With only a couple of weeks remaining until the municipal election, Windsor residents had another chance to hear from those running for mayor. A community meet and greet was held by a coalition of Black-led organizations on Wednesday evening at the Caboto Club. The event saw approximately 70 people in attendance who had a chance to hear from nine of the 11 candidates running for mayor. While other similar events have been more debate-style, this event had each candidate on stage one at a time for a maximum of 15 minutes, where they were able to speak about their platform and answer questions from those in attendance. Candidates spoke on a range of topics such as transportation, housing, homelessness, trade uncertainty, and more. Gale Carter says she wanted to hear from more candidates about their platforms. “I think everyone should fulfill their civic duty to vote, and I think this gives an encouragement to the candidates that we are interested in what they have to say.” Fran says it’s important to hear from the candidates and vote appropriately. “Each and every one of the candidates has very good, strong viewpoints. But it’s kind of nice when you get them all together and you start asking questions. Then at the end, it’s the citizens’ decision, and hopefully we make a good decision because he or she is going to represent us, and we only want the best for our city.” Angelo says he has some concerns that the candidates need to address. “Homelessness, where the future of the city is going, also our taxes, and any investment that’s coming into the city... with what’s going on with the auto talks with Stellantis, and the battery plant... where is the future of this city going?” Sadie says she’s very unhappy with the current leadership and the way certain issues are being handled. “I know a lot of people, myself included, who are terrified to even go downtown. Last time I checked, downtown belongs to everybody in this city. Something needs to be done, we need to find new leadership that’s going to take us in a positive forward direction instead of backstepping every chance he gets.” The municipal election is set to take place on Monday, October 26. The 11 candidates running for Windsor mayor are Benjamin Danyluk, Aaron Day, Drew Dilkens (incumbent), Fred Francis, Dylon Graves, Tara Grayer, Nick Kolasky, Tristan Ty Morencie, Kat Pasquach, Patrick Sutherland, and Louis Vaupotic.
