2020 Warden's State of The County Address - County of Essex

2020 Warden’s State of The County Address
Good Morning.

Zoom is a poor substitute for a delicious lunch and a room filled with the
best and brightest of Windsor-Essex, but I’m thankful technology is bringing
us together at time when a terrible virus is keeping us apart. It’s important
that we honour traditions – this is now the 13th Warden’s Luncheon – and it’s
important that we gather as a region, even electronically, to celebrate our
successes and share our vision for the future.

Holding this event virtually in no way diminishes the amazing story Windsor-
Essex has to tell. If anything, it amplifies it, carrying it digitally outside the
confines of the Ciocario Club, to computers, smartphones and social media
feeds across Windsor-Essex and beyond. The virtual format tells its own
story as well, that this community is resilient and resourceful and capable of
shifting gears and doing things differently when circumstances demand it.

I’m delivering this address from the Civic Centre in Essex and there are
people tuning in from LaSalle and Leamington to Amherstburg and
Lakeshore and all points in between. Where ever in Windsor-Essex you are
watching this, I would like to acknowledge that we are on the unceded
territory of the Algonquin under the counsel of the three fires being the
Ottawa, Ojibway and Potawatomi.

Thank you to everyone participating in today’s event, a cross-section of
leaders and community builders from every corner of Windsor-Essex. You
are what makes this community unique and dynamic. Your creativity, your
compassion, your ingenuity, your love for this region and your hopes and
ambitions. You are what makes this region the best place on the planet to
raise a family, start up a new business or retire to bike and boat and golf
and soak up one spectacular sunset after the other.

You are the lifeblood of our economy and the best weapon we have in our
fight against COVID-19. Your adherence to health guidelines and your
willingness to make sacrifices and adjust virtually every aspect of your lives
allowed us to flatten the curve and keep our hospitals from being
overwhelmed. Your selfless actions as individuals have protected the broader
community. By washing your hands and wearing a mask and adhering to
physical distancing protocols, you slowed the spread and you most definitely
saved lives.

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Thank you to the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce for
organizing today’s event and for everything you do to promote this region
and the businesses, big and small, that make us so dynamic and unique.

The #ShopYQG campaign you launched with Tourism Windsor-Essex-Pelee
Island at the height of the pandemic was vitally important to the economic
fortunes of this region. You provided businesses the tools for success and
drove home the message local spending punched above its weight, that
every dollar spent locally returned three times as much to the regional
economy.

Residents heeded that shop local call and businesses survived the doldrums
of the pandemic because of it. They still need our support, now maybe more
than ever, and I know Windsor-Essex residents will be there to provide it.

Thank you to Essex Power and the Windsor Port Authority for your support
of today’s event. Essex Power does more than provide safe and reliable
power to more than 30,000 homes and businesses in Windsor-Essex, it
powers our community with thousands of dollars in charitable contributions
benefitting youth and it works for our environment with its paperless billing
campaign.

And the Windsor Port Authority: I share your vision of connecting Windsor-
Essex to the world. You will no doubt be a foundational partner as this
region embraces its potential as a dynamic and integrated international
transportation hub.

And thank you, of course, to the Libro Credit Union, for sponsoring today’s
event. You are the very definition of a community pillar and you have stood
strong throughout this pandemic, supporting your customers, supporting this
community and supporting students and small business.

Your Local2Local Challenge was incredibly generous, creative and effective in
the midst of this pandemic. Providing each of your 700 employees with $25
to spend at their favourite local business and then trumpeting it on social
media provided our struggling businesses with both exposure and sales.

And the $320,000 Libro Credit Union donated to the COVID-19 Emergency
Response Initiatives of local United Ways did so much good for so many
people, helping young families and seniors through some of the most
anxious, uncertain days of this pandemic.

Thank you, as well, for speaking up about the need for high-speed Internet
in the rural areas of southwestern Ontario. Your comments on the federal
government’s Universal Broadband Fund were spot on: Access to high speed

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Internet is very much “urgent and critical to the success and continued
growth of rural Canada” and can very much be a “catalyst for change.”

We a took a massive step forward last week when SWIFT announced it had
awarded contracts worth $19 million to install fibre-optic cable along 260 km
of roadway in Essex County. This investment will bring high-speed Internet
to more than 5,000 homes and businesses in Essex, Kingsville, Leamington
and Lakeshore by the end of 2022.

