A LaSalle teen has been found not guilty for the fiery car crash that killed one of his best friends on a county road near Amherstburg.

Ryan Hatton had been charged with careless driving for the crash in early 2017 that took the life of 16-year-old Nick Dyer.

“These guys were best of friends, they were thick as thieves,” defence lawyer Dan Scott said Friday, a day after the not-guilty verdict. “His best buddy died as a result of an accident in a car he’s driving. This is something he’ll carry forever.”

The deadly crash happened Feb. 13, 2017. Hatton and three of his friends, all 16-year-old boys, were out for a drive after school.

They were headed down Concession 4 Road North in Amherstburg when the car suddenly went of control, hit a rock pile and went airborne. The car flipped over, landed on the roof and burst into flames.

Dyer, who was in the back seat, died in a Detroit hospital a month later. Hatton suffered a fractured vertebra.

During his trial in provincial offences court, he testified he was going around 80 km/h, which is the speed limit on that part of the road.

Hatton, 17, told the court that he heard a loud “bang” before his dad’s 2014 Chevy Impala went out of control and veered to the left.

During the brief trial in February, a neighbour also testified hearing a “pop” right before the car crashed.

“He tried to overcorrect and in a split second they were involved in a collision,” said Scott.

He said the other people in the car all had the same memory of the car suddenly cutting left.

“They testified honestly, they testified that Ryan’s driving was good,” said Scott. “They had no concerns. There was no speed, there were no distractions.”

twilhelm@postmedia.com

Jeep, Ram, Maserati and Alfa Romeo vehicles will be the focus of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for the next five years, says Sergio Marchionne.

The CEO and chairman of FCA addressed investors on Friday in Balocco, Italy — his last major presentation before his expected retirement in 2019.

According to the Detroit Free Press, company executives described aggressive growth for the Jeep and Ram brands in other presentations during FCA’s Capital Markets Day.

“At FCA, we’ve learned to live with uncertainty and we are prepared to face any challenge,” Marchionne said in his presentation.

Sergio Marchionne, CEO and chairman of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, speaking at the North American International Auto Show on Jan. 16, 2018.

Regarding media speculation that there would be discussion of ending the Chrysler brand, Marchionne dismissed it as “talking nonsense.”

“This presentation’s focus is on global brands,” Marchionne said, as reported by the Detroit Free Press. “I think Chrysler is going to continue to be relevant in the U.S. Don’t expect it to be a global brand.”

The company’s plan shows that the Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands will receive only 25 per cent of FCA’s capital investments over the next five years.

But Chrysler was also referenced as the supplier of Pacifica hybrid minivans to self-driving auto technology company Waymo.

On Thursday, FCA announced a deal with Waymo that will send 62,000 more Pacificas to join Waymo’s autonomous vehicle fleet.

Meanwhile, FCA’s new Jeep agenda calls for two launches every year in an effort to make Jeep the dominant utility vehicle brand worldwide.

In North America alone, FCA hopes to increase Jeep manufacturing by 500,000.

The aim is for one in every 12 utility vehicles sold around the globe to be a Jeep by the year 2022 — with an ultimate goal of that ratio reaching one in five.

Mike Manley, FCA’s head of Jeep and Ram, said the figure nine years ago was one in 23.

There are also plans to launch 10 hybrid models and four fully-electric models under the Jeep brand by 2022.

FCA’s Ram plans call for one million Ram vehicle sales around the world by 2022. This year, sales are forecasted at 770,000.

The goal is to raise Ram’s current No. 3 spot in the North American market to No. 2.

The 2019 Jeep Cherokee, on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 16, 2018.

Automotive industry analyst and consultant Dennis DesRosiers said the heavy future investment in Jeep and Ram doesn’t mean FCA’s other brands are in jeopardy.

“(Marchionne) is not saying we’re no longer going to invest in Fiat, Chrysler and Dodge. He’s saying we don’t need to do much there, because they are already well-positioned,” DesRosiers said.

“I don’t see where’s the controversy. Certainly, I do not see a threat to the Windsors of the world.”

DesRosiers said he considers Marchionne’s focus on global brands to be “exactly what (FCA) needs to do.”

“In five years, the auto industry is going to be radically different from today. He’s saying this company needs to get its product programs, management and structures in place for where the auto sector will be by that time: globalization, and what’s referred to as ‘ACES’ — autonomous, connected, electric and shared.”

“Just like Wayne Gretzky said, you skate to where the puck is going to be.”

Regarding the scope of Marchionne’s career with FCA, DesRosiers had praise. “He kept (Chrysler) from going bankrupt … Without Sergio, we wouldn’t have Chrysler today.”

— with files from the Detroit Free Press

Richard Tyczkowski can’t remember anything from April 20, 2017, but the people who saved his life certainly do.

That day, Tyczkowski had his sixth heart attack. He was kept alive by his wife, two neighbours, firefighters and paramedics before getting to the hospital.

At the seventh annual Essex-Windsor Emergency Medical Services Survivor Day, Tyczkowski got a chance to meet the people who saved his life last year.

“I have no memory of it whatsoever, not even my first month in the hospital,” said Tyczkowski.

“From what people have told me the EMS did for me, and how good the hospital staff was, I couldn’t be happier or more appreciative of the results.”

When asked about meeting the EMS crews who saved him, Tyczkowski said, “It feels fantastic,” before getting choked up.

Windsor Fire and Rescue Services Capt. Anthony Revenberg was one of the first responders who kept Tyczkowski alive that day. He said that when his crew arrived at Tyczkowski’s house, two neighbours had already begun CPR.

“Early CPR in anyone gives them a better chance at survival,” said Revenberg. He and his crew members assessed Tyczkowski, took over CPR, and began giving him oxygen. They put a defibrillator on his chest and found what EMS calls a shockable rhythm. They administered two shocks to his chest before paramedics arrived.

Paramedics shocked Tyczkowski two additional times before his heart began beating again and he started breathing on his own. He was then transported to the hospital.

During the presentation Friday, EMS individuals referred to Tyczkowski as the “miracle man.”

“I’m a very lucky man,” said Tyczkowski. “Even my family doctor told me that, according to the readings she received, she was amazed that I survived.”

Tyczkowski’s fifth heart attack was in 2000, 17 years before his most recent one.

“This was the worst one,” said Tyczkowski.

Heart attack survivor Richard Tyczkowski at the seventh annual Essex-Windsor EMS Survivor Day at St. Clair College Centre for the Arts on Friday.

The presentation at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts recognized the firefighters, paramedics, health care workers, dispatchers, and bystanders involved in saving the lives of individuals suffering cardiac arrest.

According to presenters, 104 paramedics, 87 firefighters 20 dispatchers, 32 bystanders and the use of two public access defibrillators saved 46 lives locally in 2017.

Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Bruce Krauter said that the number of survivors is remarkable.

“This is the team, from bystanders to communicators, to nurses and physicians and paramedics, that respond to cardiac arrest each and every day,” said Krauter. “It’s not just one individual, it’s a community as a whole.

“Together we put this on every year to bring survivors, first responders and paramedics together.”

Jennifer Svenson gave a paramedic who saved her life a long hug in front of over 200 EMS workers and survivors.

The mother of two was woodworking when she sustained an electrical shock in February 2017. Her husband heard her collapse, and ran into the room to find her unresponsive on the floor. He immediately called 911.

When paramedics arrived, Svenson had no pulse. Paramedics were able to revive her with two shocks from a defibrillator.

