• Brendan Sorenson, a lifelong Stouffville resident, is running as Markham-Stouffville’s New Blue Party candidate in Ontario’s 2025 election.
  • His top priorities include addressing car theft and homelessness through increased police presence and community programs.
  • He supports limiting immigration to lower housing costs and reducing red tape to expedite home construction.
  • Sorenson advocates for prioritizing Canadian trade, reducing reliance on the U.S., and supporting local businesses and farmers.
  • He backs private healthcare options and rehiring healthcare workers fired due to COVID-19 vaccine mandates to boost healthcare provision.
  • To improve education for Ontario students, Sorenson supports reductions in administrative costs and reallocating savings to student support services and special needs programs.
  • He opposes Strong Mayor Powers and MZOs, arguing they undermine government transparency and democracy.
  • To date, he and Liberal Kelly Dunn are the only two candidates to participate in Bullet Point News’s Candidate Profile questionnaire.

 

Brendan Sorenson is a lifelong Stouffville resident running as Markham-Stouffville’s New Blue Party candidate in Ontario’s 2025 election.

“I am proud to call Stouffville my home and would love to preserve its wholesome character by decreasing the less positive aspects such as car thefts and homelessness, which have accompanied the town’s growth,” Sorenson said in opening comments. “I would also promote healthy social cohesion within the community.”

Additional information about the New Blue Party, including policy proposals, can be found on its website. Our complete election guide for Stouffville voters is available here.

Bullet Point News presented Markham-Stouffville’s five registered candidates with a series of questions on priority issues and concerns under provincial jurisdiction. Each responding candidate will be covered in the same manner, with their responses provided in full, edited only for clarity and flow.

What are your top priorities for the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville?

“Car theft and homelessness. As the town has grown, so have these issues. One program I would like to help develop is a neighbourhood watch initiative. Although it won’t stop theft entirely, it can help decrease it. Neighbours will be looking out for each other, and a criminal who sees the neighbourhood watch sign may be deterred from committing a crime.

On a practical policing level, I would work to increase police presence in Markham and Stouffville.

My other priority is the increase in homelessness we are seeing. If elected, I would work with the private sector and organizations such as Back Door Mission to develop programs that not only alleviate homelessness but also help individuals develop skills to become self-reliant.”

How would you and your party address Ontario’s growing housing crisis? 

“One reason housing prices are so high is mass immigration to the province, which creates high demand for available homes. One way to deal with this is for the Ontario government to limit the number of people immigrating here. With fewer people competing in the market, prices should decrease.

Another approach is to decrease red tape and restrictions involved with building homes.”

What will you focus on to make life more affordable for your constituency, and how will your party mitigate impacts from possible U.S. tariffs?

“The actions of Donald Trump have popularized a perspective I have long held: Canada and Ontario should be doing business with ourselves. That includes inter-provincial trade and strengthening our entrepreneurs. This means supporting our farmers and local businesses and giving Canadian goods preferential treatment in stores.

Canada should also trade with other nations such as European countries and Central and South America. This way, Ontario and Canada won’t be as tied to America economically.”

What are your and your party’s plans to improve healthcare service provision for Stouffville residents?

“The New Blue Party believes people should have access to private healthcare if they choose, which would help alleviate the backlog for certain procedures.

Another way New Blue wants to address the lack of professionals in the healthcare field is to rehire all nurses and healthcare workers that were fired as a result of COVID-19 mandates. The cost of rehiring would be covered by eliminating excessive administrative expenses, such as those tied to DEI initiatives, which have not improved healthcare outcomes.”

Ontario’s per-pupil education funding model is not keeping pace with inflation, putting pressure on school boards and limiting student support. How will you and your party work to better support Ontario’s students, and what education deficiencies would you focus on addressing?

“One way the New Blue Party will help support Ontario’s students is to decrease the administrative costs in education. According to their current policy, these cuts would apply at all levels of the educational system. The money saved from eliminating unnecessary administrative expenses could then be reallocated to student support services as well as special needs programs.”

There is a growing push to reduce the Development Charges municipalities can impose, which could significantly impact municipal budgets. What are your and your party’s positions on this and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s call for a review of fiscal relationships between municipalities and the Province?

“We have not discussed such a review at the party level, so I am not comfortable commenting on it. However, I believe there should be Development Charges revenue. New development impacts our infrastructure, and the cost of expanding or changing it should not be pushed onto existing property taxpayers.”

What are your and your party’s views on the use of Strong Mayor Powers and Minister’s Zoning Orders? Would they change under a New Blue Party government?

“One of the New Blue Party’s core principles is ensuring government is accountable, transparent, and democratic. In using Strong Mayor Powers or MZOs, government is no longer democratic, accountable, or transparent, but instead autocratic.”

At the time of publishing, Bullet Point News had received responses from only two candidates: Kelly Dunn of the Ontario Liberal Party and Brendan Sorenson of the New Blue Party. 

A Green Party spokesperson stated that their Markham-Stouffville candidate, Myles O’Brien, would not engage with the media and referred us to the party’s platform. Neither incumbent Progressive Conservative MPP Paul Calandra nor New Democrat Gregory Hines has responded or indicated an intention to do so.