City Council announced Ward 7 byelection

A byelection will be held in April to fill the Windsor City Council seat left vacant by Councilor Irek Kusmierczyk who is now the Liberal member of parliament for the Windsor-Tecumseh riding.

Terri Knight Lepain has been working as a coordinator of Freedom of Information for 15 years and manager of records and elections for the last one year.

“Every regular municipal election is scheduled by the ministry of municipal affairs after every four years. The next is on Oct. 24, 2022,” said Knight.

The former councilor of Ward 7, Irek Kusmierczyk, was elected as member of parliament in the federal election. City council decided to have an election to fill his space.

Gregory Lemay has been a paralegal since 2011 and has been running his own business for three years. He is a resident of Ward 7 and is running in the byelection. He had previously run for the election in Ward 8.

 “I will complete my nomination process on Jan. 22. I am then going to start campaigning and advertising,” said Lemay. “I am running because I have been inspired by Irek Kusmierczyk.” 

Lemay believes around 15 candidates are going to run for the nomination. Igor Dzaic, Michael Malott and Gregory Lema have signed nomination papers so far.

Byelections cost money and are paid for by taxpayers.

 “The assigned budget for the byelection is $120,000,” said Knight. “Majority of the money is spent on the hiring of staff at polling stations and renting of equipment to tabulate votes. The rest will be for advertising and campaigning.” 

Lemay said he wants to work with Kusmierczyk to focus on the major issues in Ward 7 include flooding, infrastructure and parks.

 Nominations opened Jan.14 and end on Friday Mar. 13 at 2 p.m. There is a $100 nomination filing fee.

Advance voting will be on April 17 and 18 while Election Day is April 27.