Ned Kuruc
Ned Kuruc | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek | |
| Assumed office April 28, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Chad Collins |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Profession | Businessperson • mortgage specialist |
Nenad "Ned" Kuruc MP is a Canadian politician from the Conservative Party of Canada. He was elected Member of Parliament for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek in the 2025 Canadian federal election. Prior to being elected, Kuruc worked as an entrepreneur, owning and operating businesses such as Neku Cannabis,[1][2][3][4] and served as Director of Events and Fighter Acquisitions at K-1 Global.[5][6]
Early life and background
[edit]Kuruc was born in raised in Hamilton, Ontario, where he has lived his entire life.[6] He graduated from Orchard Park Secondary School in 1999.[7] His parents Ilija and Ivanka immigrated to Canada in 1967 from Strmica, Yugoslavia.[8][9] He is the father of three children.[6]
His biography on the Conservative Party of Canada website states that he is a local entrepreneur and a former global sports entertainment executive.[10] Kuruc's business experience includes work in the cannabis, real estate, restaurant, and martial arts spaces.[5][3][11]
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Kuruc is the former owner of Stoney Creek's Attic Pizza, which reopened under new ownership in November 2023.[11][8] Kuruc has also stated that he has previously owned bars and night clubs in Hess Village.[12]
Cannabis business
[edit]Kuruc is the owner of three cannabis dispensaries, including Neku Cannabis in Stoney Creek and its sister locations on Upper James Street and in Hamilton's Hess Village.[3][13][11][4]
In 2020, Kuruc converted his former bar Che Burrito & Lounge into a cannabis retailer to replace lost customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Kuruc stated in 2020 that his goal was to create unique cannabis stores that focused on art and culture, and expressed an interest in expanding the Neku Cannabis brand around Ontario.[5]
In 2020, the Hamilton Spectator reported that Kuruc had sought a licence from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario to convert Stoney Creek's Attic Pizza into a marijuana dispensary known as Neku Cannabis.[6][7][14] The opening of Neku Cannabis caused controversy in Stoney Creek, with news reportings indicating that many residents were opposed to Kuruc's plans to expand his cannabis brand into downtown Stoney Creek.[6][8][10]
Combative Sports Advisory Council
[edit]In 2024, Kuruc was appointed to the Minister of Tourism, Sport and Culture's Combative Sport Advisory Council.[5][15] The appointment was made on the recommendation of Ontario's Minister of Tourism, Sport and Culture, Neil Lumsden, who also serves as the Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.
Political career
[edit]Municipal politics
[edit]Prior to being elected as the Member of Parliament for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek in April 2025, Kuruc had previously ran unsuccessfully for City Councillor in Hamilton's Ward 3 in 2018, finishing third with 13.83% of the vote.[16]
Federal politics
[edit]Kuruc was also the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek in 2021 federal election, where he finished second to former Liberal Member of Parliament Chad Collins.[17] Following his defeat, Kuruc described Collins as "a mountain of a politician".[18]
In a 2023 interview with Paul Wells, Kuruc attributed his defeat in the 2021 election to then-Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole's decision to support the Liberal's policies on gun control and impose COVID-19 restrictions, which Kuruc stated drove potential supporters to Maxime Bernier's People's Party of Canada.[7] Kuruc stated that he viewed the Conservative Party of Canada's loss in 2021 as being due to the Conservative Party not being conservative enough.[7]
In the lead-up to the 2025 election, Kuruc was endorsed by former mayor of Hamilton Bob Bratina.[7][18] Bratina had previously served as Member of Parliament for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek for the Liberal Party of Canada, before opting not to seek re-election in 2021 due to his opposition of the federal government's decision to fund Hamilton's light rail transit project.[19][20] Bratina ran for mayor of Hamilton in 2022, where he finished in third place with 12.27% of the vote, behind Andrea Horwath and Keanin Loomis.[21]
Kuruc opted not to participate in the 2025 Cable 14 televised Hamilton East-Stoney Creek debate.[22] In a post on social media platform X, Cable 14 noted that Liberal candidate Chad Collins was the only candidate to accept an invitation to participate.[22]
On April 28, 2025, Kuruc narrowly defeated former Liberal Member of Parliament Chad Collins, winning by a margin of just over 2% of the vote.[23][24] Former Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Member of Parliament Sheila Copps stated that Kuruc's victory was due in large part to the redistribution of the riding of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.[25] The boundaries of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek changed prior to the 2025 election, adding a large portion of Upper Stoney Creek.[18] Both Kuruc and Collins significantly increased the vote shares they received in the 2021 election, while the voting share of the New Democratic Party candidate dropped to 3.63% in the 2025 election.[26]
