Incumbent Drew Dilkens wants to put measures in place with the goal of creating 2,500 new jobs in Windsor by the end of 2030 if he’s re-elected mayor. Dilkens spoke about his plan Thursday outside of the NextStar Energy battery plant off the E.C. Row Expressway and Banwell in Windsor. Some of the ways he’s planning to achieve that goal is to institute a permit processing guarantee at city hall to speed up approvals by reducing permit fees if internal reviews extend beyond pre-established timelines. “If you submit material to us, you can guarantee that it’s not going to sit on someone’s desk while you go on vacation. It’s going to continue to move through the city’s system in a tracked way and in a way that has a cost consequence to us if we don’t deliver,” he says. “You have the certainty of knowing what you’re going to pay, but you also have the certainty to know at the latest possible time when you’re going to receive your permit.” He would also launch a business retention and expansion program to work with employers to reduce any remaining red-tape burden that limits or inhibits jobs and growth. Dilkens says he wants to make sure the city’s economic development team is laser focused on what Windsor needs to remove any barriers to help local businesses retain jobs and expand. “I think we have the expertise in-house without having to incur more expense to be able to pivot and say this is an important pivot for our organizations because it helps support business expansion and retention at a time when our economy is under threat by the president of the United States,” he says. Dilkens also wants to develop a defence strategy to market the community as a strategic location for new defence production, to align with the Government of Canada’s objective of more domestic production, and to get local businesses ready to take advantage of any opportunity. He says a community like ours that has deep manufacturing roots and is a North American leader in tool, die, and mold, can pivot easily. “Using the expertise that is here and the strength that is here, I want to make sure Windsor is top of mind when it comes to the opportunities that are coming. We’re talking about billion-dollar investments that are about to happen in Canada,” he says. Dilkens has also made the servicing and opening up of the Sandwich South lands a key priority to make the land ready for development as investment opportunities for the area arise, viewing it as the most important legacy he could achieve during his time leading the city. He’s also hoping to leverage the new Fancsy Family Hospital to ensure a Health Research and Development District gets built near the hospital lands off Cabana Road and the 9th Concession to drive job creation in life sciences, biotech, medtech, and applied health research. The 11 candidates running for Windsor mayor are Benjamin Danyluk, Aaron Day, Drew Dilkens (incumbent), Fred Francis, Dylon Graves, Tara Grayer, Nick Kolasky, Tristan Ty Morencie, Kat Pasquach, Patrick Sutherland, and Louis Vaupotic. The municipal election is set to take place Oct. 26.