Nicole Awram was one of the responding paramedics.

“It was an intense call,” said Awram. “Being an electrocution, those are more of our high-trauma kind of calls, and it was incredible to get her back and see her five days later doing well.

“It was pure chaos, but that’s what we’re trained to work in.”

Svenson was the first person whose life Awram saved in seven years on the job.

“I am so thankful that it wasn’t the person after me,” said Svenson. She had nothing but thanks and praise for the EMS workers.

Doctors gave her a one per cent chance of survival. She said she is happy to be alive.

The local EMS Survivor Day took place during Paramedic Services Week, which recognizes the work of paramedics across Canada.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

Survivor Jennifer Svenson thanks first responder John Halsey of Kingsville Fire & Rescue at the seventh annual Essex-Windsor EMS Survivor Day at St. Clair College Centre for the Arts on June 1, 2018.

Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Bruce Krauter addresses the crowd at the seventh annual Essex-Windsor EMS Survivor Day at St. Clair College Centre for the Arts on June 1, 2018.

Cardiac arrest survivor Richard Tyczkowski is surrounded by first responders and neighbours Kerry McCarthy, left, and her mother Karen McCarthy and Richard’s wife Flo Tyczkowski at Friday’s event. The McCarthys performed CPR while waiting for emergency crews to arrive.

Windsor council is being asked to spend $569,000 on a system that recognizes traffic jams and immediately tweaks surrounding signal lights to get cars moving.

The adaptive technology can help save drivers time, money and the stress of sitting in gridlock.

Reports out of Toronto suggest that for every dollar spent improving signal timing, the average driver saves $64 annually on gas, vehicle wear and tear, and maintenance, said John Wolf, Windsor’s senior manager of traffic operations, parking and transportation planning.

Co-ordinating the signals along busy streets, like Tecumseh Road, allows a motorist driving from the eastern edge of Windsor to the downtown to hit maybe two or three red lights while going through 20 signalized intersections.

When traffic gets heavy the adaptive system would take over and adjust the length of signals to reduce congestion. “It responds to real-time conditions,” Wolf said of the Kadence Adaptive Signal Control Technology city council is being asked to approve Monday.

It’s the culmination of 15 years of technological upgrades to the computer system that controls the city’s traffic lights on main arterial roads. Last year, the city finished a four-year job installing a video detection system along six major corridors to collect data on traffic patterns. Until now, that data has been used to develop timing plans annually for arterial roads which involves fine-tuning traffic signals to help traffic flow during rush hours, shift changes and quieter periods.

But sometimes, something unexpected — a snowstorm, a car crash, school getting out early or a change in shift times at a big plant — causes gridlock.

“If traffic conditions change, adaptive is able to deal with that in a much more effective manner and in real-time conditions,” said Wolf.

Fed by the video data, the Kadence system would immediately recognize when congestion is getting bad.

Then the system can mitigate it by using different strategies to reduce stops and delays, Wolf explained.

The strategies include cycle tuning, which involves changing the length of time between the start of a green light and the next time the light turns green. This allows more cars to move through an intersection before the light turns red.

There’s also cycle selection. If rush hour starts a half hour earlier than normal, Kadence can turn on its rush hour cycle length a half-hour earlier.

And split timing adjusts traffic signals so the amount of traffic congestion is equal going in all directions. If a road is being jammed because there are too many cars trying to make a left turn, the left turn signal can be lengthened.

If there was an accident blocking a lane during rush hour, Kadence would recognize the longer-than-normal queues and take measures to disperse them.

Related

• Video cameras should speed up Windsor traffic
• City gives green light to $2 million traffic video

Subject to council approval, the idea is to introduce Kadence at up to 10 locations along one arterial road within four or five months, followed by evaluations and fine-tuning. A second phase would involve up to 10 more locations on a major artery that intersects with the first road, “to demonstrate the functionality of Kadence on streets with competing priorities,” according to a report authored by Wolf. Once those 20 locations are working well, 20 more locations will be installed.

Wolf said his staff hasn’t yet identified which corridor will be first. The corridors with video detection are Wyandotte Street, Tecumseh Road, Ouellette Avenue/Dougall Avenue, Walker Road, Lauzon Parkway, Howard/Division/Provincial, and Huron Church Road.

“Video detection had to be done before you would do adaptive because detection — knowing how many vehicles there are, where they are, how long the queues are — is what drives the system,” said Wolf.

Areas where congestion can get bad at particular times of the day include: Dougall near E.C. Row Expressway; Walker Road; and sections of Tecumseh Road, including at Ouellette, Howard and Walker, and east from Jefferson Avenue.

bcross@postmedia.com

twitter.com/winstarcross

John Wolf, the City of Windsor’s senior manager of traffic operations, is shown with some of the tools of his trade on May 30, 2018.

Windsor residents could soon be paying more for everything from whisky and sleeping bags to lawnmowers — and automotive sales could plummet — because of an escalating trade war with the United States that began when President Donald Trump slapped steep tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

The Canadian government responded with a raft of retaliatory measures worth up to $16.6 billion targeting steel and more than 80 other disparate products in a bid to pressure politicians in key U.S. states to lobby Trump to reverse his stance, which could negatively affect the automotive industry and cost the Canadian economy billions of dollars.

Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, said Trump’s tariffs — which he blasted as “dumb politics” — would increase the cost of vehicle production over the long-term as the cost of raw materials rise. That would increase the consumer cost of vehicles, leading to reduced sales, diminished production and fewer automotive jobs.

“Everybody in the Great Lakes region is going to buy fewer cars,” said Volpe. “It will affect jobs on both sides of the border. That’s why it’s so nonsensical.”

In the short term, he added, Trump has simply raised the price of steel for U.S. manufacturers, who are heavily reliant on imported Canadian steel.

I don’t see how this makes sense

Bill Anderson, director of the Cross-Border Institute at the University of Windsor, agreed the tariffs would increase the cost of manufacturing products reliant on steel, including vehicles, and said those costs would ultimately be borne by the consumer.

“Any industrial region is going to suffer from that,” said Anderson. “We make a lot of things that are made out of steel and those costs are going to find their way through the production chain.”

Brian Hogan of the Windsor and District Labour Council said parts companies and tool and die shops might have no choice but to scale back and lay off workers.

“They’re going to get squeezed by Trump,” said Hogan.

Anderson said Trump’s focus on Canadian steel ignored the reality that the existing trading relationship was balanced and a benefit to both countries, allowing companies to achieve efficiencies by specializing on specific products.

“If you’re really trying to preserve jobs, I don’t see how this makes sense” he said.

Unifor National president Jerry Dias said he “fully supports” the aggressive response of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government announced plans to hit U.S. steel items with a 25 per cent tariff and a range of consumer goods, from playing cards to boats and toilet paper, with a 10 per cent tariff beginning July 1.

“The U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs will impact everything from beer cans to cars, with consumers and workers on both sides of the border paying the price,” said Dias. “Make no mistake — this is a full on trade war. The U.S. has systematically come after Canada’s aerospace, softwood, paper and now steel and aluminum industries.”

Related

• Ramsey's call for immediate action on steel tariffs denied in Ottawa
• Impact of U.S. tariffs remains to be seen for local steel company

Hogan said Trudeau should have implemented the tariffs immediately and Anderson called it “an event of historic significance” because it marks the strongest trade action taken by Canada in the post-war era. Both scoffed at Trump’s rationale that he enacted the tariffs for national security reasons.