This is fantastic news but our work is far from complete. We must continue
pressing for more funding from the senior levels of government. High speed
Internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity. If the pandemic has taught us
anything, it has taught us that. The County of Essex stands alongside the
Libro Credit Union in its campaign for fast and reliable Internet in every
corner of the County.

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than seven months since the County of
Essex declared a State of Emergency in response to COVID-19 and the
threat of rising water levels. So much has happened since then, a period
that seems to have passed very quickly and yet interminably at the same
time.

We have lost 76 lives to COVID-19 and thousands more contracted the
virus. Businesses have closed and many others are struggling. But our
community remains optimistic and upbeat, honouring the fallen with our
compassion and generosity, by shopping local and by adhering to health
guidelines and physical distancing protocols.

The County of Essex has weathered well the initial onslaught of COVID-19
and we are ideally positioned for continued prosperity when the storm
passes, when the solid foundation that has kept us stable in these turbulent
times becomes a launching pad for significant economic growth and
diversification.

Thanks to the diligent stewardship of successive councils, our tax rates have
essentially been flat-lined over the past 16 years, with increases averaging
well under the rate of inflation. We are debt free and pay as we go,
contributing to our reserves while managing an investment portfolio of more
than $112 million. We have more than $170 million in reserves, including by
the end of this year nearly $20 million for the new hospital system. Our
credit rating has again been affirmed by Standard and Poors as AA+ with a
stable outlook. That’s the highest rating that a County government can
achieve.

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Chief Administrative Officer Robert Maisonville was around for all of those
budgets and deserves much credit for the County’s strong financial position,
and for the successes we’re celebrating today. He was named Treasurer in
1999 and took on the CAO’s job in 2017. He’s retiring early in 2021, capping
a distinguished career of more than 31 years with the County of Essex.

Rob: Thank you for your service to the County. You are a passionate and
dedicated CAO who has earned the loyalty and respect of your employees
and County Council through your work ethic and your inclusive approach to
leadership. You were the steady hand we needed as we navigated the
uncertain waters of COVID-19 and you are passing off to your successor a
financially sound municipality with dedicated employees providing quality
services to the residents of Windsor-Essex.

The employees of the County of Essex have likewise been absolutely rock
solid throughout this pandemic, continuing to deliver top notch services and
programs to residents despite the pressures and obstacles created by
COVID-19.

Our Clerk’s office made seamless the transition to virtual meetings,
embracing new technologies and equipment in service of good governance,
ever mindful of the importance of engaging and including residents in the
democratic process. They hadn’t heard of Zoom before this pandemic struck
– I’m not sure any of us had – but they adapted and made it work for
Windsor-Essex.

Our Housing with Supports team persisted in the face of COVID-19 and
continued to speak with home operators on a weekly basis. They played a
crucial role in distributing personal protective equipment to their partner
homes, which now number more than 10 across the county. Their jobs were
significantly impacted by COVID-19 but they stood strong and provided top
quality support in a difficult environment.

Workers with the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority continued to deliver
vital services throughout the pandemic and continued their important
outreach work, encouraging residents to reuse and recycle and hosting
events like Waste Reduction Week.

And our roads crews haven’t stopped. They were plowing snow and salting
roads when this pandemic began more than seven months ago and they’ll
soon be starting their winter night rotation, ready to roll once more. All
season, they’ve been working with contractors on major bridge, culvert and
road reconstruction projects and continuing with planning and design work
for projects they will tackle next year and beyond.

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Of all the services offered and overseen by the County of Essex, the one that
seems to get people talking – especially during construction season – is our
vast road network. It covers some 1,500 km, linking all seven of Essex
County’s distinct and vibrant municipalities.

Our 2020 Budget devoted more than $50 million to our roads and more than
half of that is related to expansion projects designed to prepare this region
for future economic growth. I logged more than 4,000 kilometres last year
crisscrossing Essex County on official business and I would put our
transportation network up against any in the world.

Work also continued throughout the pandemic on the County Wide Active
Transportation System, which experienced a surge in usage as residents
took to our trails and greenways in pursuit of mental and physical wellness.
They walked and they cycled and they jogged and had no difficulty adhering
to physical distancing protocols. So many new users discovered the utility
and beauty of our connected trail network, which features the southernmost
link of the Trans Canada Trail and routes that carve through woodlots and
along waterways with spectacular views and epic sunsets.

