Gurwinder Dusanjh, the local candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party, said he grew up in southern Ontario but his love for the Sault began with a 2012 vacation on the Agawa Canyon Tour Train.
"We took three vans and drove all the way up here and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. We got to the train, went four hours to the canyon and then it rained for 20 minutes, so we came back," Dusanjh said.
"I was laughing because we travelled 10 hours to go to a place, stayed there for 20 minutes and then travelled 10 hours back home," he added.
The following year, at the age of 21, he moved to the Sault with his family and entered into Algoma University's business program where he served as vice-president of the student union.
"I've been up here since July of 2013 and I don't think I'm going to be moving because this is such a great place.
"I find Sault Ste. Marie is great as long as you have a career that could actually support a family. Then you have the lakes – if you want to de-stress, you can go out there," Dusanjh said.
Currently, he is the owner and operator of Heyden Fuels just north of the city and he works at Bank of Montreal in both the downtown and Cambrian Mall branches.
"Since then, I have just been seeing how the city has changed, especially working downtown.
"You can definitely see the situations and I feel like it gave me a good grasp of what people are concerned about because I could see everyone's financials and everything. I'm not going to disclose any, but I could see people who are living paycheque to paycheque to people who are buying businesses and transferring large funds," Dusanjh said.
"I've been having conversations with all of them and there's a lot of common concerns that people have across the economic spectrum.
Dusanjh said he believes most people have concerns about health care and education.
"People have the same concerns about what's going on at societal level, about mental health and addictions. That's something that I saw — everyone in the community has those concerns and I felt that we didn't have the right representation. So that's when I entered into politics," he said.
Dusanjh has been actively assisting Khalsa Aid Canada, which addresses food insecurity, by making donations to the Sault College and Algoma University food banks.
In the past he has been active with a group called One Billion Rising, which raises awareness for efforts to end violence against women.
Assisting people is part of Dusanjh's Sikh faith.
"It's a concept called Seva. It basically means selfless service. You're not supposed to expect anything back from it.
"It's just that you're supposed to help out those around you, especially if you're established — I actually run businesses, I have the economic opportunities. I know everyone doesn't have economic opportunities, but I do.
"So if my business is making money, then I take a a tenth of that and I make sure that it goes towards just causes."
Dusanjh said he stepped away from those organized efforts during the election.
"I don't want to do charitable stuff and the election together. It's not a good taste and I don't want to mix it," he said.
Dusanjh said the Ontario Liberal Party first approached him prior to the 2022 provincial election to run in the Sault Ste. Marie riding, but the timing wasn't right.
During that election the local Liberal riding association initially acclaimed 18-year-old high school student Aidan Kallioinen, who was quickly dropped from the ticket after allegations were made regarding his involvement in Minecraft chats involving jokes about people dying of AIDS and an offensive Instagram handle.
Kallioinen denied those allegations but was replaced by Liam Hancock, who ended up with less than six per cent of the vote in that election.
Dusanjh was the last local candidate to enter the race and had to make up for lost time by knocking on doors.
He said one of two things typically happens when he knocks on doors.
"Either it's really cold outside, so people don't want to hold the door open for too long, but they they just want to say their piece of what they expect from an MPP, or they invite you in for some tea, but then you're there for 45 minutes having those discussions, which I actually prefer," Dusanjh said.
He has also participated in an all-candidates meeting, held last week at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25.
If elected, Dusanjh said he would like to continue having direct dialogue with constituents — something he says has been lost.
"I want to have a monthly town hall open to anyone in the public who has concerns. It's supposed to be civil and it's supposed to have decorum and you're supposed to say everything in a respectable manner. But then at least I will give the community an opportunity to touch base with the MPP," he said.
Chris Scott was announced as the PC candidate on Jan. 28.
Members of the NDP’s local riding association held a vote on Jan. 30 to choose Lisa Vezeau-Allen to be their candidate.
Dusanjh is the candidate for the Liberals.
Jaycob Jacques is running for the Green Party
Arnold Heino is running for the New Blue party.
And the Ontario Party candidate is Paul Frolich.
Voters will head to the polls on Feb. 27.