“We’re not a security threat and we’re not competition so much as an integrated economic partner in steel,” said Anderson.

Anderson said it would be “extraordinarily unfortunate” if these opening salvos turned into “a much broader trade war” and warned Canadians would “immediately” feel an impact if Trump countered by slapping tariffs on consumer goods manufactured in Canada.

Volpe’s organization is hosting a one-day conference Wednesday in Windsor, where as many as 600 industry movers and shakers are expected.

The theme this year is the modernization of the industry, and it’s a shame, Volpe said, that participants will now also be talking about how to respond to the “protectionism of the 1920s and 1930s.”

domcarthur@postmedia.com

twitter.com/captainbyliner

Walker Homesites Athletic Club is celebrating its 60th anniversary with cake, refreshments and an open house Monday from 5 to 8 p.m.

Visitors to the clubhouse at Walker Homesite Park can catch a glimpse of the club’s history through photographs, trophies and old uniforms.

Walker Homesites AC started in 1958 when the Windsor Police Association donated uniforms and funds so 98 neighbourhood kids could play organized baseball.

Now, the club offers travel teams for rookie ball (7 and 8 years) up to junior (19 years+).

Three Windsor Hawks travel teams will play games during the evening celebration.

A six-member jury took less than two hours Friday to decide Kingsville greenhouse operator Nick Mastronardi was guilty of defamation for authoring an email shared widely through the community that falsely labelled a Leamington realtor as a “wife-beater” and “pedophile.”

Robert Tatomir had been seeking $1.25 million in overall damages from Mastronardi given that nearly 200 people in town saw the 2010 email which he says subsequently destroyed his personal reputation and damaged his professional career.

The jury, despite finding against Mastronardi in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice civil trial, only awarded Tatomir $75,000 in general damages.

That vindication will help Mr. Tatomir and his wife be able to move forward

“I just wish this happened eight years ago,” Tatomir said. “(The wounds) are not healed because of the damage he has done. It’s not even close.”

His lawyer Jeffrey Nanson called the jury’s verdict “very fair.”

“Most of all there is satisfaction that these allegations were found to be not true,” he said. “That vindication will help Mr. Tatomir and his wife be able to move forward.”

Mastronardi, who founded Double Diamond Farms, conceded in court that he authored the email, but his lawyer Myron Shulgan during final arguments on Friday detailed to the jury how his client believed much of what he wrote to be true.

Shulgan told the jury Tatomir’s “damaged” reputation was of his own doing.

The real estate board penalized Tatomir for creating web sites under other realtors’ names but directed people to his web site, Mastronardi’s lawyer told the jury. Witnesses during the trial noted the realtor made comments to two young teen girls they perceived to be “creepy.”

Nanson countered to the jury during his final arguments that even if one person in the community held a negative opinion of Tatomir it was irrelevant to the fact that Mastronardi authored such a poisonous email with full intent to harm his client.

The controversy between the two, who had little previous contact, was triggered by Tatomir filing a complaint with police alleging the possibility of greenhouse operators stealing water and hydro. The complaint caused Mastronardi’s sons, Chris and Benji, to be investigated, but no charges were ever laid, according to evidence presented in court.

Related

• Defamation trial hears realtor's reputation ruined by greenhouse operator
• Can a self-confessed 'rat' be defamed?

The jury was told Mastronardi only meant to share the email with one person, but it quickly spread to include 168 business people, members of town council and municipal employees.

Tatomir testified he learned of the email from an uncle who had received it. Other claims in the email included the realtor threatening others in his business dealings and allegedly cheating on his wife, the jury was told.

Tatomir testified during the trial he never recovered from Mastronardi’s harmful accusations, stopped coaching hockey, felt shunned in church and saw his real estate business decline.

Mastronardi showed no emotion in court as the jury read its decision and declined to comment afterwards.

“We are very disappointed with the result,” his lawyer Shulgan said. “We did not feel the comments caused further damage to Mr. Tatomir’s reputation, but we respect that it was the jury’s prerogative to make that decision and they felt otherwise.”

As to whether his client might appeal the decision, Shulgan responded, “(Mastronardi) will consider what he might do from here.”

dbattagello@postmedia.com

Real estate agent Robert Tatomir leaves the Superior Court of Justice in Windsor on May 23, 2018. On Friday, a trial jury found a Kingsville greenhouse operator guilty of having defamed the Leamington businessman in a widely shared email.

More than 1,300 athletes from 120 schools are competing Friday and Saturday at the OFSAA West Regional Track and Field championships. Originally scheduled for the athletic facilities at Sandwich Secondary School, problems with the track’s surface there forced an 11th hour change of venue to the University of Windsor’s stadium.

Windsor Star photographer Dax Melmer was there on Friday to capture some of the opening day excitement. The West Regional is a required qualifier for advancing to the all-Ontario OFSAA championships.

Follow the action on the meet’s website. Saturday’s schedule starts at 8 a.m. for field events and 9 a.m. for track events.

Matt Pimentel, left, from Catholic Central High School in London, and Lucas Baranoski, from Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, compete in the midget men’s 100-metre dash at the OFSAA West Regional Track and Field meet at Alumni Field, June 1, 2018.

Krystalann Bechard, centre, from Tecumseh Vista Academy, competes in the junior women’s 100-metre dash.

High school athletes compete in the senior men’s 110-metre hurdles.

Athletes compete in the Men’s 2,000-metre steeplechase.

Karlie Moore from Sandwich Secondary School competes in the senior women’s 100-metre hurdles.

Josh Bailey from Holy Names Catholic High School in the midget men’s 100-metre hurdles.

Caden Lear from Kingsville District High School competes in the senior men’s triple jump at the OFSAA West Regional Track and Field Meet at Alumni Field on Friday.

Sierra Baltzer from Sandwich Secondary School, centre, and Danica Peasano from St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic Secondary School compete in the midget women’s 100-metre dash.

High school athletes compete in the senior men’s 110-metre hurdles.

Henry Huang from John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute in Guelph competes in the senior men’s triple jump.

Sammy Lapps from Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, left, Kobie Warden from Herman Academy and Cale Timuik from Essex District High School compete in the midget 100-metre dash.

Jonathan Wang from Vincent Massey Secondary School competes in the junior men’s 100-metre hurdles.

Windsor’s public drop-off depot has reopened after officials briefly shut it down Friday morning following the discovery of an “unknown chemical.”

The Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority said the substance was found around 9 a.m. in the chemical waste drop-off area.

As a precaution, the public drop-off depot at 3560 North Service Rd. E. was closed. But the solid waste authority said around 1:30 p.m. Friday that it was open again after the substance had been contained.

The City of Windsor and the solid waste authority also stressed that chemicals dropped off at the depot must be clearly labelled.

For more information on recycling programs or chemical waste, got to www.ewswa.org.

A City of Windsor vehicle is parked at the entrance of the drop off facility after a chemical spill temporarily closed the facility, Friday, June 1, 2018.

A late night stabbing incident in Windsor’s east end was the result of a family argument gone wrong, say police.

Officers were called to 1640 Arthur Rd. shortly after midnight Friday.

One male was suffering wounds that required hospital treatment.

The victim’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Two people responsible for the incident were quickly identified and charges are pending.

Windsor police said there is no threat to the public safety regarding this case.