Since 2012, the County has constructed about 415 kilometres of what will
eventually be an 800-km active transportation network linking our seven
local municipalities with trail systems in Windsor and Chatham-Kent. We’ve
recently installed bicycle lockers outside recreational facilities in each of our
local municipalities as part of pilot project to encourage more cycling. They
are free and easy to use and I encourage everyone to get out there and get
active.

These investments we are making in our roads and trail systems and our
digital infrastructure will pay huge dividends, attracting and supporting new
and existing industry and attracting young couples, looking for an affordable
and exceptional place to raise their growing families.

Residential development is already booming in the County, so much so that
County Council approved the hiring of another planner to handle the growing
volume of applications. Last year, the County accepted and processed three
draft plans of subdivision, creating 1046 units and 40 blocks, and four draft
plans of condominium, creating 200 units. The pandemic certainly hasn’t
slowed demand.

Within the past year the County Planning Department has processed and
provided at least draft approval for:

A 71-lot subdivision in Lakeshore along with 232 condominium units and 22
townhomes.

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314 multi-residential units in Tecumseh that will promote residential
intensification, enhancing walkability and access to public transit.

Single and multi-residential developments in LaSalle that will create 1,200
units.

More than 500 new residential units in the Kingsbridge subdivision in
Amherstburg.

Significant developments are also on tap for Essex, Kingsville and
Leamington, including the Keepsake subdivision providing condominiums
and townhomes catering to our growing seniors community.

This pandemic is only going to fuel demand for homes in Windsor-Essex as
the abundance of space we enjoy here has truly been a blessing in this time
of social distancing. We have so many parks and forests and trails where
people can walk or run or cycle and not have to worry about crowds.

When I think back to the early days of this pandemic, I think about three
things – the incredible bravery of our frontline health care workers, who
plunged headlong day after day into the unknown, our resourceful and
resilient business community, which stepped up to make hand sanitizer and
desperately needed medical supplies, and our residents who provided them
both the support that was so desperately needed.

I’m not sure it gets any more Canadian than Brian’s Custom Sports in
Kingsville switching production from making goalie pads to medical gowns
for Essex-Windsor EMS paramedics. There are so many local businesses who
stepped up like that. And when we put out the call for donations of personal
protective equipment, we were overwhelmed with this community’s
generosity. More than 3,000 N-95 Respirators rolled in along with more than
38,000 surgical masks and more than 45,000 pairs of disposable gloves.
Incredible.

And all the social media posts from resident praising our frontline healthcare
workers, all the messages of support written in chalk on sidewalks or on
colourful signs planted in front lawns from Leamington to LaSalle to
Lakeshore. The community rose up as one to thank all of our frontline
workers, from our grocery store clerks to our truckers to our nurses,
personal support workers and paramedics. Those messages of hope and
optimism gave our frontline workers strength to see them through this fight.
And I’ll tell you this: Those frontline workers have in turn given us strength
and hope and courage.

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I know that I take strength from the incredible work being done by the staff
at Sun Parlor Home, from the nurses to the personal support workers to the
maintenance, kitchen and cleaning crews and the life enrichment team
finding creative ways to connect with residents despite COVID-19
restrictions.

Under the leadership of Jayne Brooks Keller and a dedicated administrative
team, you have worked under incredibly stressful circumstances to keep safe
some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Your dedication
and commitment to the health and wellbeing of Sun Parlor Home residents
throughout this crisis has been remarkable. I know it has not been easy and
I know the crisis has not yet passed, but thank you for your diligence, your
courage and your compassion.

Essex-Windsor EMS Paramedics have likewise been at the centre of this
COVID-19 storm since the beginning. Under the leadership of Essex-Windsor
EMS Chief Bruce Krauter they have stepped up and saved lives, donning
personal protective equipment for each and every call knowing every new
patient could potentially be infected with COVID-19.

Our paramedics played a crucial role in slowing the spread of COVID-19 and
protecting our most vulnerable residents. They helped test thousands of
residents in long-term care homes, they helped test agri-farm workers at the
height of the pandemic and they helped with the mass testing of thousands
of residents in multiple Essex County municipalities.

Our Paramedics treat and transport more than 47,000 patients every year.
Their fleet of ambulances travels more than 2.25 million kilometres annually,
covering an area of some 1,852 square kilometres. Their response times
have remained consistent despite the demands of COVID-19 and they
continue to save lives each and every day. They set a record last year,
saving the lives of 46 sudden cardiac arrest patients. That’s 46 people – 46
families – who were given a second chance and those people will go on to
pay it forward, enriching the lives of countless others.

