Linda McCurdy seeking Liberal nomination in Windsor-Tecumseh

One more name is in the running to secure the Liberal nomination in Windsor-Tecumseh for the upcoming federal election.

Windsor lawyer and Windsor-Essex County Sports Hall of Fame alumna Linda McCurdy will formally announce Tuesday that she's seeking the Liberal party's nomination in the riding previously represented by her father, civil rights activist Howard McCurdy. 

Howard McCurdy died on Feb. 20, 2018, and served as the NDP MP for Windsor-Walkerville, a riding that was dissolved to make way for the Windsor-Tecumseh federal electoral district. 

In a media release dated Sept. 6, the younger McCurdy said she's running on her record of "standing up for the people who are underrepresented, voiceless and who cannot see themselves in the faces of the other candidates in this race."

McCurdy said there is a "real problem in Windsor-Tecumseh."

"People in our community are telling me that they don't vote because they can't see themselves in the politicians who claim to represent them," she said, in a Monday media release. "We talk about how Windsor is so diverse and so representative of the whole world but when we look at our politicians we don't see that."

McCurdy's "signature issues" include preventing a Conservative government from reintroducing "restrictions on women's reproductive freedom; rolling back mandatory minimum sentencing that puts minorities and people of colour in jail at a higher than average rate; and preventing the racism-driven politics coming out of the far right."

I can't stand by and watch another election go by where there isn't a strong black voice in the mix.- Linda McCurdy

McCurdy said she "never wanted to be a politician."

Instead, her decision to participate in the upcoming election is a result of her inability to "stand by and watch another election go by where there isn't a strong black voice from this area in the mix."

"I am running for the Liberals because I believe in Justin Trudeau's commitment to racial and gender equality and his support for diversity in government," McCurdy said. "It's what we need. Desperately."

McCurdy joins Windsor Ward 7 Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk and former Liberal candidate Jeewen Gill in seeking the Liberal party's Windsor-Tecumseh nomination. 

Small business owner and lifelong Tecumseh resident Leo Demarce is the Conservative party's candidate in the riding. 

Incumbent NDP MP Cheryl Hardcastle is also seeking re-election. 

Dan Burr is the People's Party of Canada candidate in the same riding, while Giovanni Abati is the Green party's candidate of choice.