The usual suspects were present at the first mayoral debate of the year at the WFCU Centre Wednesday.
Drugs, crime, homelessness and many more pressing issues throughout the debate hosted by the Canadian Federation of University Women,
Frank Dyck, Tom Hensel, Ernie Lamont, Matt Marchand, and incumbent Drew Dilkens sat in front of a modest 100-people at the WFCU Centre Wednesday night.
Dilkens and Marchand were the most engaging, Hensel occasionally chimed in, but Lamont left many in the crowd confused and offended.
The reserved Director of The Downtown Mission had about enough of Lamont's constant insults towards the homeless and the mentally ill.
"Why do we want to have our taxes raised? No, people that are on assistance, the people at the [Downtown Mission], they could all go to Leamington and help us out, thank you." Says Lamont
"Shame on you Ernie, shame on you," says Dunn.
An array of comments towards immigrants and those on social assistance lost Lamont a vote from Dunn.
"We're the compassion? I want my mayor to and my elected officials to rule with compassion, yes, fiscal responsibility, yes let's look at the other issues, but if you don't have compassion for the people you're serving," he says.
Like helping the homeless and those addicted to drug, Dilkens told the crowd policing is more complicated than it seems.
"Last year we provided housing to 250-people in the city of Windsor, the plan is working," says Dilkens. "We have 24 new police officers, implementing digital neighbourhood watch and adding eight additional officers on patrol, on foot in the downtown core to catch criminal who are coming to the city of Windsor who are wanted in other jurisdiction that are coming here are getting sent back to the jurisdiction that they came from."
Ward 5 resident Ruth Lieban is on the fence between the two front runners, but is leaning towards Marchand after Wednesday's debate.
He touched on some important things, showing it's not a simple as people think and there are plans in place," shay Liebman. "On the other hand, what I don't like is that he's not as transparent as Matt Marchand appears to be."
Marchand used the word proactive, and while he and Dilkens did exchange barbs over the Chrysler building and the trolley car, crime drugs and jobs stayed near the top of the discussion.
"You've got to come at it from multiple angles, do we deal with the homeless, do we deal with the opioid problem, then we have the crime problem," he says. "As the Mayor of Medicine Hat has found, it's cheaper to deal with the homeless problem on the front end than it is trying to arrest people on the back end."
The 2018 Municipal Election starts Oct 22.