Virus prompts candidates to rethink door-knocking
Wary of spreading the coronavirus door to door to door, Ward 7 byelection candidate Barb Holland has abandoned a time-tested campaign strategy.
Some other candidates reached on Friday — the deadline for registering for the April 27 byelection — also said they’re mulling abandoning door-to-door canvassing, long regarded a campaigning must to draw attention in a crowded field. Multiple winners of tight ward races in previous elections have credited long hours of face-to-face canvassing for their victories.
Twelve people are vying to replace former councillor Irek Kusmierczyk, whose seat was vacated after his election to Parliament last fall.
“I’ve been going door to door since February ... but I’m not going to do that now,” said Holland, a former Catholic school board chairwoman and trustee, citing escalating concerns about transmission of the virus and public health advice on social distancing.
Health Canada recommends maintaining a distance of two metres between people in crowds as “a precaution to prevent spread.”
“When you go door to door ... it’s impossible to maintain that six feet and I would feel absolutely horrible if I was responsible for transmitting the virus,” said Holland, who has no indication she has the coronavirus. But even if she’s not a carrier, she could encounter a resident who is, she said.
“If I take it from one house and take it to the next, that’s irresponsible.”
Candidate Mike Malott said his campaign team is getting concerned about how the virus will impact campaigning.
“With 12 candidates in the mix, I wonder if it’s going to become an issue with all these candidates knocking on doors and all the concern about personal space and not being in contact with people,” he said, suggesting seniors, who are most at risk, might be worried about strangers coming to their doors.
“It’s almost uncomfortable when you go to the door. You put out your hand to shake and you kind of get that weird look.”
For city officials, running a byelection in the midst of a declared pandemic is “uncharted territory,” according to deputy clerk Steve Vlachodimos, who said they’re watching it day by day.
“As of right now, the byelection is still a go for April 27 as well as the advance polling dates prior to that on April 17 and 18,” he said. Regarding door-to-door campaigns, he said candidates should monitor any future recommendations from the region’s medical officer of health.
“There are other ways of campaigning besides door to door, but we leave those tools to be decided by all the candidates,” Vlachodimos said.
Several candidates said coronavirus concerns are changing the way they’re campaigning.
“I used to like to shake hands. Well, that’s not going to happen,” said Angelo Marignani, who is making his fifth run at Ward 7. He said he’ll still go door to door, because speaking and listening to residents in person is such an important part of campaigning. But he’ll be “standing back a little more” than he used to when talking to people at the door, and he’ll avoid entering retirement homes.
“It would be horrible” to unknowingly carry the virus into a retirement home and infect the most vulnerable people, he said.
“It’s a campaign, but it’s not worth someone getting ill over. I’d rather just drop off my flyers.”
Candidate Greg Lemay said he hasn’t changed anything about his campaign, although he carries hand sanitizer so he can “squirt and go,” after talking to a voter.
He said he’s already knocked on doors at 50 to 60 streets and has 21 days of time off from work to campaign full time with his team.
Some candidates said they may focus more on campaign strategies that don’t involve face-toface encounters, such as using the telephone and social media, and dropping literature in the mailbox.
The 12 running in the Ward 7 field is the largest for either an election or byelection since 12 people ran in Ward 5 (when there were five wards instead of 10) in 2003. In 1999, 16 people ran in a Ward 5 byelection that was won by future mayor Eddie Francis.
The last candidate to register for this byelection is Michelle Gajewski, a 30-year-old with a law degree from England and a master’s of sociology from the University of Windsor, who said she’s committed to her hometown. She’s lived in Ward 7 since she was five.
“Most of my friends have left, but I’m determined to stay in Windsor and build it up. I think we have great potential in this city,” said Gajewski, who works at a customs brokerage but hopes to eventually land a job developing policy.
“I have a lot of great ideas for Windsor in general and Ward 7,” she said. “I think I can make a big difference.”
The candidates are Gajewski, Marignani, Jeewen Gill, Farah Elhajj, Albert Saba, Howard Weeks, Therese Papineau, Ernie Lamont, Malott, Lemay, Holland and Igor Dzaic.