Windsor West

Windsor West covers the western and southern portions of the City of Windsor, situated on the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan. The riding contains the downtown core, the University of Windsor campus, the historic neighbourhood of Old Sandwich Town, and the Ambassador Bridge -- one of the busiest commercial border crossings in North America. Windsor's identity as a border city and a centre of automotive manufacturing pervades the riding's economic and political character.

Candidates

Brian Masse (NDP) -- The incumbent MP, first elected in a 2002 by-election. Before entering federal politics, Masse served as a Windsor city councillor for Ward 2, winning his seat in 1997. He holds a bachelor of arts in sociology from Wilfrid Laurier University and previously worked as a job developer for the Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities and as a program coordinator at the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County. By 2019 he was seeking his sixth consecutive term.

Sandra Pupatello (Liberal) -- A former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister who represented the Windsor area in the provincial legislature from 1995 to 2011. During her time at Queen's Park, Pupatello held several portfolios including Minister of Community and Social Services, Minister of Education, and Minister of Economic Development and Trade. She holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Windsor.

Henry Lau (Conservative) -- The Conservative candidate, who had also run for the party in the riding in the 2015 federal election.

Quinn Hunt (Green Party) -- The Green Party candidate in Windsor West.

Darryl Burrell ran for the People's Party and Margaret Villamizar for the Marxist-Leninist Party.

About the Riding

The Ambassador Bridge, a privately owned crossing that carries roughly a quarter of all Canada-United States merchandise trade, has been a defining feature of the riding's political landscape. In 2019, construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge -- a new publicly owned span downstream from the Ambassador Bridge -- was underway, with early works having begun in the summer of 2018. The new crossing promised to reduce commercial dependence on the aging Ambassador Bridge and improve highway-to-highway connectivity between the two countries.

The University of Windsor, with an enrollment of approximately fifteen thousand students, anchors the riding's western end and serves as a significant employer and research institution. Old Sandwich Town, first settled in the eighteenth century, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in Ontario. Windsor's working-class heritage and the strong presence of the Canadian Auto Workers union -- by 2019 operating as Unifor -- have made the riding an NDP stronghold for nearly two decades. Despite this, the 2019 contest between Masse and Pupatello was the closest race Masse had faced in his parliamentary career, reflecting the strength of Pupatello's provincial profile and Liberal campaign efforts in the region.