A Windsor police cruiser is parked in the backyard where a possible stabbing may have occurred, Friday, June 1, 2018.

When Ontario’s NDP government was considering casino gambling in the 1990s, the cabinet and caucus were utterly divided.

The original plan was to pilot three projects. But many cabinet members didn’t want to do that. Many didn’t want any casino gambling.

If you don’t want to try it in other areas, OK, Windsor-Riverside MPP and cabinet minister Dave Cooke argued. But let me do it in Windsor.

Premier Bob Rae agreed to give it a shot.

So the city got what became one of its premier attractions, employing more than 2,300 people and paying the city millions of dollars at year for hosting it.

I’m not going to make assumptions about what people might decide

When the former Green Giant in Tecumseh closed in 1994, Ontario’s minister of agriculture said there was nothing the government could do. Then Cooke’s constituency assistant found a buyer, John Omstead. But Omstead needed a loan guarantee. He got it, and the plant continued operating, saving more than 220 jobs and a lucrative source of tax revenue for the town.

Former Windsor-Riverside MPP Dave Cooke in a 2012 file photo.

Without a cabinet minister, says Cooke, “you wouldn’t have a constituency assistant that would be able to say, ‘I got a buyer’ and then have the minister of agriculture pay attention. If you’ve got a cabinet minister and their staff, you can do some pretty remarkable things when there’s a crisis.”

The provincial election is down to the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives, and they’re tied in popular support. Windsor and Essex County have three NDP incumbents, who are likely to be re-elected. They were third-party members. But if the NDP wins Thursday and forms the next government, they will be government members. And “there’s more than a chance” that some will become cabinet ministers, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said here last week.

“I’m not going to make assumptions about what people might decide,” Horwath said. “I’m going to give people the respect of letting them have their say.”

But governments look for regional representation when they form their cabinets, and “it’s something I absolutely will be looking at,” she said.

A “voice at the table” has been an issue here since 2014, when Windsor voted out Liberal cabinet minister Teresa Piruzza. A year later, the city and county elected three NDP MPs, and Canada elected a Liberal government. That left this region with no senior government members. “A political wasteland,” Mayor Drew Dilkens called this region.

The original Casino Windsor shown in 1995.

Cooke, a senior NDP MPP when the party won a majority government in 1990, became minister of municipal affairs, then minister of education, a high-profile post. Windsor received a long list of government investments when Cooke was at the table — the casino, art gallery, Malden Park Continuing Care Centre, cancer centre, courthouse, libraries and Tecumseh arena. The government also contributed to the restoration of the Capitol Theatre and the establishment of Chrysler’s automotive research centre at the University of Windsor.

When the Liberals won a majority in 2003, Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Dwight Duncan was appointed minister of energy and went on to become minister of finance, the top post, then deputy premier. Windsor West MPP Sandra Pupatello was appointed minister of community and social services, then minister of education and finally, minister of economic development and trade.

Dwight Duncan, interim chair of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority’s board of directors, is seen on Nov. 10, 2016.

With two cabinet ministers, the University of Windsor received its new engineering school and a satellite medical school, which Duncan had championed when he was in opposition. The city received the most infrastructure funding per capita, when matched with federal funding, and money for the Red Bull air races. The biggest prize was the $1.4-billion Herb Gray Parkway.

It’s not just the largesse a riding gets, said Cooke. It’s all kinds of influence.

In 2013, Cancer Care Ontario told Windsor Regional Hospital it could no longer perform thoracic cancer surgery and patients would have to travel to London. But eight months later, the decision was reversed. Windsor West MPP Piruzza was at the cabinet table as minister of children and youth services at the time.

When Cooke retired from politics and was on the board of the Local Health Integration Network, which oversees local health care, he called Piruzza regularly when problems arose.

“Her staff ran interference to get things solved all the time for us,” he said. “Their staff become the point person. And if the staff can’t sort it out, then the minister goes and talks to his colleague or her colleague and says, ‘I need this.'”

Former Windsor West MPP Teresa Piruzza and her husband on the night she was voted out of office, June 12, 2014.

Ultimately, cabinet also steers the government.

“When a bill comes forward to be discussed in cabinet, and there are different effects on different regions of the province, of course it’s important to have regional representation in cabinet and not just Toronto’s views to make sure that there are regional considerations,” said Cooke.

The new premier will decide the new cabinet, but if the NDP forms the next government, “we have some solid commitments to Windsor and Essex County,” said Windsor West incumbent Lisa Gretzky, citing promises to open 80 unused beds at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, finish twinning Highway 3 and include Windsor in the environmental assessment for high-speed rail. “We would actually follow through on those commitments.”

ajarvis@postmedia.com

Four Windsor-Essex roads are among the worst in Southwestern Ontario, according to a vote conducted by the Canadian Automobile Association.

Each year, CAA invites people to pick the worst roads across Canada.

The automobile club releases lists by province and by smaller regions, including the Southwest.

Seminole Street in Windsor is shown on Monday and is among the worst roads in Southwestern Ontario, according to a vote conducted by the Canadian Automobile Association.

Southwest: Top 5 Worst Roads

1. Highway 401 in Chatham-Kent

2. Seminole Street in Windsor

3. Plank Road in Sarnia

4. Huron Church Road in Windsor

5. Tecumseh Road East in Windsor

The report defined the Southwest as including the Chatham-Kent municipality, Essex County, and Lambton County.

Seminole and Tecumseh Road East both made the list last year, too. So did Sarnia’s Plank Road.

Burlington Street East in Hamilton was top of the list for all of Ontario, with County Road 49 in Prince Edward County coming second.

Regional lists included the Western, Niagara, Central, Eastern, and Northern regions. Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa had their own lists, as did the Halton, Peel, York and Durham region.

A press release by CAA South Central Ontario Monday said more than 3,500 roads were nominated from across Ontario this year. That’s the highest number since the campaign’s inception 15 years ago.

Drivers accounted for over three quarters of the votes cast, while roughly nine per cent of votes were from cyclists and a further nine per cent were from pedestrians.

As for the voter’s reasons for their choices, 75 per cent cited potholes, 14 per cent highlighted limited or no cycling infrastructure, and 10 per cent chose congestion as their primary issue.

The press release also stated the purpose for the annual list is to make roads safer by helping municipal and provincial governments understand what roadway improvements are important to citizens, and where they need to be made.

See all 2018 Worst Roads Campaign winners here.

Waves crashing over breakwalls, properties flooding, shoreline erosion and boat docks being beaten to a pulp are becoming the new norm this spring as lake levels surrounding Essex County have reached their highest since 1997.

The binational group which tracks levels for the Great Lakes, the International Lake Superior Board of Control, reported Lake Michigan-Huron rose 11 cm last month. The region includes area waterways of Lake St. Clair, Detroit River and Lake Erie.

We are at a point where there is no safe harbour in our region

Lake Michigan-Huron is currently 44 cm above its long-term average (dating back to 1918) and 10 cm above last year’s beginning-of-June level, the agency said. The numbers are the highest since 1997.

Tim Byrne, director of watershed management services for the Essex Region Conservation Authority said current levels are definitely the worst he has seen since the late 1990s and potential for damage is “significant.”

WINDSOR, ON. JUNE 4, 2018. — A freighter is shown at the mouth of Lake St. Clair in Windsor, ON. on Monday, June 4, 2018. For story on lake levels (DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)

“We are at a point where there is no safe harbour in our region,” he said on Monday. “On any given day we are surpassing 1997-98 (lake) levels. Depending on climate, storm events, wind speed and direction we are gravely concerned.”

