Weeks seventh to run in Ward 7 byelection
Howard Weeks, who waged a campaign that was credited with helping convince council last fall to hire an auditor general, is now campaigning for his own seat at the table.
Weeks, son of 1970s-era mayor Bert Weeks, is the seventh candidate registered to run in the April 27 Ward 7 byelection. Though he lives in Ward 4, he said he’ll move to the east-side ward if elected.
“I already know the ward and it’s a nice place. I won’t have any problem moving there,” Weeks, a photographer and retired social worker, said at his campaign launch at city hall on Wednesday “I live in Walkerville right now, so it’s just down the road.”
Weeks previously ran unsuccessfully in Ward 4 in 2014.
Nominations opened Jan. 14 and close at 2 p.m. on March 13. The byelection was called after thenward 7 Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk was elected a Liberal member of Parliament for Windsor-tecumseh in the Oct. 21 federal election and resigned his council seat.
Other candidates who have recently entered the race include Therese Papineau, a retired civil servant who said she lives in the ward and that her diverse background in budgeting and financial management provides her with a “wealth of knowledge and expertise concerning matters dealing with municipal affairs.” Ernie Lamont, who has repeatedly run for mayor over the years with no success, has also registered.
The earliest four candidates to register are Igor Dzaic, Barbara Holland, Greg Lemay and Michael Malott. Last time there was a byelection in Ward 7 was in 2013, when Kusmierczyk won in a field of 11 candidates.