The campaigning is officially underway to fill a vacant seat on Windsor City Council.
The filing deadline for the Ward 7 by-election was 2 p.m. Friday. At that time, the city's official website listed twelve candidates who are running for the seat, vacated by the resignation of now-Windsor Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk.
Interested candidates were required to be 18 years of age or older, a Canadian citizen, and either a resident or property owner in Ward 7. Candidates must also not be legally prohibited from voting or disqualified by any legislation to run for municipal office.
The candidates include, in alphabetical order:
- Igor Dzaic, a student at the University of Windsor
- Farah El-Hajj, a former constituency office aide to Windsor West MP Brian Masse
- Michelle Gajewski, U of W alum, president of the Polish Canadian Students' Association of Windsor
- Jeewen Gill, real estate broker, a previous Liberal candidate in federal and provincial elections
- Barbara Holland, former chairperson of the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board
- Ernie Lamont, businessman and perennial mayoral candidate
- Greg Lemay, small business owner and homeless advocate
- Mike Malott, Chrysler Canada employee and union member
- Angelo Marignani, an employee at Magna International, former owner of Milk Coffee Bar
- Therese Papineau, retired civil servant
- Albert Saba, employment counsellor
- Howard Weeks, activist