The staff and leadership of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit deserve
special praise for their efforts during this pandemic. The health unit, without
fail, has been there every day during this crisis to provide us with updates
and advisories and recommendations. Dr. Wajid Ahmed and Theresa
Marentette have been consistent, reassuring voices throughout this health
crisis and I would like to extend them my thanks and my gratitude. You
have done this community a great service.

Through it all, though, the residents of Windsor-Essex have stayed positive
and strong. We’ve been resourceful and resilient and creative and

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compassionate. The pandemic has brought out our best, not our worst. It
has brought us together rather than split us apart. It has challenged us but
not broken us and we know we’ll win in the end. Because that’s what we do
in Windsor-Essex. We tough it out, we stick together, we never give in.

We are all connected here in Essex County and by working together and
leveraging each other’s strengths and abilities, the whole becomes greater
than the parts. We have seven unique and wonderful municipalities in Essex
County, each with their own histories and rhythms and quirks, but we work
together with each other and with Windsor for the greater good of the
region. In the words of the great Shawnee warrior Chief Tecumseh: “A single
twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong.”

Windsor-Essex is a model of collaboration and cooperation that is the envy
of jurisdictions across the country. Our residents enjoy affordable, top notch
services because we deliver them on a regional level. This region works so
well for residents because we work so well together.

It is this sense of unity and common purpose that will see us through this
generational health crisis. It’s important we celebrate our victories and our
successes in the midst of this pandemic because the work to be the most
dynamic, family-friendly, economically diverse region in the country has
never really stopped. We are growing in Windsor-Essex, we are on the brink
of achieving some extraordinary things.

Where the city meets the county in the west, a bridge is rising that will
transform not only the landscape but this region into a mobility and logistics
hub at the epicentre of the North American economy. And where the city
meets the county in the east, a state-of-the-art hospital will one day rise
that will transform health care in this region for generations to come.

Sixty acres of land was officially acquired for the hospital just a few weeks
ago on County Road 42 and the 9th Concession. This is a monumental step
and it signals the project is proceeding full-steam ahead with backing from
the city, county and the province. The County of Essex set aside $5.2 million
in our most recent Budget for this project and we now have nearly $20
million in a reserve dedicated to building this new hospital.

This victory was won by this community, who penned emails and put out
lawn signs and lobbied on social media, who rose up as one to tell the
Province that “We Can’t Wait” for a state-of-the-art hospitals system. Well,
they heard us loudly and clearly all the way in Queen’s Park. We were so
vocal, in fact, that Premier Doug Ford called a new Windsor-Essex Hospitals
system his #1 priority for this region and promised to fight for it around the
cabinet table “like an 800-pound gorilla.”

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This project will generate more than 14,000 jobs over its lifetime, generating
employee compensation exceeding $1 Billion and taxes in excess of more
than $200 million, including more than $68 million for municipal
governments across this region. This project will attract to Windsor-Essex
the best and brightest in the world of medicine and health care and it will
attract more people and more families, fueling increased residential and
commercial development across the region.

Significant construction work including the installation of supporting piers
and wick drains has continued on the $5.7 billion Gordie Howe Bridge on
both sides of the Detroit River. That six-lane span is on schedule to open by
the end of 2024, when COVID-19 will hopefully be nothing but a memory,
just another challenge we collectively addressed and overcame. It’s hard to
overestimate the economic benefits of this project. It will employ 2,000
workers during the construction process, generate thousands more indirect
jobs and boost cross-border trade and commerce, enriching this region for
generations to come.

The Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation is doing so much to
ensure this region is ready to capitalize on these transformational projects
and assume our place as an automobility and logistics powerhouse located at
the nexus of the North American economy, just a few hours away from
millions upon millions of potential customers. Under the leadership of
Stephen MacKenzie, they are continuing to market this region as an
attractive place to invest and they are helping local companies weather the
economic hardships of COVID-19.

The pandemic has been extremely difficult for small businesses in the
region. Residents have stepped up and embraced a shop local philosophy
that will continue once the pandemic is behind us, creating local jobs and
enriching the local economy. Businesses have still closed in spite of this
support, and there are challenges we must collectively confront, but our
economy still has good news stories to tell as well.

Despite the temporary loss of the third shift at Windsor Assembly Plant,
workers there will continue to churn out the highest quality minivans on the
planet. Unifor Local 444 just negotiated a 3-year-deal with Fiat Chrysler that
promises an investment of more than $1.3 billion into the award-winning
facility, enough to secure 5,700 jobs by 2024 and the replacement of the
third shift.

