Windsor-Tecumseh candidates make final push

By Mark Brown/Converged Citizen Staff

Candidates in the only open federal seat in the Windsor-Essex region are pulling out the stops to ensure that their message is being heard in the final days of the 2015 election campaign.
Those running for the top three federal political parties are mobilizing volunteers and appealing to undecided voters as they hope to take the Windsor-Tecumseh seat in Monday night’s election. The riding is open after the New Democratic Party’s Joe Comartin retired after 15 years in Ottawa.
At the East Windsor headquarters of Cheryl Hardcastle, the former deputy mayor of Tecumseh who was tapped to carry the NDP banner, volunteers prepared materials for mass mailing in the

campaign’s dying days. Campaign manager Christine King says they have not stopped working.
“We’re still making contact with voters, we still have Cheryl canvassing, she’s out there every day,” said King.
Despite some technological roadblocks, King believes the campaign has had little trouble overcoming them.
“One thing that is a bit of a problem is a lack of working phone numbers,” said King. “Other than that, there’s other ways of reaching people and you have to be innovative.”
Meanwhile, a short distance away, Conservative candidate Jo-Anne Gignac, the current Windsor city councillor for Ward 6, has her headquarters. The riding has never gone Tory blue, and Abe

Taqtaq, Gignac’s campaign manager, says volunteers are working hard to change that.
“It’s been a campaign that’s been very busy,” said Taqtaq. “Jo-Anne has been very much out, trying to meet as many residents and voters as possible. Our opinion is the campaign has gone very well for us.”
With national polls showing the Conservatives and Liberals in a virtual dead-heat, Taqtaq said Gignac’s supporters are confident they have done an effective job.
“We feel that with her experience on city council and beyond that with the (Catholic) school board…she brings that kind of leadership to the table and our message and goal has always been to highlight that,” said Taqtaq.
At his headquarters near the Caboto Club, Liberal candidate Frank Schiller says he is pleased with the help he has received and feels good about where his campaign stands.
“We have more people volunteering every day, people asking for signs,” said Schiller, adding that volunteers continue to engage voters on the doorstep and over the phone.
“We’re talking and engaging with people in Windsor-Tecumseh at every available opportunity, from nine in the morning till nine at night,” said Schiller.
Before Joe Comartin won the seat in 2000, the region was represented from 1993 to 2000 by Rick Limoges and the late Shaughnessy Cohen. The riding’s current boundaries were drawn in 2003.
Also running in the riding are David Momotiuk of the Green Party and Laura Chesnik of the Marxist-Leninist Party. Voters will select the next Member of Parliament for the riding on Monday, Oct

19.