voters go to the polls on Feb. 27 — about 15 months ahead of schedule.
“If you want to make things better for your community, you have to find out very specifically what the problems are in the community and then you need to speak up,” Brent Fellman said. “I think I have a pretty good track record of doing that.”
The New Blue Party of Ontario candidate Fellman, 53, is a supply teacher with the Simcoe County District School Board who has also been involved with local baseball, hockey and basketball teams.
With his sons already attending school in Bradford since Kindergarten, he and his family moved here from nearby Cookstown in 2018, and he ran for deputy mayor in 2022.
This is his second time running locally as the provincial New Blue candidate, following his 2022 campaign. He wants to represent York-Simcoe to advocate about the issues important to residents, especially as not everyone has the time or energy to do it themselves.
“Being a teacher and someone who’s been involved in a lot of public speaking over the years, I think it’s something I can offer the community,” he said.
Disappointed in the governing PC party, and feeling Ontario didn’t “really” have a conservative option, Fellman decided prior to the previous provincial election that New Blue was the best choice.
“We need a conservative option in Ontario,” he said. “We need to give that conservative voice.”
While he feels other parties are trying to consolidate power at the top, Fellman said his party wants to shift it back downward, giving the province more control over issues like immigration and giving people more control over their local communities and institutions, such as schools.
“We want to give the citizens more power,” he said.
Currently, he feels the biggest issue of this election is the prevalence of conflicts of interest at all levels of government, and when it comes to Ontario in particular, he pointed to scandals around the Greenbelt, Ontario Place and Ontario Science Centre.
Even at home in Bradford, Fellman has concerns about the province approving funding for 10 electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations in Bradford because six of those are expected to be installed on just one group’s property.
To help prevent potential conflicts, Fellman feels it’s best to avoid accepting any funding from lobbyists or special interest groups.
“I’m not going to take money from people who expect favours. That’s just part of who I am. I’m not going to go down that road,” he said.
The local teacher is also hoping to keep more money in the pockets of voters as the party is pledging to reduce taxes and cut energy costs province-wide.
New Blue describes itself as an anti-establishment, centre-right political party, founded in 2020 after husband and wife Jim Karahalios (now New Blue leader) and then-PC MPP Belinda Karahalios separated from the PC party over disagreements about its policies and direction.
For more information about the New Blue campaign, visit the party's website.