Pollock launches Windsor West Liberal campaign with ‘call for action’

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Liberal candidate Richard Pollock officially launched his campaign for Windsor West MP Friday with a message stressing party leader Mark Carney’s strong leadership and the need for a seat at the table in the riding. 

New Democrat Brian Masse has represented the riding since 2002. Pollock ran unsuccessfully against Masse that year and in 2004. 

“It’s time that Windsor West had a strong voice inside government, influencing decisions from inside the room, instead of criticizing them from outside, after they’ve been made,” said Pollock, a federal prosecutor and litigation partner in a downtown Windsor law firm. 

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The challenge of President Donald Trump’s tariffs motivated him to run again, Pollock said during a press conference at the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts.

“This is the most important issue I have ever seen. I’m inspired by the moment. I’m inspired by the call for action. I’m inspired by Mark Carney, and I’m inspired by what’s happening across the river that’s threatening our communities.” 

Asked why voters should support him, Pollock employed his courtroom background and a hockey metaphor.  

“I say to juries in the courtroom, use your common sense. Take a look at the situation. What are the facts here? Who do we want on the ice to represent Canada at this time of need? Mark Carney.” 

Flanked by fellow Liberal candidates Irek Kusmierczyk (Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore) and Chris Sutton (Essex), Pollock pointed to the NextStar EV battery plant, saying billions of dollars in federal investment dollars have been brought to Windsor under the Liberal government. 

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Carney, who Pollock mentioned eight times in his speech, “has the smarts and financial know-how to defend our economy in a trade war against Trump, and he has a plan to make life more affordable for your family while protecting the autoworkers who are the backbone of the community.” 

The tariffs put in place against Canada and other countries by Trump “will decimate 4,300 Windsor jobs in two short weeks,” he said, adding 160,000 jobs will be lost across the country if the tariff war continues. 

“For all of his reality show buffoonery, the threat posed by Donald Trump is real and pressing.

“We will not break and we will not bend. We will not be bullied.” 

Alluding to nearby Dieppe Gardens and the memorial to the Essex and Kent-Scottish soldiers who fought in several wars, he said local Liberals are also fighting for Canada. 

“Your three area Liberal candidates stand united here today and ask you to stand with us, united against the threat of Donald Trump and united in support of the workers, families and the Canadian way of life he seeks to destroy.” 

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Carney has announced a $2 billion strategic response fund to protect the automotive industry and build an “all-in-Canada” network for auto parts and leverage government funding to prioritize and procure Canadian-built vehicles, Pollock said. 

The Liberals are also promising to double the number of new homes built every year and provide billions of dollars in financing for affordable homes, he said. 

Kusmierczyk vowed to “win this economic war.” 

Such a win would protect auto workers, grow an economy that is “one strong Canadian economy, not 13 economies” by removing interprovincial trade barriers, and that is “Trump proof,” he said. 

Counter-tariffs put in place by Carney will hurt Americans, Kusmierczyk said. “We absolutely want the American administration and the U.S. to feel the pain. They have to feel the pain for them to back off this absolutely insane track that they are on.

“But we have to be strategic so that we protect Canadians as much as possible, as well.” 

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Sutton said uncertainty hurts the most for Canadians in the face of Trump’s tariffs. 

“Our government and the industry has called ‘an audible,’ so to speak, and it’s starting to put together a strategy to protect their work so that they’re not out of work for long, to try and figure out how they’re going to move forward.

“And then tomorrow morning, when we wake up, how does that change? Nobody knows.” 

The result is “a race to see who gives in first,” Sutton said. 

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