Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens is defending a $40,000 request for Memorial Cup celebrations saying the majority of the money will go toward new banners and to replace the brackets, some of which have broken.
He says about $10,000 will be used for the Windsor Spitfires Memorial Cup parade this evening.
As you heard on AM800 news yesterday, Ward 3 Councillor Rino Bortolin criticized the amount saying it was too much money for a parade.
Dilkens says this parade alone will benefit Bortolin's ward.
"We are bringing downtown into his ward, into the core on a Wednesday night at dinner time, thousands of people and so the impact to the downtown will be a very positive impact, I have talked to several restaurateurs who are bringing additional staff in," says Dilkens.
Dilkens says if Bortolin had concerns about the money, he should have voiced them Monday night.
"There was absolutely no discussion, no councillor asked any questions or asked to amend the motion, it was passed and two voted against it and then they went on Twitter and made it sound like something was wrong and nothing was wrong here."
Dilkens says the new banners will go up in the fall.
The parade begins at 6pm at Ouellette and Wyandotte and makes its way to Festival plaza for speeches.
AM 800 will carry the speeches LIVE around 6:30pm.