Drew Dilkens officially launches his final mayor campaign

Stating he needs one more term to finish what he started, Dilkens launched his fourth and final campaign for mayor on Friday.

Win or lose, Drew Dilkens says this will be his last Windsor mayoral campaign.

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Positioning himself as Windsor’s defender in a U.S. trade war, and stating he needs one more term to finish what he started, Dilkens launched his fourth and final campaign for mayor on Friday.

“If the people of Windsor give me the privilege of serving for another four years, this will be my final term as mayor,” he said. “I will not seek another. There’s no next title that I’m chasing and no planned campaign after this one. I’m asking for this new mandate because the decisions Windsor makes over the next four years will shape this city for a generation.”

He technically announced his intention to run for a fourth term on Thursday after a media conference about the city’s plan to expropriate 45 derelict west end houses from the Ambassador Bridge company.

Dilkens, who has been Windsor mayor for 12 years, said he wanted to hold off on announcing his run for a four-peat until he announced those plans.

He made it official on Friday by filing the papers at city hall and holding a media conference with his family at his side.

Dilkens’ choice of location to launch his campaign, on the main floor of downtown’s historic Paul Marting building, wasn’t a fluke.

Following his announcement, Dilkens joined reporters on a tour of the building, which a developer is currently transforming into an 85-room boutique hotel.

“It speaks to the revitalization that we’re undertaking downtown,” he said. “It speaks to the commitment and the investment that we are making in our downtown core. It speaks to the partnerships that we’ve developed and it’s an interesting location because it’s one that was supported by the majority of city council, but not my main opponent.”

Dilkens and Fred Francis, Windsor’s Ward 1 councillor since 2014, are among 11 candidates fighting for the mayor’s chair in the Oct. 26 municipal election.

Dilkens didn’t mention Francis by name on Friday, instead referring to him as my “main opponent” or “the other guy.”

Francis told the Star on Friday that he wasn’t opposed to the Paul Martin building redevelopment, whether it was for a hotel or something else. But he wanted the federal government to list the building for sale and have the private sector assume the risks.

Source: Read the original article on windsorstar.com