The Bacon Man's last request
The next municipal election is not until October 2026 but that isn't stopping Ernie 'the Bacon Man' Lamont from making a campaign pitch.
"I'm the guy that's willing to go the nine yards," said Lamont to CTV New while sitting in his bed at Hospice Windsor.
The long-time entrepreneur is recognized for his active presence in local politics. He ran for Windsor’s top job five times.
"How many times do we say if you're going to complain put your name on the ballot? And he did put his name on the ballot and he shared those ideas," said current Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.
Lamont and Dilkens are known to battle it out on the city council floor.
"If we don't agree on anything else, we agree on the fact that we want our city to be better. We want it to succeed. And I wanted to recognize his contribution and his dialogue throughout the years and go visit him in his final days,” Dilkens adds.
Photos placed in Ernie ‘the Bacon Man’ Lamont’s room in hospice care in Windsor, Ont. on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Stefanie Masotti/CTV News Windsor)
Lamont was diagnosed with cancer in 2022. Doctors tell him he has one to three months to live.
He says has one final request. To be transported, on a stretcher, to Windsor City Hall to make one last pitch.
"To bring a second casino across from the new mega hospital. It would create 10,000 jobs year round,” said Lamont. He suggests an aquarium, convention center and indoor amusement park be attached.
As his time nears, some still question how the Bacon Man got his name.
“I was working at Ford selling bacon and cheese. And then my foreman said what do you sell the most? I said bacon. He said ‘why don't you call yourself the bacon man?’ And that was that," Lamont explains.
He hopes residents of Windsor will remember him fondly for years and decades to come.
"I always had your box,” he said. “I always went to city all with the right motivation to make sure that I was doing the right thing."
Photos placed in Ernie ‘the Bacon Man’ Lamont’s room in hospice care in Windsor, Ont. on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. (Stefanie Masotti/CTV News Windsor)
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