Today, for the first time in more than 20 years, a sitting prime minister is visiting the Garden City without an election to fight.
Stephen Harper is spending the day in Niagara, with stops in Beamsville, Thorold and St. Catharines.
St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra said Tuesday the last prime minister to visit the city when an election wasn't on the line was Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney in 1985. "It's a real treat to have the prime minister here," said Dykstra, who will join Harper at a Conservative party rally at the Quality Hotel Parkway Convention Centre on Ontario Street at 7 p.m.
"He wanted to get out of Ottawa for the week we were not sitting and said he was coming to Niagara. So I told him that he was more than welcome in St. Catharines."
The last prime minister to visit the city was Liberal Paul Martin, who stopped in St. Catharines during the 2006 federal election campaign. He lost that election to Harper.
Harper's first stop will be at Cherry Avenue Farm in Beamsville with Niagara West-Glanbrook MP Dean Allison and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, where he is expected to make an announcement around 1 p.m.
