Meet the four candidates under 30 causing a `youthquake´ in their Niagara West riding
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

Although they differ in their ideology, the candidates running in the June 7 Ontario election to represent the riding of Niagara West all share something in common: they are remarkably young.Of the four aspiring representatives, only one is old enough to have voted in the last provincial election. The youngest is just 18.PC candidate and current MPP Sam Oosterhoff, 20, is up against university classmate Curtis Fric, 20, for the NDP. The Green Party is represented by Jessica Tillmanns, 18, while Liberal candidate Joe Kanee, a 27-year-old native of Edmonton, is the elder of the group. Together, they have a combined 85 years of life between them, in a district where the median age of the population is about 41. “Here, in Niagara West, we just had a confluence of different factors coming together to lead to this ‘youth-quake’ that we’re seeing right now. And I think that’s a good thing,� said Oosterhoff. “It’s waking a lot of people up to the realization that youth can make a positive difference and be a voice for change, no matter their political background.� Oosterhoff was a teen when he was sworn in, the province’s youngest MPP, beating out then-PC party president Rick Dykstra in the nomination, then winning the Nov. 2016 byelection with 54 per cent of the vote.Read more:Opinion | Editorial: Ontario’s opioid crisis should be a top election issueHorwath and Wynne trade shots over labour policyNDP calls for Elections Ontario to probe 12 PC nominations“It’s been a very respectful race so far, and much less personal than it was in the byelection,� Oosterhoff said.Although he calls the campaign dynamic cordial, Oosterhoff finds connecting with voters can be challenging when one of their biggest concerns is about life experience.“But I think that doesn’t preclude young people from being able to speak to some of those challenges,� he said. Oosterhoff named long-term hea ...