Hamilton Coun. Doug Conley tends not to camouflage his opinions so he's a good guy to put a couple of direct questions to.

Here's the first:

Who's going to win Thursday's provincial byelection in Niagara West-Glanbrook?

"You know what, I think the PC guy will, even though he's only 19 years old. It's really a PC riding."

Here's the second:

Do most Hamiltonians realize the Niagara West-Glanbrook riding includes a sizable chunk of this city?

"They never have," says Conley, who represents Stoney Creek's Ward 9.

"They never even recognized that Hudak was Hamilton. They always saw him as Niagara way, for sure."

Whether Conley is right about Brock University student Sam Oosterhoff — if elected he'll be the youngest MPP in Ontario's history — remains to be seen.

But there's little doubt he knows what he's talking about when it comes to byelection awareness.

The high-growth Mountain portion of Conley's ward is part of the sprawling Niagara West-Glanbrook riding, which also includes Grimsby, Pelham, West Lincoln, Lincoln, and, of course, Glanbrook

That means thousands of Conley's constituents are eligible to cast ballots in the Nov. 17 race to replace former Conservative MPP and party leader Tim Hudak.

But Conley, a former Conservative candidate himself, says many voters in his ward don't realize they're eligible to vote.

"It's hit and miss. First of all, the area up there has grown so much in the last five years, the new people have no idea."

Coun. Brenda Johnson, whose Ward 11 includes the communities of Glanbrook, Winona and part of Stoney Creek, is pretty much on the same page. She thinks many in Glanbrook don't realize they can vote in the byelection either.

"I can't tell you how many emails and phone calls I've received saying what is this all about."

Once Johnson explains that it's about replacing Hudak, they get it. But there's no question some are confused.

The problem is, some don't realize that provincially they still belong to Niagara West-Glanbrook because federally they're in the new riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook.

To further complicate matters, whoever is elected Nov. 17 will only represent Niagara West-Glanbrook until the general provincial election on or before June 7, 2018.

By that time, Niagara-West-Glanbrook will cease to exist and the provincial boundaries will be aligned with the federal ridings. That means Conley's and Johnson's residents will be voting in Flamborough-Glanbrook while other parts of the riding join Niagara West.

That also means the winner on Nov. 17 will only hold office for about 18 months before going back to the polls. And whoever that new MPP is will need to decide whether to run in Flamborough-Glanbrook or Niagara West.

Taken all together, it's no wonder election fever hasn't exactly gripped local voters.

As Johnson notes, there are very few election lawn signs in Glanbrook compared to, say, Smithville in the Township of West Lincoln.

"It looks like an election sign company threw up on (Smithville) because there are election signs everywhere. Going into the Glanbrook area, as you get close to the airport, the elections signs are fewer and fewer."

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There is, however, no shortage of candidates. Nine, including Oosterhoff, are on the ballot.

The Liberals are fielding family lawyer Vicky Ringuette. The New Democrats are running former Hamilton police officer and head of the police association Mike Thomas.

Donna Cridland is the Green Party candidate. Martins Poos is an Independent. Stefanos Karatopis is with the Ontario Libertarian Party.

Arthur Smitherman is with the Canadian Constituents' Party. Queenie Yu is with Stop the New Sex-Ed Agenda.

And, finally, Greg Vezina is with the — wait for it — None of the Above Party.

Andrew Dreschel Andrew Dreschel is the city hall columnist for The Hamilton Spectator. Email | Twitter

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