Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin visited Windsor City Hall on Monday for the first time, offering what she described as ‘counterprogramming’ to U.S. President Donald Trump. “Those of us who believe in a strong U.S.-Canada relationship have a responsibility to double down and show people here that that’s not the only voice,” Slotkin told reporters. “Our relationship is going to endure long beyond this president.” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens added Windsor and Michigan have been friends for “many, many decades and centuries.” “Through conversation, you realize we have a whole lot more in common than differences that separate us,” he said. Slotkin and Dilkens met Monday with Gordon Orr, head of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation and Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island. The meeting did not produce any agreements, partnerships, or announcements. Instead, both Slotkin and Dilkens said the discussion focused on reassuring one another that the Windsor-Michigan relationship will survive whatever challenges come from the White House. “We have ties of family, work and supply chains. We built this area up to be one economy,” Slotkin said. “Those ties took a long time to build, and they’re going to take a lot more than Donald Trump to break.” Dilkens said he remains confident a new free trade agreement can be reached with the U.S. and Mexico. “There are a lot of people in the U.S. who understand what we created together through free trade agreements between the U.S. and Canada dating back to the 1980s,” Dilkens said. “What we’ve created has generated jobs on all sides of the border. It has improved GDP in all three countries, and what we’ve created is actually working.”
