MEET
Simon Duong
Simon Duong came to Canada as a refugee. His family was part of the Boat People generation, spending a year in a refugee camp before being sponsored to settle here. They built a life from nothing, through work, through gratitude, and through a deep belief in the community that gave them a chance. That foundation drives everything Simon has done in Grimsby since. He has lived here for more than 20 years. He is married and raised his two children here. This is his home.
Most candidates ask a community to trust them. Simon is asking Grimsby to look at what he has already done. He kept the Grimsby Peach Kings in this town. The team has been part of Grimsby since 1922, and when ownership was in question, Simon stepped in — not because it was a business opportunity, but because he was not going to let a Grimsby institution go. During COVID, he bought Teddy's Sports Bar on Main Street when it was at risk of closing. Another Grimsby institution, saved.
Simon served as President of the Niagara District and led the founding merger that created West Niagara Minor Hockey. Three organizations. Years of rivalry and resistance. Every politician in the room said it could not be done. He built it anyway. As Chair of the Grimsby Downtown BIA, he has fought for downtown merchants through the most disruptive construction project this community has faced in a generation. Every single day of Downtown Reimagined, Simon has been in those conversations, advocating for the businesses that make Grimsby's core worth fighting for. In 2021, the Town of Grimsby gave him its Civic Recognition Award, before he ever ran for anything.
Simon is a working Realtor with a deep understanding of Grimsby's development landscape and land use. That background, combined with his years as BIA Chair, gives him a perspective no other candidate has: he knows where growth serves Grimsby and where it strains it. He is not anti-development. He is pro-Grimsby.
Grimsby has no shortage of good ideas. What it is missing is a mayor who will actually see them through. Taxes are up. The downtown is behind schedule. Good ideas are sitting in binders. Simon is already doing this work. He has been for years. This campaign formalizes what he has been doing in Grimsby long before he decided to run. He does not need a transition period. He does not need to learn the file. He is ready to walk in and get to work. Grimsby. Done Right.
Grimsby has no shortage of good ideas. What it has been missing is a mayor who will actually see them through. Taxes are up. The downtown is behind schedule. Good ideas are sitting in binders. Council has spent four years making headlines for the wrong reasons. The people currently in office know how government works. The question is: why hasn't it worked?
Simon is not running because he saw an opportunity. He is running because he is already doing this work, and has been doing it for years. Not through politics, but through persistence, relationships, and the willingness to show up when no one else would. This campaign formalizes what he has been doing in Grimsby long before he decided to run.
He does not need a transition period. He does not need to learn the file. He is ready to walk in and get to work. Grimsby. Done Right.
Holding office and delivering results are two different things: Grimsby deserves both.
Every good idea sitting in a binder is a failure of leadership, not a failure of vision.
Growth has to serve Grimsby's character, not just the development pipeline.
A community that gave my family everything deserves a mayor who gives it everything back.
Council's job is to serve residents, not to make headlines.
