One of the largest and most powerful unions in the Windsor area is not supporting the incumbent Mayor in Windsor’s municipal election.
Unifor Local 444 says it is supporting Matt Marchand.
President Dave Cassidy tells CTV Windsor the executive committee made the decision after asking Marchand to answer some questions.
It’s not considered a surprise, considering the former local president Dino Chiodo is on Marchand's campaign committee. But Cassidy says their support goes much further back.
“Two years prior to Kathleen Wynne bringing in the minimum wage, Matt Marchand put together the living wage with Adam Vasey and others and he had the volunteer sign-up program,” says Cassidy.
Cassidy admits they did not invite incumbent mayor Drew Dilkens to speak to the committee, a decision he claims also goes back to the past.
“If I was the mayor of the City of Windsor and I had 2,200 employees off on strike, I would be calling somebody, but Drew, he talks to Kevin Laforet quite a bit,” claims Cassidy, in reference to the 60-day strike by employees at Caesars Windsor.
Dilkens and Marchand are running for mayor along with three other candidates -- Frank Dyck, Tom Hensel and Ernie Lamont.
There are a total of 94 candidates running for Windsor city council.
The Windsor-District Labour Council still has yet to make a decision.
President Brian Hogan tells CTV Windsor their group will sit down next Tuesday and go through each and every candidate, to find the ones they want to support.
Hogan adds they'll be paying close attention to incumbents.
“Transparency, outsourcing, cutting good jobs and in the county, why did you allow our libraries to be closed for that long?” asks Hogan.
The Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce says it will not endorse a candidate.
“We are completely non-partisan,” says Janice Forsyth, the acting CEO.
Although Marchand is their former president, Forsyth says their group has never endorsed a candidate and they will not this time around.
Forsyth says they will organize a local debate and ask their members which candidates they want to hear from and what questions they want answered.
No decision has been made about when and where to hold the debate.
Municipal Election Day is Oct. 22.