Latest news with #Miljan
CBC
29-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
With Borrelli win, blue wave blankets Windsor, Chatham and Sarnia region
For mainly rural parts of southwestern Ontario, Conservatives have historically made a real imprint on federal politics. But that's not been the case for a very long time in Windsor — until now. All three ridings within Windsor-Essex are now blue for the first time in 95 years. The number of ridings shoots up to five when you factor in the Chatham and Sarnia areas — making it a clean Conservative sweep. "Completely shocked," was how political analyst Lydia Miljan referred to the local results. "I had to assume that they were going to just stick with what we had." Conservative candidate Harb Gill took the coveted riding of Windsor West away from NDP MP Brian Masse. Kathy Borrelli flipped Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore away from Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk with 233 votes. The final results were not known until Tuesday afternoon. Conservative incumbents Dave Epp (Chatham-Kent—Leamington), Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong) and Chris Lewis (Essex) were all re-elected. Miljan calls Masse's loss "catastrophic." The election results were harsh for the NDP as a whole dropping a number of seats resulting in the loss of officially party status in the House of Commons. Leader Jagmeet Singh, originally from Windsor, Ont., also resigned as party leader. The change in the political landscape locally comes as the country remains under a Liberal banner federally — just with minority status. "Clearly the Conservatives were very effective at both getting out for their vote and having that ground game, but also they're really effective in courting the labour vote and, and pulling that away from the NDP," said Miljan. She says it appears as though the cost of living, union jobs and the ability to secure housing are what resonated in the region. "That certainly seems to be what pulled off those flips and those victories that the Conservatives had." 'Haven't traditionally been supportive of the auto industry' James Stewart, president of Unifor Local 444, says Canada needs to continue to rev up its fight against American tariffs now that the election is out of the way. His union, the largest in Windsor, endorsed local Liberal candidates, including Kusmierczyk. "He was instrumental in bringing the billions of dollars to the Windsor Assembly plant to make sure they were fitted for the new stellar large platform, including to make it very flexible," said Stewart. With Kusmierczyk and Masse now out of the mix, Stewart says the region has lost two auto sector champions. "Two people that have put a lot of work," he said. WATCH | Trump to sign executive order around auto tariffs, White House says: Trump to sign executive order around auto tariffs, White House says 6 hours ago Duration 1:42 Moving forward, Stewart hopes the newly elected Conservatives can "break" some of the "traditional platforms" they've had in the past. "They haven't traditionally been supportive of the auto industry and the investments in the auto industry, the investments and the battery plant," he said. "I think they have to because especially under the challenges we're facing today." Stewart hopes Prime Minister Mark Carney's first order of business is to reach across the floor on Parliament Hill. "He's got to find a way to bridge some of the gaps."
CBC
10-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Ontario Liberals need to rebuild in Windsor-Essex, experts say
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.
CBC
29-01-2025
- Automotive
- CBC
Expect Doug Ford to use Windsor as campaign backdrop, political scientist says
Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford will launch his election campaign in Windsor Wednesday. And a political scientist at the University of Windsor says she expects him to make the border city a prominent backdrop for his campaign. Ford has called it a "campaign to protect Ontario" as he attempts to position himself as the best candidate to defend the province's interests in the face of American tariff threats and steer its economy through the potential devastation to follow. He has benefited from being able to "fill the vacuum" in national leadership left by Justin Trudeau's resignation at a time when Canada is facing economic threats from south of the border, said Lydia Miljan. "He's in the biggest economy of the country, and he's the chair of the premiers' caucuses," Miljan said. "A lot of the meetings have happened in Ontario, so he's really been at the centre of a governmental response to the potential tariffs. And so his battles with Danielle Smith, his disagreements with Alberta, played well to a local audience." PCs could look to Windsor West seat At the same time, Miljan said, the auto sector is vulnerable to the Trump administration's decision to back away from its commitment to electrification and to battling climate change, so the snap election seems like an attempt by Ford to prevent the fallout from those actions from affecting his reelection prospects. Ford will hold a roundtable with Unifor Local 444 and visit workers at Harbour Technologies, a local manufacturer, during his stop in Windsor. He has said he needs a strong mandate to lead the province through the uncertainty brought by the potential U.S. tariffs. And there's one way to strengthen his mandate in Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia: by targeting Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky, the only non-PC MPP in the region. "I think she is vulnerable in part because the NDP's leader, Marit Stiles, really hasn't gotten great name recognition in Ontario," Miljan said. "Election campaigns tend to be leader-focused," she added. And Doug Ford "really is sort of taking all the oxygen out of the room." But Gretzky came out swinging at a news conference Tuesday morning, accusing Ford of spending up to $200 million on an election that could be used to pay for services people need. "We have a mental health and addictions crisis, a homelessness crisis," Gretzky said. "We have record numbers of people going to food banks," she said. "We have tariff threats coming from the United States and the only premier in the entire country who thinks that now is the good time [to] go to an election." On Tuesday evening, the Ontario PC website listed Tony Francis as the candidate in Windsor West. Francis is a director of the Windsor West PC riding association who has a background as a steel mill engineer. The 2022 election saw the lowest voter turnout in Ontario history, Miljan said, and the winter election will only make it more challenging to get people to the ballot box. "You want people who are willing to go through a snowstorm … to get out and cast their ballot," Miljan said. "It's kind of early to tell what the dynamics of this campaign are going to be." People tend to be less engaged with provincial politics than federal politics even though provincial politics is "closer to the people," she added, and they're more likely to vote when they want change.
