PC’s hope to snag NDP seats, eyeing Gretzky’s seat in Windsor West

Ontario NDP candidate for Windsor-West Lisa Gretzky works at her campaign office in Windsor, Ont. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dax Melmer

Lisa Gretzky is the last New Democrat standing west of London, Ontario, surrounded by a sea of Progressive Conservative blue.

And now her Windsor West seat is under threat in this provincial election as the PCs hope to complete the push that started years ago to turn union-backed NDP strongholds blue.

Gretzky remains confident despite changes to neighbouring ridings in the 2022 provincial election.

She’s held Windsor West since 2014, a riding that was previously Liberal.

The PCs are running Tony Francis against Gretzky, but the party declined requests to interview him.

The local Liberal candidate dropped out of the race on the day of Elections Ontario’s deadline for nominations, which one political science professor in Windsor says may be good news for Gretzky – since the riding was always a race between the PCs and the NDP.

Gretzky says local voters' main concerns are about the state of health care, housing, the affordability crisis and the threat of tariffs from U-S President Donald Trump.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce recently listed Windsor among the cities that would be hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs.