Sandra Pupatello secures Liberal candidacy for Windsor West

Former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Sandra Pupatello is officially the federal Liberal party's candidate in Windsor West. 

Pupatello secured the nomination Wednesday, at a meeting held at the Hellenic Cultural Centre in Windsor, Ont. 

Her only competitor in the nomination race was University of Waterloo associate professor Hsiao d'Ailly, following Melinda Munro's decision to drop out of the running and throw her support behind Pupatello on Aug. 23. 

Pupatello said she was excited about her successful nomination, adding it was wonderful to see so much support from Liberal voters in the riding. 

"We were able to use the nomination process to get all kinds of Liberals to come back out of the woodwork," she said. "They might not have been active in the last two years, but they all came back and it was wonderful to see them step up [and] come to vote."

She hopes all of those who attended Wednesday evening's nomination meeting will throw their support behind her, regardless of whom their preferred candidate may have been. 

Pupatello said she and her team will begin canvassing the constituency for support beginning Thursday. 

"We are getting right on this," she said. "We're going to carry the momentum right into the campaign and we want a successful campaign."

For her part, d'Ailly said she would support Pupatello in the upcoming federal election.

"It's a democratic process," said d'Ailly. "We got lots of people that came out, and ... it's the result, it's good."

We're going to carry this momentum right into the campaign ...- Sandra Pupatello

Pupatello entered the Windsor West Liberal nomination race on Aug. 16, announcing her intention to run as a Liberal in the upcoming federal election in a speech at Windsor's Fogolar Furlan Club. 

Pupatello will contend with NDP incumbent MP Brian Masse, Conservative candidate Henry Lau, Quinn Hunt of the Green Party and People's Party of Canada candidate Darryl Burrell.

Despite Masse's status as the incumbent, Pupatello pointed out that polling numbers show support for the NDP has been falling "consistently month after month."

"I know that Windsor is not immune to that," she said. "That is happening across the nation."

Pupatello once again said that the upcoming election would be the "toughest fight of my career," adding she's encouraged by the support of Liberal voters in the region. 

"What we need is a strong candidate to bring that Liberal vote out," she said. "I'm just delighted to try to be the one to do that and take on this challenge."

Pupatello served as a Liberal Windsor West MPP between 1995 and 2011, when she stepped down from politics to move to the private sector.

She began her own management consulting firm, Canadian International Avenues, and landed contracts with PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada.