With just under two weeks left before the election, Windsor mayoral candidates Drew Dilkens and Fred Francis unveiled more details about their platforms.
Drew Dilkens outlined his vision for downtown with the help of Ward 3 incumbent Renaldo Agostino and local business owner Chris Mac Leod.
His proposal involves relocating the Downtown Mission to provide services at the Homelessness and Housing Help Hub.
“We’ve been working with the Downtown Mission to try and find the pathway that would have them move off Ouellette to deliver services at the H4,” said Dilkens. “We know that council already approved filling in the pool, upgrading the HVAC, adding more showers and washrooms to expand operations at H4. We need a good operator; we believe the Mission does a good job with their operation; we just believe it would be better done off of Ouellette Avenue.”
To further his Strengthen the Core initiative, Dilkens says he plans to create a new economic development area aimed at attracting an anchor tenant while also building a new Central Library next to City Hall.
“I’m talking about a stunning state-of-the-art library with two floors of books and materials, programming and opportunities. It will be home for the ’s important archives collection that we obtained just a couple years ago, and it will open onto City Hall Square,” said Dilkens.
The City of Windsor is still negotiating with Infrastructure Ontario to acquire land that once housed the Ontario Tourism office.
Dilkens mentions he’s also dedicated to revamping Festival Plaza to incorporate more green spaces.
“I want to make our community more beautiful. I want to create gathering spaces where the community can go to listen to music and enjoy events in public,” said Dilkens.
Windsor mayoral candidate Fred Francis visited the former Grace Hospital site on October 13, 2026, where he shared his plans for increasing housing options with a focus on affordable housing along with community-benefit conditions tied into any developments on city-owned properties.
Francis states that over 6,000 affordable housing units are needed in Windsor within the next decade.
“We are nowhere near that target, and we’re losing time every single day. That’s why it’s unacceptable that there’s no activity on [the former Grace Hospital] site or other sites in our land portfolio that can be actioned right away,” said Francis.
He adds that when partnering with developers on city-owned lands, he’ll encourage them to hire local workers and businesses whenever possible.
“We will ensure there’s a community benefit; it could be more trees, it could be a park, it could be a community centre or recreational facility-those options will be prioritized by surrounding neighbors,” said Francis.
Francis also aims to broaden the downtown development-charge-free zone to include Ford City and Sandwich Town as incentives for new investments.
Election Day is set for October 26, 2026.
Nine other candidates are also running for Windsor mayor including Benjamin Danyluk, Aaron Day, Dylon Graves, Tara Grayer, Nick Kolasky, Tristan Ty Morencie, Kat Pasquach, Patrick Sutherland, and Louis Vautopic.
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