Not only are current water levels equivalent or surpassing what occurred two decades ago, but back then there was only a solitary storm event or two to worry about, Byrne said.

Given how there has been a drastic increase in major storm events across the region the potential for damage is “significant” anywhere along Essex County waterways in the weeks ahead.

There has already been heavy property and road damage this spring in shoreline areas of Pelee Island, Leamington and stretching to Wheatley, he said.

“That’s our most concerning area right now,” Byrne said. “After that, it’s Lakeshore, Tecumseh, Windsor — all of the north shore.”

ERCA has been reviewing municipal emergency plans to make sure they are up to date, plus checking if there would be significant sand bags should major weather events occur.

“Storm duration and how long strong winds stay in an area are what we are concerned about,” Byrne said.

Related

• High lake levels wiping out Holiday Beach, natural shorelines
• Conservation authority warns of high lake water levels

The Great Lakes control board reported the seasonal water level increase is expected to continue throughout June before dropping in the summer months of July and August.

Kayakers are shown near the mouth of Lake St. Clair in Windsor on Monday.

“The above-average levels coupled with strong winds and waves continue to result in shoreline erosion and coastal damages across the upper Great Lakes system,” said the control board in its monthly report released on the weekend.

“Additional shoreline erosion and coastal damages may occur this spring and summer should active weather continue.”

Given the lake levels around Essex County have reached their highest in over 20 years, it’s no longer ‘if’ shoreline damage will occur, but how much it will be in the weeks ahead, said Jacob Bruxer, senior water resources engineer for Environment Canada.

“You’ve had a few drier weeks, but it’s been really wet for couple years now,” he said. “With the inland rivers and springs and with the rains we have had this spring, (the lakes) are still rising.

“It’s hard to predict weather — it’s only reliable when you look out the window. Trying to figure out what will happen in a month or two is less reliable. But if you have any wind events or major storms you are going to see damages and flooding (in Essex County) with levels as high as they are at this time.”

One local business that specializes in refurbishing existing dock systems and boat lifts — Customs Metal Fabricating — has been kept busy with residential and commercial repair jobs stretching from Windsor to Chatham, said co-owner Vinnie Ciotoli.

A freighter and a sailboat are shown at the mouth of Lake St. Clair in Windsor on Monday.

“The water is so high its knocking pre-treated lumber right off the frame,” she said.

Heightened water levels have also created a lot of rotting wood and deck boards, so the company has been recommending and replacing wood posts and decking with metals such as aluminum or installing removable pieces to minimize damage, Ciotoli said.

“You want safe access to your dock,” she said. “So we have been encouraging people to take a good look at the condition of their docks so you don’t have people falling through the wood or injured.”

The high lake levels are also causing havoc for the company’s workers themselves who have had to keep a close eye on tides and flow when attempting to do their dock and post repair jobs, Ciotoli said.

“There have been real challenges for us working on the lake,” she said. “Certain times of the day we are more limited and have to be very careful. We’ve never seen the water this high.”

dbattagello@windsorstar.com

Police could not definitively prove Justin George James and a London drug dealer named Primo were one in the same man. Then came new technology that allowed them to unlock his cellphones.

James pleaded guilty Monday in a Windsor courtroom to possession of marijuana and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Having already spent more than two years in jail awaiting trial, he was sentenced to time served.

You are the person that the Crown has alleged is Primo

James’s guilty plea came in the midst of his trial with two other men where James was the accused cocaine supplier for a cross-border criminal organization trafficking in drugs and guns.

James, 35, had proclaimed his innocence for more than two years since his February 2016 arrest. Then prosecutors put James’s lawyer on notice Friday that they had new evidence. Armed with a search warrant, they had unlocked his iPhones and now had the password for his Blackberry that contained text messages arranging the very drug transaction undercover officers had witnessed.

“You are the person that the Crown has alleged is Primo,” Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin said.

James has been on trial with Franco Carmelo Marentette-DeRose, 29, and Marentette-DeRose’s uncle, Donilo Frank Marentette, 52.

The men, and others, were arrested following a year-long sting operation dubbed Project Kirby that used a police agent wearing a wire who posed as a drug buyer and an undercover police officer posing as a man wanting to buy guns smuggled in from the United States.

Last month, Adonios (Tony) Coutsogiannakis, 53, pleaded guilty to stashing cocaine for Marentette-DeRose, the accused ring leader. In jail for a short stint before being released on bail, Coutsogiannakis was sentenced to a further 23 months in jail.

Another player caught up in the sting, Kevin Lewis, 31, who went by the nickname Bubba, is currently serving a penitentiary term after admitting he trafficked in cocaine and is expected to be a Crown witness at Marentette and Marentette-DeRose’s trial.

Related

• 'Guilty is guilty' — Windsor man admits role in crime ring while others proceed to trial
• Cocaine dealer implicated in crime ring pleads guilty to drug trafficking

On Monday, James admitted he came to Windsor on Feb. 25, 2016, and met with Marentette-DeRose on Arthur Street. Police were watching as James got out of his Lexus carrying a bag and got into Marentette-Derose’s Lincoln. The Lincoln drove around the block and dropped James back at his Lexus three minutes later.

Fifteen minutes later, Marentette-DeRose pulled up to a car being driven by Coutsogiannakis. In a raid on Coutsogiannakis’s Borelli Drive home the next day, police seized 887 grams of cocaine Coutsogiannakis admitted he had gotten from Marentette-DeRose in the transaction police witnessed.

Police raided James’s King Street apartment in London and found $21,620, scales and a debt list. They also found 16 grams of marijuana and ammunition for a 9-mm pistol.

In addition to forfeiting the money found, James was ordered Monday to pay $400 in fines that go toward programs to help victims of crime.

The trial of Marentette-DeRose and his uncle continues.

ssacheli@postmedia.com

twitter.com/WinStarSacheli

The witness list for the trial of a former city auditor accused of embezzling $36,000 reads like a who’s who of Windsor city hall.

While the usually faceless finance workers and auditors who toil at the city testified one-by-one Monday in the trial of Angela Berry, waiting outside the courtroom were city CAO Onorio Colucci, director of operations Mark Winterton, former executive director of parks and facilities John Miceli and retired manager of forestry and horticulture Bill Roesel. The hallways of the Superior Court building resembled an airport waiting room as legions of city managers and auditors from KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, all subpoenaed to testify, waited to tell what they knew and when.

I probably didn’t look closely at them at the time

Berry is on trial for fraud, charged criminally in December 2015 after being escorted out of city hall months earlier. A former auditor, she was working as a parks operations asset analyst.

Bobbi-Jo Reive, who now works for the Town of Amherstburg, testified she was Windsor’s financial planning administrator for parks in February 2015, the city’s year-end.

“I noticed there was an account that I didn’t expect any activity in for the last quarter,” Reive said.

The account had been set up for Miceli for projects “outside the typical budget,” Reive said. There was recent activity in the account, despite Miceli having left the city for a new job in Amherstburg months earlier.

Reive said she called a clerk to get copies of the invoices that related to the payments. They all came back to a company called D & D Professional Services.

Angela Berry, left, leaves Superior Court of Justice with lawyer Linda McCurdy June 4, 2018.

Reive testified she called around to supervisors, including Miceli at his new office in Amherstburg town hall. None had even heard of the company.

