A few surprises last night… Most incumbents were returned with the exception of Ward 5, where Ken Lewenza, Jr. was shown the door by voters, and over in Ward 2, Incumbent Ron Jones, beat challenger John Elliott by 3 votes, that one will certainly be headed for a recount later today….
Full election results below are form the City’s official page.
In the Mayor’s race, incumbent Eddie Francis, won a third term.
Incumbent Drew Dilkens, retains Ward 1.
Ron Jones, appears to have won by 3 votes. This will be subject to a recount I can only assume…
Councillor Fulvio Valentenis, in a new ward, retains his seat in a crowded field.
As does Ward 4, incumbent Alan Halberstadt. Windsoreats.com‘s Adriano Ciotoli comes in the middle of the pack.
In the night’s biggest upset, Ed Sleiman defeats incumbent Ken Lewenza, Jr. by a wide margin.
Incumbent Jo-Anne Gignac, holds on to her Riverside ward.
As does incumbent Percy Hatfield, who is also returned to council.
Incumbent Bill Marra cruises to an easy victory.
78 year old Hillary Payne, former City CAO is elected in Ward 9, a ward with no sitting incumbent.
Al Maghnieh is elected in the newly created Ward 10.
So three new faces join the council table, Maghnieh, Slieman and Payne, while the outcome in Ward 2 remains to be seen.
The bad result of the election is not who was or not elected but the number of people who did VOTE. When only forty six percent cared enough to get to the polls is SAD.
Many places in the world would love to have this privldge. Forty six percent cared the fiftyfour percent be ashamed.
Nowadays the reported turnout percentage is always suspect because it is no more than a ballpark estimate. We used to have a system in this province in which enumerators came to your house a few weeks before the election and registered the eligible voters. Now, for cost reasons, we have a list that is calculated from previous lists, assessment information, etc. Missed voters will be added to the list upon their reques. But there is no system to timely remove the names of people who have recently moved or died. If 6,000 people moved from Windsor in the recent recession since the last election many could still be on the voters list and inflate the total of possible voters. All of which means the turnout is understated.
Any municipal election that returns Jo-Anne Gignac and Drew Dilkens back to council, shows Kenny boy and his enormous ego the door while welcoming in Ed Sleiman and gives Eddie a run for his money is a pretty good day for democracy. The fact that Rick Limoges got 40% of the vote after spending a decade in the political wilderness and running one of the worst mayoral campaigns in recent memory should give mayor Eddie something to think about. And let’s not forget about Ron Jones three-vote victory over John Elliot, which will probably end up in a recount.
God, these results are so frustrating. When Limoges started circulating flyers about a 10% commercial and industrial tax cut, I contacted Francis’ office and asked if he was going to match it. The typical, arrogant response was nope, Francis is just going to hold the line on the taxes and continue with the building projects. Finally someone says something right like being competitive with other cities on the tax issue to keep businesses in the city. Gee, I guess all the businesses moving to the suburbs like Tecumseh including the MPAC offices is completely over his head. Francis doesn’t match the business tax cut idea and he still gets elected. I just can’t believe it.
And, Fulvio, OMG, I can’t believe he got so much support. When it was two councilors per ward, I e-mailed and left messages for Fulvio and Halberstadt on the same questions. Halberstadt always answered his messages and e-mails. Fulvio never answered any e-mails or returned phone calls. The guy lives in his own world. It’s ridiculous. Why are people voting for him? I can’t believe the strong support he got vs. the other candidates. I wish at least Halberstadt ran in my ward.
Read the story about the new mayor in London, in todays Star. The election is over if you voted fine, if you didnot shutup.
Are you talking to me? Cuz I voted for Limoges.
Rick Limoges’ numbers were so high, for the simple fact that CUPE is still frustrated that the Eddie and most of council stood up to them and made the right decision to cut costs while affecting services as little as possible. Windsor is not a cit run by militant unions any longer – thank goodness! I can make a pretty confident statement that most CUPE workers (at least those that live in Windsor) and their hardcore supporters only voted against Francis to do just that.
I remember the days when Poker Bob was NDP premier. CUPE supported him and he won. I hated it. Then, he realized the province couldn’t afford to keep them and he did the right thing. He brought in Rae days and started with the CUPE cuts. Just because CUPE supported him doesn’t mean he’s gonna be a mouthpiece for CUPE. I doubt the city would have been run by militant unions under new leadership.
Likewise, Limoges may have been supported by CUPE, but it doesn’t mean he would have given in to their demands like we say during the strike. Lefty’s don’t offer tax cuts for businesses. Limoges offered the 10% tax cuts while Francis offered none. Francis is more left than Limoges. I think a lot of business people also voted for Limoges. That’s why I went with Limoges. Lesser of two evils. But, it’s too late now. He didn’t give himself enough time to market himself on that issue. Another 4 years of waste on overpriced building projects and millions more in unnecessary legal fees instead of tax cuts to save our manufacturing base. Another 4 years of damage to downtown businesses and the rest of this city.
You could not have said it better David. If you think our water rates are high with surcharges, wait till he adds that to our other bills for more kickbacks. More business will
leave the city and more contracted out jobs will occour. Eddie is all about Eddie and people in this city still don’t get it.
At least some people opened their eyes and hopefully Hilary Payne will keep an eye on his underhanded work and make it public. Someone needs to expose his shady deals, not just in the next 4 years but also what he’s done in the past. Alot of blind voters once again.
Hilary Payne is a slum lord who owns a bunch of westside homes. I expect nothing good from him.
Where is the love people? If you think thinks are rotten at City Hall, you have obviously have a very short memory. It was not that long ago when our mayor and most city councilors were organized labour’s lapdogs, giving in to CUPE at the mere threat of a walkout, calling on labour’s political muscle to push through the Western Super Anchor and Canderel projects, slashing city services and jacking up taxes just so card-carrying CUPE members who didn’t even live in Windsor could keep their gold-plated benefits. If you think Eddie Francis is a dictator, then you are probably too young to remember that civic embarrassment named Mike Hurst who occupied the mayor’s office for a dozen years, frittered away taxpayer’s money on one bad deal after another [remember the MFP leasing fiasco?] and went into a full-blown meltdown anytime anybody had the gall to question his decisions. I’m no fan of Mayor Eddie, but I’ll take him over that blithering idiot who took over the mayor’s office in Toronto last Monday any day.
D
whoops
David- don’t be too hard on Fulvio. He did show up the night many of us protested the tearing down of the Seagrave building. He may not be perfect but I believe he tries. When he was in my riding he always got back to me sometimes after another e-mail. His intenetions are sincere I believe.