Mayor Eddie Francis endorses Drew Dilkens for next mayor

Windsor's outgoing mayor has announced he is endorsing Drew Dilkens to be his successor.

"I'm supporting Drew Dilkens for a number of reasons," said Eddie Francis.

Dilkens has served as a city councillor under Francis for the past eight years.

He is campaigning on a platform of carrying on with the policies Francis and the outgoing council have employed to oversee the city.

Francis said Dilkens is the man for the job because during his time on council he has held the line on taxes, invested in infrastructure and helped diversify the economy.

"His campaign has been focused on staying the course, his campaign has been focused on building on that level of success and continuing to hold the line on taxes."

Dilkens is grateful for the support, but won't speculate on whether it will translate into votes.

"We won't know until October 27 when the votes are cast, but I think there are a lot of people in this community who have appreciated what this mayor has provided, the leadership this mayor has provided," said Dilkens. "They appreciated what this city council has done to support this mayor and the collective vision that we've had."

Francis said he did consider Larry Horwitz and John Millson, but he added they don't have a clear platform and he's concerned about Millson unravelling the current council's work.

"What's going to happen when garbage outsourcing comes due," said Francis. "Is he going to unravel garbage outsourcing. When parking enforcement comes due in terms of the expiring of the outsourcing is he going to unravel that."

Millson said at a candidates debate at the Windsor Star Tuesday that he's not phased by the endorsement.

"We're moving ahead with our job creation, our platform which is open and transparency, get on with creating jobs and our infrastructure."

Larry Horwitz said he's more interested in what the public thinks of him.

"It's the people of Windsor," said Horwitz. "The community, all the people that I've visited at their doors, the business community that will make a determination on what ideas to bring forward how to lead their community and who would be their leader."