As Canadians head back to the polls on September 20 to choose the 44th Canadian Parliament, several questions have been raised in the Windsor-Tecumseh riding.
Will Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk continue to serve as the riding's representative in Ottawa? Will the NDP's Cheryl Hardcastle mount a challenge and win back the seat she lost in 2019? Could Windsor-Tecumseh get Conservative representation on Parliament Hill for the first time since the 1930s?
The last election took place in October 2019, with the result being a Liberal minority and Justin Trudeau remaining prime minister. Since the election call last month, various polls have shown a tight race between the Liberals and Conservatives. The riding recorded a 60.1 per cent voter turnout in 2019.
Blackburn News has put together a brief biographical summary on the candidates registered to run in Windsor-Tecumseh so that voters who are undecided can see who wants to represent the riding in the next Parliament.
The riding includes the part of the City of Windsor that lies east and north of a line drawn from the U.S. border southeast along Langlois Avenue, east along Tecumseh Road East, and southeast along Pillette Road to the southern city limit, along with the entire Town of Tecumseh.
The Windsor-Tecumseh riding has been represented by either the Liberals or the NDP since 1930, when Raymond D. Morand was the last Conservative MP, representing the former Essex West riding. The Liberals regained the riding in 2019 with Kusmierczyk's election, ending almost 20 years of NDP representation.
According to data from the 2011 federal census, the most recent in which data was available, the median income in Windsor-Tecumseh per household is $28,666. For demographics among ethnic groups, 84.7 of residents are White, 3.7 per cent Black, 3.2 per cent Arab, 2.1 per cent Indigenous, 1.7 per cent South Asian, and 1.3 per cent Filipino.
For distribution by religion, almost three-quarters of riding residents are Christian or Roman Catholic, and 3.1 per cent Muslim, with the rest not disclosing a religion.
The candidates are being presented in alphabetical order.
Kathy Borrelli - Conservative
First-time candidate Kathy Borrelli is the Conservative Party's representative for Windsor-Tecumseh. She is the wife of former Windsor Ward 10 Councillor Paul Borrelli.
According to her official campaign Facebook page, Borrelli is a registered nurse who has worked with Windsor-Essex's vulnerable population at Community Living for 13 years. She has also owned or operated several Windsor-area nightclubs and worked for Caesars Windsor in hospitality management.
The Conservative Party is running on a platform to bring Canadians back to work after the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on small businesses, women, and young people. If elected to form the next government, the Tories would also create a national emergency preparedness plan to be updated yearly.
Laura Chesnik - Marxist-Leninist
Laura Chesnik, an educator, is once again the Marxist-Leninist nominee for Windsor-Tecumseh. Certainly no newcomer to the campaign trail, Chesnik has been the party's candidate in this riding in every federal election since 2004, with the exception of one campaign according to Elections Canada.
Chesnik serves as a co-host of the podcast Education is a Right, where she encourages others to join her in speaking for themselves on matters of concern.
The Marxist-Leninist Party did not provide a platform by press time.
Victor Green - People's Party of Canada
Victor Green is another first-time candidate and the Windsor-Tecumseh nominee from the People's Party of Canada (PPC).
Green was born in England and has lived in Canada since 1994 with his wife and two children. He had served in the Royal Navy and had spent much of his career in the finance industry. A resident of Tecumseh, Green is a member of the Anglican Church and works in home improvement.
The PPC is considered by many to be a further right of the more centre-right Tories. Among the highlights of its platform are a reduction of immigrants to Canada and a repeal of the Multiculturalism Act, according to the party's official website. It would also reduce the national income tax and eliminate all corporate subsidies.
Cheryl Hardcastle - NDP
Former Windsor-Tecumseh MP Cheryl Hardcastle is looking to reclaim the seat in this riding.
Hardcastle had represented Windsor-Tecumseh from 2014, when she was elected in a by-election succeeding Joe Comartin, to 2019 when she was narrowly defeated by Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk.
Before being elected to Parliament, Hardcastle served as Tecumseh's Deputy Mayor. She also served on the boards for ERCA and the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority. A former journalist, she served for 20 years as a reporter and editor for the former Tecumseh Tribune.
The federal NDP has called for an expansion of health care and Medicare and has promised to crack down on the opioid crisis. The party has also suggested building 500,000 affordable housing units to help with housing shortages and making postsecondary education accessible by eliminating up to $20,000 in student debt.
Irek Kusmierczyk - Liberal (incumbent)
Irek Kusmierczyk is seeking his second term as the Windsor-Tecumseh MP in Ottawa. He narrowly beat NDP incumbent Cheryl Hardcastle in the 2019 federal election.
During his first term in Parliament, Kusmierczyk worked to protect jobs at the Windsor Airport tower and make single-game sports betting legal in Canada.
Kusmierczyk is the former councillor in Windsor Ward 7, serving in that role from 2013, when he won a by-election, to his resignation in 2019 upon being elected to Parliament. He had also run unsuccessfully as the riding's Liberal candidate in 2011.
The federal Liberal Party has made health care and COVID-19 recovery the centrepiece of its platform, promising to cut childcare costs to $10 per day, per child. The party has also pledged to continue encouraging Canadians to be vaccinated against the virus.
Henry Oulevey - Green Party
Henry Ouelvey is the Green Party candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh.
This is Oulevey's first federal election as the party's nominee. He previously ran in the provincial riding in 2018, losing to MPP Percy Hatfield of the NDP.
The Green Party's chief platform plank concerns reversing the effects of climate change, and a desire to work with other nations on environmental goals. The Green Party has also promised to shift funding from agricultural endeavours that harm the environment, to those based on animal welfare and ecological principles.