Political views
[edit]Kuruc has criticized what he refers to as "woke" Liberal-government policies. In a 2023 interview, Kuruc criticized the "whole woke agenda", which he said "[p]eople are tired of", and expressed sympathy for the 2022 Freedom Convoy of truckers who protested COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa. [7] In 2024, he criticized the incumbent Liberal government as being "weak, woke, wacko and wasteful".[27]
On the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, Kuruc blamed the Canadian government, stating in 2025, "the reason the tariffs are in place is because of the failures of the Liberal government".[18]
Kuruc supported Pierre Poilievre in the 2022 Conservative Party Leadership Race,[28] who has described himself as a "true conservative" and is generally seen as being on the further right side of the Conservative Party.[29][30]
Electoral record
[edit]Federal
[edit]| 2025 Canadian federal election: Hamilton East—Stoney Creek | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ** Preliminary results — Not yet official ** | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Ned Kuruc | 32,865 | 48.72 | +18.60 | ||||
| Liberal | Chad Collins | 31,372 | 46.51 | +7.44 | ||||
| New Democratic | Nayla Mithani | 2,451 | 3.63 | –18.05 | ||||
| People's | Jim Boutsikakis | 770 | 1.14 | –6.12 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | ||||||||
| Total rejected ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | 67,458 | 69.01 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 97,757 | |||||||
| Conservative notional gain from Liberal | Swing | +5.58 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[31][32] | ||||||||
| 2021 Canadian federal election: Hamilton East—Stoney Creek | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Chad Collins | 18,358 | 36.9 | -1.7 | $78,670.69 | |||
| Conservative | Ned Kuruc | 13,934 | 28.0 | +2.8 | $56,327.55 | |||
| New Democratic | Nick Milanovic | 12,748 | 25.6 | -3.0 | $76,637.28 | |||
| People's | Mario Ricci | 3,733 | 7.5 | +5.4 | $6,430.00 | |||
| Green | Larry Pattison | 1,020 | 2.0 | -3.6 | $0.00 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 49,793 | 99.0 | +0.01 | $114,317.99 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 520 | 1.0 | ||||||
| Turnout | 50,313 | 59.3 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 84,794 | |||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | -2.3 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[33] | ||||||||
Municipal
[edit]| Candidate | Popular vote | Expenditures | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | ||||||||||
| Nrinder Nann | 2,618 | 33.96% | - | $20,787.33 | ||||||||
| Laura Farr | 1,471 | 19.08% | - | $6,743.99 | ||||||||
| Ned Kuruc | 1,066 | 13.83% | - | $19,115.22 | ||||||||
| Amanda Salonen | 552 | 7.16% | - | -1 | ||||||||
| Dan Smith | 474 | 6.15% | - | $5,566.82 | ||||||||
| Alain Bureau | 314 | 4.07% | - | $9,959.77 2 | ||||||||
| Milena Balta | 269 | 3.49% | - | $4,880.45 | ||||||||
| Stephen Rowe | 232 | 3.01% | - | $1,620.95 | ||||||||
| Brendan Kavanaugh | 213 | 2.76% | - | -1 | ||||||||
| Tony Lemma | 196 | 2.54% | - | $3,965.36 | ||||||||
| Kristeen Sprague | 120 | 1.56% | - | -1 | ||||||||
| Steven Paul Denault | 100 | 1.30% | - | $1,659.00 | ||||||||
| Keith Beck | 83 | 1.08% | - | $0 | ||||||||
| Total votes | 7,708 | |||||||||||
| Registered voters | 24,626 | 31.3% | +1.71% | |||||||||
| 1 These candidates did not submit official Financial Statements and are, therefore, ineligible to run in the 2022 election 2 These candidates were delayed in submitting their official Financial Statements and have been barred from running in the 2022 Municipal election Note: All Hamilton Municipal Elections are officially non-partisan. Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.) and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates. | ||||||||||||
| Sources: City of Hamilton, "Nominated Candidates" | ||||||||||||
References
[edit]- ^ a b Leitner, Richard (2020-12-21). "Stoney Creek's controversial Attic pot shop set to light up". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ "Neku Cannabis has opened in Hamilton, replacing Che Burrito & Lounge | CEKAN". 2020-12-30. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ a b c Leitner, Richard (2023-07-28). "'Gold rush is over' on Stoney Creek pot shops". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
- ^ a b "About Us - Neku Cannabis Dispensary". Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ a b c d "Minister's Combative Sport Advisory Council". news.ontario.ca. 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ a b c d e "Meet Ned". Hamilton East-Stoney Creek Conservative Party of Canada. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ a b c d e f Wells, Paul (2023-09-20). "Bob and Ned and Justin and Pierre". Paul Wells. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ a b c d "Kuruc got up off the mat after election loss to win Hamilton-East Stoney Creek". 2025-05-07. Retrieved 2025-05-12 – via PressReader.