The invoices, approved for payment, all bore the same stamp — No. 700.

That stamp belonged to Berry.

According to documents made exhibits at trial Monday, Berry had authorized payment of 15 separate invoices from September 2014 to January 2015 totalling $35,923.77.

City worker Monika Grant said she approved four invoices for Berry. It was year-end and she wanted to clear out payables before leaving for vacation.

She said Berry brought her the invoices and Grant stamped them despite the documents being scant on details on what work was performed.

“She said she was still waiting to hear back what these items were,” Grant testified.

Related

• Former Windsor city auditor Angela Berry facing fraud charge
• Lawyer for embattled former internal auditor claims city withholding evidence

Grant said she expected Berry would have “pulled” the invoices and prevented them from being paid if she had been unable to get those details.

“I probably didn’t look closely at them at the time.”

Some of the invoices had handwritten notes on them saying the cheques should be left for pickup at the city’s McDougall Avenue building, and marked to the attention of Berry.

“I doesn’t strike me as overly odd,” Grant said.

Grant said Berry had once introduced her to Danielle Gadoury, one of the partners of D & D. Grant, who throughout her testimony smiled over at Berry, said Gadoury was someone Berry knew personally.

Grant testified she was placed on a paid leave while the payments to D & D were investigated. Once the investigation was complete, she was suspended for two weeks.

Kevin Campagna, who worked as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers at the time, said Berry could never provide any documents or any “adequate explanation” for the payments to D & D.

During questioning by defence lawyer Linda McCurdy, he bristled at the suggestion that he had “badgered” Berry.

“I did not walk into this situation believing anyone did anything wrong.”

Berry’s trial is scheduled before Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas for five days.

ssacheli@postmedia.com

twitter.com/WinStarSacheli

Spurred by more than 3,000 names on a neighbourhood petition, city council fast-tracked the study required to get a crosswalk at the Prince Road location where four-year-old Lila Jane Zuest was struck by a Transit Windsor bus on May 26.

“I think we’re all at a loss for words, shocked in a good way,” said Lila’s aunt Courtney Belanger said Monday after council ordered the study be speeded up. Belanger was one of several family members who attended the council meeting Monday night.

“We just can’t believe this is really happening and how fast it’s going to happen,” she said.

Prince Road has become a very busy corridor, Mic Mac Park is right there, the entrance to the park is right where (Lila) was hit

The staff report will look at all the traffic, pedestrian and accident data to see whether the intersection — where Barrymore Lane ends at Prince Road, with the front gates to Mic Mac Park directly across the street — warrants a crosswalk. New changes to the provincial requirements for crosswalks has meant that many locations that once were rejected may now qualify. City staff are in the process of studying a number of locations, including the Prince Road location.

Lila Zuest.

But council voted to bring forward the report on Prince Road more quickly.

Mayor Drew Dilkens said the report is going to come back for the next meeting of council June 18, when council will be able to make a decision on a crosswalk. The report will also look at reducing the speed limit on Prince Road from 50 to 40 km/h, at the request of Ward 2 Coun. John Elliott, who lives around the corner from the site of the accident and was on the scene shortly after it happened.

“Prince Road has become a very busy corridor, Mic Mac Park is right there, the entrance to the park is right where (Lila) was hit,” Elliott said as he presented the petition. He appealed to council and administration to “speed up the process” to get the crosswalk approved.

“Summertime is coming, kids will be out of school, Mic Mac Park is very busy. We need to have a crosswalk sooner rather than later.”

Lila was still in critical condition Monday night in a London hospital.

She and her family were visiting Windsor from Mission, B.C., for a wedding. Lila’s mother, Vanessa Belanger, lived in Windsor until she was 18.

While Belanger was at the wedding, Lila stayed with an aunt and uncle, who took her to Mic Mac Park along with her brother and their own children.

When they stopped at Barrymore Lane to cross towards the park, Lila got excited and suddenly ran ahead onto the road.

The Barrymore/Prince intersection is a prime crossing spot for neighbourhood kids.

bcross@postmedia.com

A family-owned pet store in Windsor is apologizing for a nasty confrontation with protesters making waves on social media but insists the protesters were targeting the store with false allegations of animal mistreatment.

“If I see someone hurting an animal, I would flip on them,” said Cory Drouillard, whose family has long owned Corbret’s Pet Depot on Walker Road. “We don’t hurt animals. We provide them a home, we provide them a shelter, we provide them a life.”

We’re here to take care of these animals

Drouillard’s brother arrived at the shop Sunday afternoon and angrily confronted a group of about 10 protesters, who were carrying placards alleging the store mistreated animals.

“You guys are pathetic,” he said in the video, which received thousands of views and several hundred shares on Facebook. “You’re all a bunch of losers.”

He blasted the protesters for focusing on his family’s store when there were more serious issues like the homeless in downtown Windsor or schools without air conditioning. He also makes reference to the appearance of one of the protesters, calling her “ugly” and suggesting she was overweight.

“He made comments on my looks and my body, just completely unprofessional things that we weren’t there to focus on,” said protest organizer Emily Regier, 24. “We were just standing outside with our signs and getting support from the honks of the cars going by.”

Regier said she is lobbying for stricter animal welfare laws because simply meeting the minimum standard means animals can still be housed in grim, unsanitary conditions. She accused Corbret’s of crowding rabbits into cages without sufficient hay and allowing dogs to sleep without blankets on concrete floors — charges the store owners vehemently deny.

Cory Drouillard of Corbrets Pets and Ponds is shown at the Walker Road business on Monday. He is defending his business after his brother was caught in a video posted to social media confronting protesters outside the shop recently.

Drouillard said his family has been taking care of animals since 1970 and that someone goes to the store every day of the year to ensure they are fed and watered.

“We’re here for the long haul,” said Drouillard. “We’re here to take care of these animals.”

Regier said the protest outside Corbret’s was not meant as an attack on the family’s livelihood but more as a way to raise awareness about insufficient legal protection for animals in pet stores.

“It was not an attack on local business. It was not an attack on the family personally or their livelihood or anything like that,” said Regier. “We wanted to put our foot down. This is Step 1 in changing a very important law that needs changing.”

Drouillard acknowledged his brother was “out of line” confronting the protesters the way he did, but said his brother “took it to heart” when he arrived to work and encountered what the family deems “bullying” and “harassing” behaviour.

Cory Drouillard of Corbrets Pets and Ponds is shown at the Walker Road business on Monday, June 4, 2018. He is defending his business after his brother was caught in a video posted to social media confronting protesters outside the shop recently.

“Yes, my brother did get offensive with it but what he did was stick up for the family business,” said Drouillard. “Yes, he should have calmed it down a little bit but, you know what, we have to stick up for each other. We love our animals.”

Drouillard said the store hardly does a brisk business in puppies, selling maybe one or two a month, and always passes inspections whenever they are visited by city inspectors or inspectors with the Humane Society or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

domcarthur@postmedia.com

twitter.com/captainbyliner

It took 60 days of striking and three attempts at a deal, but the longest labour dispute in Caesars Windsor history is finally over.

Represented by Unifor Local 444, almost 2,000 employees of the casino resort ratified their latest agreement on Monday.

The vote was 75 per cent in favour.

“It was tough,” said a relieved Dave Cassidy, president of Local 444. “This was probably the toughest set of bargaining I’ve been in.

“This is a landmark in the city of Windsor. Could anybody imagine what we would be like without Caesars Windsor, or a casino in Windsor?”

Shortly after the ratification, Caesars Windsor management issued a statement expressing happiness at the resolution and announcing that the property would be ready for customers on Thursday at 11 a.m.

“Amenities including all restaurants and the box office will resume their regular business hours upon re-opening,” the company said.

Casino management did not respond to a request for further comment.

Additionally, Caesars Windsor announced new show dates for five more concerts that had been postponed due to the strike — including multi-platinum rapper Pitbull.

Caesars Windsor after union members voted in favour of a new contract on Monday. Caesars Windsor is scheduled to reopen 11 a.m. Thursday.

The workers have been on strike since April 6. Past tentative agreements have been voted down by majorities of 59 per cent and 53 per cent.

The agreement that succeeded on Monday is a three-year deal, rather than a four-year deal like the one that was rejected last time.

“We missed the mark (last time),” Cassidy said. “Once we announced that it was a four-year deal at the last one, we lost the crowd.”

In monetary terms, the new deal is not greatly different from past offers. There is a cumulative general wage increase of $1.75 after three years — the same as the last deal contained at the three-year mark.

The schedule of the wage increases has changed slightly: $0.75 in the first year, $0.75 in the second year, and $0.25 in the third year.

Signing bonuses remain unchanged: $1,600 for full-time employees, $1,200 for part-time employees, and $675 for casual employees.

There have been improvements in job security. According to Local 444, Caesars Windsor has assured that there are no plans to close any existing food service outlet and no department will be eliminated or outsourced for the duration of the agreement (April 4, 2018 to April 3, 2021).

“We were able to maintain everything we had,” Cassidy said. “We made some slight changes to the long-term disability plan, but not to negatively affect any member.”

“We moved things around, and we got some tighter language on things that we needed.”

The vote took place at the Ciociaro Club at 10 a.m.

Local 444 arranged buses to shuttle members from the union hall on Turner Road to the meeting place. Arrangements were also made so that members with picket duty would have the opportunity to vote.

Ballots were cast quickly and the count was done by noon.

Unlike the mood at the failed ratification vote on May 18, the atmosphere was light on Monday. Many members left the meeting smiling and embracing each other.

“I want to go back,” said Caesars Windsor employee Mike Quaglia. “I think it’s time to go back.”

Another employee, dealer Erlinda Roque, whooped in celebration when she heard Cassidy announce the ratification.

“We should have done this last time,” Roque said. “We should have said ‘Yes’ last time.”

City officials, tourism promoters, and business owners outside the casino were also smiling Monday after learning the strike was over.

“It’ll be great to have 2,300 people back working, contributing to the economy and I think they’re breathing a sigh of relief,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens. “So is the City of Windsor and the businesses in the community.”

Gordon Orr, CEO of Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island, called it a “fantastic day” for the entire region.

“We’re very fortunate to have a signature attraction like Caesars Windsor in our own backyard, and the fact that it was closed was not a win for anybody,” he said. “So now that it’s opening again, it’s able to continue to be that tourism trip motivator that will get people to cross an international border, drive down the 401 or fly into Windsor Airport to come and see this first class gaming facility.”

Orr said selling the Windsor region without its “No.1 tourist attraction” presented some problems during the two-month strike.

“We continued to market our tourism assets in the region,” he said. “Of course, it was noticeable to those that had booked meetings, conventions, those who had show tickets. Obviously the longer it went on, the more negative a reaction would come of that. This end to the strike means that messaging will stop.”

Orr has said the dispute also created a negative “spinoff impact” for restaurants, malls, wineries and other establishments that were losing business from both tourists and striking casino employees.

Walter Bezzina, general manager of Vets Cab, said taxi drivers were among those feeling the pain.

“It’s good for the city, it’s good for our drivers for sure, it’s good for everybody,” said Bezzina. “Nobody ever wins in these kinds of deals, so it’s just good that they’re back. Hopefully we can look forward to the next three years as being good.”

The terms of the agreement were reached after about eight hours of bargaining on Saturday.

Caesars Windsor representatives and Local 444’s bargaining committee resumed negotiations following “exploratory discussions” last week with the assistance of a provincial mediator.

The discussions were attended by Kevin Laforet, regional president of Caesars Entertainment, and Jerry Dias, Unifor’s national president.

Cassidy said the mediator’s help and the presence of Laforet and Dias all played a part in making a resolution possible.

“I can tell you, the casino wasn’t calling me (after the second rejection),” Cassidy said. “They didn’t want to get back to the table.”

Caesars Windsor employees embrace after learning that their new agreement with the company has been ratified and their strike is over. Photographed at the Ciociaro Club on June 4, 2018.

Now begins the process of putting the membership back to work and getting Caesars Windsor running again.

Cassidy said he’s confident that customers will return to the region’s No. 1 tourist attraction.

“The customers know that Caesars Windsor is the way it is because of our membership. They’re first class,” he said.

“Caesars Windsor is the brand, but our membership is the face. They give the best service — They’re the best in the business.”

Asked if he has any concerns there will be hard feelings in the workplace after such a protracted dispute, Cassidy replied: “No. I can tell you, the majority of the membership have great relationships with their frontline supervisors.”

“I don’t see any animosity there whatsoever.”

dchen@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/WinStarChen

Rescheduled Colosseum show dates:

• Sat., June 23, 9 p.m. — Cuban-American rapper Pitbull
• Fri., Aug. 3, 8 p.m. — American composer David Foster
• Thur., Aug. 9, 9 p.m. — Country music artist Cole Swindell
• Thur., Aug. 16, 3 p.m. & 8 p.m. — Canadian illusionist Darcy Oake
• Fri., Aug. 31, 9 p.m. — Country music artist Lee Brice
• Sat., Sept. 15, 8 p.m. — Canadian country music artist Johnny Reid
• Tues., Sept. 18, 9 p.m. — Iconic pop-punk band Blink-182
• Wed., Oct. 3, 9 p.m. — Blues living legend Buddy Guy
• Sat., Nov. 17, 9 p.m. — Comedy ventriloquist Terry Fator
• Sun., Nov. 25, 9 p.m. — Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson

Hotel and Neros Steakhouse online reservations are available now via www.caesarswindsor.com. Reservations by phone available starting Tuesday at 9 a.m. Call 1-800-991-7777.

ARIIUS Nightclub at Caesars Windsor will re-open this Friday at 9 p.m. Text 519-800-8866 or email vip@ariius.com for reservations.

Windsor Regional Hospital has suspended the privileges of its former chief of medicine, who is suing it for allegedly copying a kidney care program he created and poaching his patients.

Dr. Albert Kadri, a longtime Windsor physician and kidney specialist, is seeking $20.5 million in damages he says he has suffered due to a “toxic environment” at the hospital since 2016. His statement of claim, filed on Jan. 12, names the hospital, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and 11 senior staff members of the two hospitals as defendants.

Kadri’s privileges at Windsor Regional were suspended Friday until at least November, the hospital confirmed.

Dr. Albert Kadri is photographed at his hypertension clinic in Windsor on Thursday, January 23, 2013. The clinic is the first in Canada to receive accreditation from the American Society of Hypertension.

In the court document Kadri alleges Windsor Regional plagiarized a plan he designed in 2011 — and presented to the Local Health Integration Network — for a new model of kidney care. He also alleges that the hospital created a clinic to compete with his practice and “poached” some of his patients.

