All mayoral hopefuls confirmed for Oct. 22 debate
A second mayoral debate has been confirmed leading up to the Oct. 22 municipal election, and this one will feature all five candidates. The Canadian Federation of University Women, Windsor branch, is holding the event Wednesday, Oct. 3, starting at 7 p.m. at the WFCU Centre.
That’s one week before the previously announced Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 10 at the Fogolar Furlan Club from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The chamber debate will feature only the two candidates regarded as clear front-runners: incumbent Mayor Drew Dilkens and former chamber president Matt Marchand.
All five candidates were invited to the university women debate, and they’ve all confirmed they’ll attend, organizer Brenda WeeksClarke said Wednesday. “It just never occurred to us to cherry-pick which candidate to invite,” she said. “It just strikes me as elitist (to invite only two of five candidates). Young, up-and-coming politicians should have their chance as well. ” Last municipal election four years ago, there were 12 mayoral candidates, a large number which made the debate “unruly or unwieldy,” she said.
She said the audience was standing room only at the 2014 debate. “It was noisy, raucous, crowded. There were people hooting and hollering, climate change deniers, people of all stripes.”
In addition to Dilkens and Marchand, this year’s mayoral candidates are Ernie Lamont, who has run for mayor several times, including in 2014 when he legally changed his name to Ernie the Baconman and finished with 1.1 per cent of the vote (he’s now changed his name back to Ernie Lamont); Thomas Hensel, a lawschool graduate and self-described entrepreneur; and Frank Dyck, 49, a retired farmer. Weeks-Clarke said having just five candidates debating this time will be “blessedly easier” than last time when 12 were invited. The moderator will be Windsor lawyer and former Kingsville deputy mayor Tamara Stomp. Weeks-Clarke said each candidate will give a four-minute opening statement, answer four questions which are the same for everyone, answer questions from the audience if time allows, and then will give a two-minute closing. There has been talk about allowing the candidates to debate among themselves.