Windsor's city councillor for Ward 3 hopes to turn Windsor West Liberal red in the June provincial election.
Rino Bortolin, who was elected to city council in the 2014 municipal election, will seek the party's nomination at a meeting next Tuesday at the Fogolar Furlan Club.
"I don't see it really as leaving city council, but just taking my role as representative of the people of Windsor to another level," Bortolin told BlackburnNews.com.
Bortolin admitted at times his tenure on city council could be frustrating, but he also said the debate has never been healthier.
"We've had vigorous debate, and we've seen more and more items debated in the community than ever before," he said.
Improving services for the mentally ill and the opioid crisis are two issues Bortolin believes he can better tackle at the provincial level. There are other issues he wants to work on too.
"You can work hard to create a neighbourhood, create incentives to have people move into a neighbourhood, but if you close the core school in that neighbourhood it really works contrary to a lot of the efforts we've been doing municipally," he said.
If he secures the nomination, Bortolin will run against incumbent NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky. Running against an incumbent is always difficult for a candidate, but Bortolin will be running for a party experiencing historic levels of unpopularity. It does not faze him. He has two responses.
"Focusing on the good policies that the party has brought in. I mean, this is a party that has instituted a minimum wage to help low-income earners. OHIP+. Free tuition for low-income earners," he listed. "I"m asking them to trust in my work ethic, trust in my values."