The deal includes a commitment to add platforms that can build internal
combustion engines along with plug-in hybrid electric and battery electric
vehicles, making Windsor Assembly the only plant in North America to build
three separate powertrains. And let’s not forget the blue oval: Ford has

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committed to investing $148 million in Windsor, creating about 120 jobs to
build the new 6X engine at Windsor’s Annex Engine Plan.

And the Economic Development Corporation’s virtual reality CAVE will be
used to help develop the first all-Canadian, electric, zero-emission vehicle in
the country as part of Project Arrow in partnership with the Automotive Parts
Manufacturer’s Association of Canada.

While automotive continues to drive our local economy, we are more
diversified than we have ever been and our booming greenhouse industry
continues to grow, creating jobs, building communities and developing new
and improved technology with myriad applications.

More than 60 per cent of Ontario’s greenhouses are located in the
Leamington-Kingsville area, the largest cluster in North America. A $105-
million greenhouse development was recently approved for Amherstburg, a
first for the historic Town. Agri-business is a $3-billion industry with almost
8,000 employees working for more than 100 food and beverage processing
companies and more than 1,500 growers.

Our agribusiness is only going to expand with the twinning of Highway 3 and
desperately needed energy upgrades are going to facilitate that continued
growth. Enbridge recently completed a $105.7 million pipeline project to
feed the growing Greenhouse cluster in southwest Essex County. And Hydro
One is stepping up to help fill demand for electricity that is expected to triple
from 2018 to 2026. Hydro One is investing $580 million over six years to
provide this region with enough energy to supply a city the size of Ottawa.

Tourism Windsor Essex has done a phenomenal job lifting this region’s
spirits during the pandemic, celebrating everything we have to offer and
marketing Windsor-Essex as an attractive place to visit and an ideal
community in which to lay down roots and invest. They promoted local
businesses creatively and relentlessly through their Takeout Tuesday
campaign along with Wine Order Wednesday and Fill Up Fridays. And their
Windsor Pizza Club program will celebrate our famous pizza and take its
fame to new levels and new markets.

The TWEPI team just took home the hardware at the Tourism Industry of
Ontario’s Ontario Tourism Summit, winning an Award of Excellence for their
YQG Holidays campaign. Congratulations to Gordon Orr and his exceptional
team. The honour is well deserved. You’d be wise to make some space on
your trophy shelf for the accolades that will surely flow next year for your
YQG Stands Strong campaign.

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That effort was truly inspirational. It rallied this community and engendered
acts of generosity and compassion. And it motivated legions of shutterbugs
to share photos of the things that make this region so spectacular and
unique. Your See You Down The Road campaign that celebrated our
breweries, wineries and historic sites was likewise successful. It will benefit
this region when travel restrictions are eased. People can make plans to visit
when it is safe to do using the new My Trip itinerary builder.

All those tweets and Facebook and Instagram posts are sharing this region’s
incredible story far and wide and encouraging people to look us up. And
those people are going to like what they see, like so many people before
them who came to Windsor-Essex for a short-term contract and wound up
falling in love and laying down roots and making it their new home.

What’s not to love? We have one of the mildest climates in all of Canada and
are surrounded on three sides by water. Recreational opportunities abound,
our housing prices are affordable and we have world class post-secondary
institutions in the University of Windsor and St. Clair College, which has just
broken ground on a $23-million expansion of the Zekelman Centre of
Business and Information Technology.

Yes, we are poised once this pandemic passes for considerable economic
growth, but we must ensure that growth is smart and sustainable as we
transition to a more green and diversified economy in light of the urgent
need to address climate change. The cost of doing nothing in the face of this
existential threat far exceeds the cost of meeting the climate challenge head
on, of working together as a region to create jobs, improve energy efficiency
and leverage funding opportunities.

We have been under an extended flood advisory for more than 12 months in
the past two years and communities across our region have experienced the
devastating impacts of 28 separate flooding events. Water levels are hitting
unprecedented highs and our shoreline is eroding. One-in-100 year flood
events are happening with increased frequency. The status quo is not an
option. County Council declared a climate emergency earlier this year and
we are backing it up with action.

Work is underway on a Regional Energy Plan that will identify where we are
when it comes to emissions and energy efficiency. It will provide us a
roadmap to get where we need to be — increased energy efficiency of at
least 50 per cent by 2041 and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 50
per cent by 2041. The target is net zero by 2050.