- ^ Ćirić, Dragan (July 2025). "Нед Куруц, посланик у канадском парламенту" (in Serbian (Cyrillic script)). No. 735 (year 64). Stoney Creek: PSC Ravna Gora. Serbia. p. 2.
- ^ a b "Meet Hamilton East-Stoney Creek Conservative Party candidate Ned Kuruc". Conservative Party of Canada. 2024-01-27. Retrieved 2025-04-29.
- ^ a b c d Leitner, Richard (2023-11-28). "'Everything is the same': Stoney Creek's landmark Attic pizzeria reopens". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
- ^ Muraca Group (2020-08-17). EP:04 - The Real (Estate) Talk with Peter Muraca | Ned Kuruc. Retrieved 2025-05-12 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Neku Cannabis opens Stoney Creek location within Attic Pizza building | CEKAN". 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
- ^ Hynum, Rick (2020-07-20). "Ontario Pizza Shop Gives Up Dine-In for Cannabis". PMQ Pizza. Retrieved 2025-05-16.
- ^ Lee, Alexander K. (2024-02-03). "Ontario Combative Sport Advisory Council aims to revitalize province's MMA scene". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ "2018 Election Results | City of Hamilton". www.hamilton.ca. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
- ^ "Canada election results: Hamilton East—Stoney Creek | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ a b c d Geenen, Kevin (2025-04-18). "FEDERAL ELECTION 2025: One-on-one with Hamilton East – Stoney Creek Conservative candidate Ned Kuruc". Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ Werner, Kevin (2021-05-17). "Hamilton East-Stoney Creek Liberal MP Bob Bratina says he won't seek re-election because of LRT funding". Brampton Guardian. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ Taekema, Dan (2021-05-17). "Bratina says he won't run in next federal election, citing his government's LRT support". CBC News.
- ^ "2022 Election Results | City of Hamilton". www.hamilton.ca. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ a b @cable14 (2025-04-23). "The Hamilton East-Stoney Creek riding debate was cancelled this evening as the only candidate to accept the invitation was @ChadCollinsHESC So, in lieu of the debate @ChadCollinsHESC stopped by our studio to prepare a statement". X (formerly Twitter).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Canada, Elections. "Election Night Results - Electoral Districts". enr.elections.ca. Archived from the original on 2025-05-09. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ Christie, Mac (2025-04-29). "Hamilton East—Stoney Creek flipped Conservative by Ned Kuruc". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ Major, Darren (May 1, 2025). ""Liberals pushed Trump as key election issue, but lost seats on front lines of the trade war"". CBC News. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
- ^ "Election Night Results - Electoral Districts". 2025-05-09. Archived from the original on 2025-05-09. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ @NedKurucMP (2024-12-15). "📸 Proud to stand with Pierre Poilievre for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek! The weak, woke, wacko, and wasteful Liberal-NDP coalition has destroyed our economy and divided our country. It's time for Common Sense, to put Canada First, and to restore freedom for hardworking Canadians. Let's Axe the Tax, Build the Homes, and Fix the Budget. Hamilton deserves better. 🇨🇦". X (formerly Twitter).
- ^ Chandler, Justin (May 2, 2025). ""Meet the 4 new MPs elected in Hamilton and Niagara"". Retrieved May 13, 2025.
- ^ Taube, Michael (2022-07-07). "Michael Taube: Sorry, Red Tories, but Poilievre is the one reaffirming conservative values". National Post.
- ^ "Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest says claims he's a Liberal are 'ludicrous'". CTVNews. 2022-03-12. Archived from the original on 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ "Voter information service". Elections Canada. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
- ^ "Election Night Results - Electoral Districts". Elections Canada. 29 April 2025. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
- ^ "September 20, 2021 General Election Results: Hamilton East—Stoney Creek". Elections Canada. Retrieved December 30, 2021.