Windsor mayoral candidate Chris Holt is pledging to launch a municipally funded mental health emergency room if elected.
Holt indicated the emergency room would address the needs of people facing mental health crises while reducing the amount of time police spend on these calls.
He said the pilot project will be established with the help of all the current agencies addressing mental health in the city, like Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare.
"Everybody has a lot more lived and working experience than I do dealing with this situation. This is the time where we need to embrace and collaborate with everybody and really determine what the best location is, how it will look, how it will be staffed, the services that we offer," said Holt.
To pay for the project, Holt said he will cancel the planned Beacon legacy project and the planned water slide upgrades at Adventure Bay Family Waterpark.
"By eliminating those two legacy projects we can fund this entire pilot project and actually build that foundation," said Holt. "Obviously it's going to take some work, it's going to take some coordination among the agencies but there's a clear path to this."
Holt expects that once the model is established the operations costs could be shifted to the province.
"This is the number one issue that we have. We cannot wait. We cannot cross our fingers and cross our toes and hope somebody comes to our rescue," said Holt.
He said the plan will also help to better utilize police on city streets. On average, each time a police officer brings an individual experiencing a mental health crisis to the emergency room they are there with the patient for around five hours.
Also running for mayor in the City of Windsor are incumbent Drew Dilkens, Benjamin Danyluk, Aaron Day, Matthew Giancola, Ernie Lamont, and Louis Vaupotic.
Election Day is on October 24, 2022.