Candidates, voters banter over beers

By Mark Brown/Converged Citizen Staff

 

Candidates representing all three Windsor-Essex federal ridings met with potential voters over drinks at a meet-and-greet event Wednesday evening in downtown Windsor.

More than a hundred people turned out at Rino’s Kitchen on Elliott Street West for Brews and Banter, an informal event in which 12 of the 15 filed candidates in the Windsor West, Windsor-Tecumseh and Essex ridings took part. The event was sponsored by the Windsor Independent, the region’s alternative monthly newspaper and Jon Liedtke, the paper’s director of business development, said the publication was not looking to sponsor a straight debate.

“What I wanted to do was provide to the audience the candidates all under one roof,” said Liedtke. “An interesting fact about the demographic we are trying to go after is that they’re very interested in politics. They actually care about the issues, they care about the parties but they don’t like the way politics has been done.”

Liedtke pointed out that the demographic, ages 21 to 49, is not using the landline phones called by polling companies like they have in the past and this event was a great way to reach those potential voters.

“It’s different, it’s unconventional, it’s called Brews and Banter because we wanted people to have a few brews and have some banter. They can have some back-and-forth without a moderator. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible for the candidates and the participants.”

Windsor West Conservative candidate Henry Lau says he is not only fighting for his riding but also the young people the event was geared to, saying Windsor is theirs for the taking.

“It (the political process) is very important for young people,” said Lau. “This community is for them, for their futures.”

Lau was the only Tory candidate to attend the event. Essex incumbent Jeff Watson and Windsor-Tecumseh’s Jo-Anne Gignac did not attend, nor did the Green party candidate for Windsor West Cora LaRussa.

David Momotiuk, running in Windsor-Tecumseh for the Green party, made the rounds at the event and said he believes young voters should definitely be engaged in the upcoming vote.

“I understand that the youth are interested in politics,” said Momotiuk. “What I would try to say to young people is that they shouldn’t get so down on themselves.”

The Green party’s Jennifer Alderson attended as the candidate for the Essex riding. The NDP incumbent for Windsor West, Brian Masse, answered participants’ questions as did NDP candidates Cheryl Hardcastle for Windsor-Tecumseh and Tracey Ramsey for Essex.

Also meeting with voters were Liberal candidates David Sundin in Windsor West, Audrey Festeryga in Essex and Frank Schiller in Windsor-Tecumseh. The Marxist-Leninist Party was also represented by Windsor West candidate Margaret Villamizar, Essex’s Enver Villamizar and in Windsor West, Laura Chesnik.

Liedtke said he could not be more pleased with the way the gathering turned out and the questions participants had for the candidates.

“They want to be involved, they want to talk to the candidates,” said Liedtke. “They all have some things that they care about and want to talk to the candidates about.”

The candidates from all five of the parties running in Windsor-Essex will continue to hit the campaign trail leading up to the Oct 19 federal election.