The county is working on this plan with the Essex Region Conservation
Authority, all seven local municipalities, along with a community task force

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comprised of a broad cross-section of stakeholders. The plan is expected to
be completed in March. Under this plan, we expect to add 1,000 jobs to the
local economy in the next five years and return $15 billion to the local
economy by 2041. You can read more about the plan by visiting the website
at countyofessex.ca/REP.

Preliminary modelling tells us the amount of energy used in the average
home in Essex County is more than twice global best practice. Our per capita
greenhouse gas emissions are about five times global best practice. We
spend over $800 million on all types of energy, most of which leaves the
county. These local energy dollars go to Western Canada for oil and natural
gas or elsewhere in Ontario.

There are opportunities to harness that energy and keep those dollars from
leaving the region, just as there are opportunities to significantly reduce our
household energy consumption which accounts for 22 per cent of total
energy use in our region. Retrofitting homes and embracing green practices
won’t just help the environment, it will lower your bills and put more money
in your pockets, while also boosting our local economy.

It is a daunting challenge, no doubt, but it is one we are ready to face
collectively, just as we’ve stared down COVID-19 and just as we’ve
confronted so many other challenges in our long and storied history as a
region, province and country.

Eight days from now, at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the
eleventh month, we will salute our fallen soldiers and all those who fought
for freedom, who sacrificed so much in defence of the peace and prosperity
we take for granted today. Nearly 61,000 Canadians were killed during the
First World War and another 172,000 were wounded. More than 45,000
Canadians were killed in the Second World War and another 55,000 were
wounded.

We emerged victorious in both of those conflicts because of the individual
actions of so many Canadians united in common cause, from soldiers
overseas to farmers tending crops to mothers working in munitions factories.
We mobilized the entire country and everyone made sacrifices, at home and
abroad, in order to defeat the enemy. We can honour the selfless sacrifices
of those great generations by continuing to make the sacrifices we have
been making throughout this pandemic.

It has not been easy and it will not get any easier as winter settles in and
the nights go long and dark. But we must continue staying apart until we
can be together again so we can keep our hospital system from being
overwhelmed and our most vulnerable citizens safe. Follow health guidelines

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and physical distancing protocols. Avoid crowds. Wash your hands. Stay
home if you are sick. Choose to be kind and considerate and compassionate.
Choose to be patient and positive. Our individual actions have great import.
They have worked to stop the spread of COVID-19 and they will ultimately
help us defeat this terrible virus once and for all.

The men and women who sacrificed so much in both World Wars, who
managed to survive the worst Depression this world has ever known, would
be proud of the way Windsor-Essex residents have responded in the face of
COVID-19. And if ever you feel like wavering, please remember them and
please remember that this won’t last forever and that we will emerge from
this crucible stronger and more united than ever.

Our veterans would surely be proud of the kids of Windsor-Essex, whose
lives have been upended by COVID-19. They were forced to stay home from
school for months. They missed proms, they missed birthday parties, they
missed their friends. They’re back at school now but it isn’t the same. They
have to wear masks and they are still missing out on so many fun and
sociable activities. But they aren’t complaining. They are helping their Moms
and their Dads and they are doing all that we ask of them.

And when Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Bruce Krauter challenged them to create
artwork to cheer up COVID-19 patients at the St. Clair College Field Hospital,
they stepped up and delivered thousands of inspirational drawings. It was
truly something special. More than 2,500 pieces of art rolled in from every
corner of Windsor-Essex. They were distributed to the field hospital, health
care facilities and long-term care homes, where they are still spreading light
and strength today.

Our brave veterans would also commend the heroic, selfless actions of our
frontline workers, from personal support workers to grocery store clerks to
truckers to teachers. Despite all the fear and uncertainty, they masked up
and went to work and kept our economy moving. Our frontline healthcare
workers deserve special praise for braving the unknown without flinching
and for risking their very lives to keep this community safe.

The people of Windsor-Essex have stood tall during this pandemic and they
have looked out for each other by following health guidelines physical
distancing protocols. They have made sacrifices, they have adjusted their
lives and they have made smart, selfless decisions in service of the greater
good.

I’m honoured and humbled to be one of their political leaders during these
unprecedented times. They are the reason we flattened the curve and saved
so many lives. They are the reason our local economy is not in tatters and

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they are the shop-local engine that will drive our economy’s resurgence. It’s
the people who make Windsor-Essex such a fantastic place to live and it’s
the people who will see us safely through this crisis.

Thank you.

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