Residents of Windsor's Ward 7 have finally found out when they will vote to fill a vacant seat on City Council.
Windsor City Clerk Valerie Critchley announced Wednesday afternoon that the by-election will take place on Monday, October 5. The by-election was supposed to be held on April 27, but the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on the shelf.
Advance voting will take place on September 29 and 30, October 1 and 3. It will be in person and will take place at the WFCU Centre with particular pandemic protocols in place.
"Our primary concern is the safety of residents, voters in Ward 7, candidates and election workers," said Critchley. "It takes a large team of people and a large amount of coordination to put any election together, and one with COVID-19 considerations makes it even more difficult, but over the coming weeks, we will ensure all necessary precautions and protocols are put in place and communicated to the community."
The nomination period for the by-election ended on Friday, March 13. Consequently, nominations are closed and will not reopen.
At the time the election cycle was suspended, the candidates were, in alphabetical order:
- Igor Dzaic, a student at the University of Windsor
- Farah El-Hajj, a former constituency office aide to Windsor West MP Brian Masse
- Michelle Gajewski, U of W alum, president of the Polish Canadian Students' Association of Windsor
- Jeewen Gill, real estate broker, a previous Liberal candidate in federal and provincial elections
- Barbara Holland, former chairperson of the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board
- Ernie Lamont, businessman and perennial mayoral candidate
- Greg Lemay, small business owner and homeless advocate
- Mike Malott, Chrysler Canada employee and union member
- Angelo Marignani, an employee at Magna International, former owner of Milk Coffee Bar
- Therese Papineau, retired civil servant
- Albert Saba, employment counsellor
- Howard Weeks, activist
