Ontario Liberals need to rebuild in Windsor-Essex, experts say

CBC

10-02-2025

The Ontario Liberal Party has so far named only one candidate for the four Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent ridings for the upcoming provincial election – and experts say the party has a lot of work to do to return to the days when Windsor was a Liberal stronghold.
"Historically, this was a Liberal stronghold, especially provincially," said Lydia Miljan, a professor of political science at the University of Windsor.
"You know, we used to have Sandra Pupatello, Dwight Duncan — cabinet ministers … Obviously to me [it] seems like there's a generational change, like the old guard is no longer in play, and they haven't been able to build up a new party."
The demographics of the region have also changed dramatically over the past 50 or 60 years, said Lloyd Brown-John, a longtime local political columnist and professor emeritus in the University of Windsor political science department.
Windsor was once home to what he called an economic and social elite that voted Liberal, he said.
Changing culture
But the Ford motor strike in 1944 and the growth of unions changed the relationship between people and politics – and the merger of the CCF and NDP created a new option for people who had typically only had a choice between Liberals and Conservatives.
That shift, combined with an influx of people with no ties to the traditional elite changed the culture of the region, he said.
"In 1971, I started a controversy at [an] all candidates [meeting] when I referred to having heard Windsor described as a lunch bucket town with a peanut butter culture," Brown-John said.
In rural Essex county, he said, the growth of the greenhouse industry has created a new economic elite that, along with the area's fundamentalist Christian population, has produced a solid base for the Conservatives.
If the Liberals want to win back the region, leader Bonnie Crombie is going to need to get out of the Greater Toronto Area, Brown-John said: They need to rebuild their roots in Windsor-Essex and attract more volunteers.
The Ontario Liberal Party confirmed this week that 23-year-old Connor Logan will serve as their candidate in Windsor-Tecumseh.
Miljan said the nomination of Logan, one of her former students, is a positive step forward for the party, and she expects him to be part of the rebuilding process.
"But unfortunately for them, this election cycle it's going to be very problematic," she said.
The Liberals should have been more ready for the election, Miljan added, calling it the "worst kept secret in town."
"[Ford] had signaled, you know, way back in the fall, that this was something he was interested in doing," she said. "So it seems to me that they're having difficulty getting people to put their name on the ballot."
But, she said, it doesn't mean the party can't regain its footing: the Windsor region has at times been associated with all the major parties.