Posted by Team Wiens· September 29, 2026
Something interesting is happening in municipal politics across Niagara this fall. A solid group of retired police officers is on the ballot, with some running for the first time and others looking to keep their seats.
Policing and municipal government are very different jobs. Still, a good cop spends a career making decisions, dealing with people from every walk of life, settling disputes, and learning that complicated problems rarely have simple fixes. Six Niagara candidates are bringing that experience to the ballot this October.
For the Mayor's chair
Kevin Gibson, Wainfleet
Kevin Gibson has the broadest policing résumé of the group. He spent 34 years with the RCMP, working in general policing, emergency response, serious-crime supervision and human-trafficking investigations, and eventually commanding a detachment. The job took him from British Columbia and the Yukon to Toronto and Bangkok, and he worked on security planning for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
He knows municipal government too. Gibson was Wainfleet's mayor from 2018 to 2022. His first two budgets raised local taxes 9.7% in 2019 and 9.2% in 2020, which may be why he lost a close race in 2022 to current Mayor Brian Grant.
If he wins the job back, Gibson will sit on the revamped Niagara Regional Council as one of 12 mayors. That means dealing with the Niagara Regional Police Service Board, which he already serves on as a provincial appointee.
Erwin Wiens, Niagara-on-the-Lake
Erwin Wiens' story is tied closely to the community he wants to lead.
He was born and raised in Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL), the son of immigrant farmers. After earning a criminology degree, he spent 31 years policing with Peel Regional Police and Hamilton Police. Then he went back to his agricultural roots. He and his wife Dorothy bought a farm; he got involved with the Grape Growers of Ontario, and in 2023 he was named Niagara's Grape King. He's also volunteered as a firefighter in Virgil.
Wiens has been on NOTL council for eight years now, four of them as Deputy Lord Mayor. He brings a unique mix to the job as a former cop, a farmer, and an experienced councillor.
His platform focuses on keeping municipal spending and keeping taxes in check, protecting agriculture, building a stronger year-round economy, and development that respects both local character and what the infrastructure can handle. He's also firmly against amalgamation.
What stands out most about Wiens is how much ground he's covered. He's enforced the law, grown grapes, fought fires, sat on council and represented NOTL on a long list of regional organizations. His campaign pitches all of that as preparation for the Lord Mayor's chair.