“Consequently, the individual defendants facilitated the creation of a hostile environment which has made it impossible for Dr. Kadri to properly exercise his privileges,” the statement of claim says. “They did so knowing that the purpose of the campaign was to effectively reduce the competition faced by their own copy of Dr. Kadri’s model.”

It alleges the hospital has engaged in “fear mongering” among employees, suggesting their jobs could be threatened by a lack of funding for his work, given Windsor Regional competes with Kadri.

It is also alleged the hospital bullied Kadri’s sister, including taking her office away. He claims the hospital impugned his reputation, spread false rumours and “trumped up” allegations about him, declined to conduct patient audits at his request, conducted audits of his patients without justification, allowed racist and threatening communication from other doctors, and eliminated Kadri from decisions regarding his own patients.

Kadri also alleges that he wasn’t informed when one of his patients was taken off the kidney transplant list. When the woman’s brother donated a kidney to help her, the organ went to someone else, Kadri’s lawsuit claims.

Related

• Windsor kidney researchers make game-changing discovery
• Million-dollar donation kicks off campaign to create new health institute

None of the claims have been tested or proven in court.

Windsor Regional and the others named have not yet submitted a defence, though the hospital has filed a motion to stay the action in its entirety. As well, the hospital is asking to remove most of the individual defendants mentioned in the claim. Those motions will be heard Dec. 3, 2018.

Neither Kadri nor his Toronto-based lawyer returned messages Monday from the Star. Windsor Regional spokesman Steve Erwin said nobody from the hospital would comment beyond what is outlined in a letter and memorandum to physicians about Kadri’s suspension.

In the letter dated May 30, Windsor Regional alerted community doctors, who might refer patients, that Kadri’s privileges to practise at the hospital would be temporarily suspended beginning June 1 and lasting till at least November. Kadri, who from 2010 to 2015 was the hospital’s chief of medicine and renal medical director, has had privileges at Windsor Regional since 1999.

Other than Kadri’s suspension, there has been no change in to the hospital’s kidney care program, the the letter says.

Kadri’s suspension will remain in place pending a Windsor Regional Hospital board hearing on the matter. The board was set to hear the matter in May, though the process was adjourned at Kadri’s request.

A new date has not been set. The hospital letter suggests a hearing now won’t likely happen till at least late October.

cpearson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/WinStarPearson

The lawsuit

The plaintiffs: Dr. Albert Kadri, his medical practice and his non-profit Care for Kidneys Foundation.

The defendants: Windsor Regional Hospital, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, Windsor Regional CEO David Musyj, former Hotel-Dieu CEO Ken Deane, Windsor Regional vice-president of cancer and renal services as well as patient relations and legal affairs Monica Staley Liang, Windsor Regional director of the renal program and mental health Jonathan Foster, Windsor Regional chief of medicine Dr. Wassim Saad, Windsor Regional chief of staff Dr. Gary Ing., Windsor Regional director of medical affairs Jessica Bennett, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare CEO Janice Kaffer, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare vice-president of external affairs Bill Marra, Windsor nephrologist Dr. Amit Bagga and Windsor nephrologist Dr. Wayne Callaghan.

Coun. Rino Bortolin issued his required public apology Monday for rape-in-an-alley comments he made last fall, but then attacked the integrity commissioner report that condemned him as a debate-stifling affront to democracy.

“I’ve been fighting for my constituents since I was elected in 2014, championing their interests and giving voice to their concerns,” the downtown councillor said in a prepared statement, in which he also affirmed his intent to take the integrity commissioner to court for a judicial review. “I won’t stop now. I won’t stop listening and for that, I won’t apologize.”

I’m sorry. I’m also sorry it’s been such a distraction, taking this council’s focus away from more important, positive initiatives and I’m also sorry that this entire exercise may most likely end up costing more than the actual lights residents were fighting to install

The demand for an apology as well as a reprimand was recommended by integrity commissioner Bruce Elman and approved by council in a 7-1 vote in early May. Elman’s report concludes that Bortolin violated several rules of council’s code of conduct when he  and several other councillors commented to the Windsor Star about a string of high-profile projects approved by council and how those projects — including restoring a 1918 trolley and a new holiday lights display for Jackson Park — were funded.

“When I have to continually go back to residents and say there is no money for a $3,000 alley light where that person got beat up and raped last week, it’s hard,” he said at the time. “They say: ‘Whatever. You just got Christmas lights, you just got a trolley.’”

City of Windsor councillors Jo-Anne Gignac and Rino Bortolin prepare for the inaugural City Council Meeting in Windsor’s new City Hall June 4, 2018.

In his statement Monday, Bortolin said he was not referring to an actual rape, but he wasn’t intentionally misrepresenting the facts. “It was a hypothetical comment meant to highlight pressing safety issues in the core and to give voice to the exasperation of many people who live in neighbourhoods where there are unlit alleys,” he said. He added he apologized for making the comment the day it was published and many times since.

“I’m sorry. I’m also sorry it’s been such a distraction, taking this council’s focus away from more important, positive initiatives and I’m also sorry that this entire exercise may most likely end up costing more than the actual lights residents were fighting to install.” Though there’s been no final bill for Elman’s investigation and report, his fee is $300 an hour.

It’s likely it will be several months before the application for a judicial review, filed by Bortolin’s lawyer David McNevin on June 1, makes it to a courtroom. It seeks to have both the Integrity Commissioner’s report and council’s May 7 decision set aside for “error of law, misapprehension of facts and the denial of natural justice.”

Bortolin said the report discourages dissent and limits the free and open exchange of ideas. “By accepting that report, council voted to accept a document that would prefer councillors to toe the line instead of standing up for their constituents,” he said.

He told the Star that whether he wins Thursday’s provincial election (he’s running as a Liberal in Windsor West), or isn’t re-elected to council in the fall, he intends on pursuing the legal case because of the dangerous precedent the report sets.

City of Windsor councillors Jo-Anne Gignac and Rino Bortolin prepare for the inaugural city council meeting in Windsor’s new City Hall June 4, 2018.

Mayor Drew Dilkens described Bortolin words as  a “sorry, not sorry” statement. “But he did apologize for the words he used, which is great,” the mayor said, adding he’s looking forward to the results of the judicial review.

Also on the agenda Monday night was a request by Bortolin to spend $3,500 of his ward funds for three alley lights in the block bounded by Victoria and Dougall avenues, and Wyandotte and Elliott streets. Thirty-six people were listed as delegates and council chambers was packed with Bortolin’s supporters for the first council meeting in the new city hall.

“Give us our alley lights, you might make the greatest improvement to the downtown that you will ever make,” said Glengarry resident Mary Lajeunesse. “We’ve been asking for it so long. Please don’t back down. Give it to us.”

Bortolin’s motion was passed without debate among councillors. Bortolin said he was “ecstatic” that the neighbourhood was getting the lights and credited the huge turnout.

“$3,500 from ward funds in an areas where people have signed a petition with hundreds of names to get them there, from the businesses to the residents to the nursing home that’s there, they all want it,” Bortolin said.

Elman concludes that Bortolin violated the Code by making disparaging comments about council’s decisions and processes, attacking the integrity of the decision-making process and criticizing a council decision. “Councillor Bortolin’s statement was highly critical of council’s decision to fund the restoration of the vintage streetcar,” Elman writes, recommending that Bortolin be reprimanded and that he apologize to council during a council meeting in council chambers.

bcross@windsorstar.com