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Fred Francis was born on November 22, 1980, in Windsor, Ontario and is the youngest of three sons to Farid and Arlette Francis, who immigrated to Windsor from Lebanon in the early 1970s.

Fred was raised in South Windsor where he attended Notre Dame Catholic Elementary School and Holy Names Catholic High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (combined honours History/Political Science) from Western University in 2003 and studied at the University of Windsor, earning both a Master of Arts degree (History) in 2006 and a Bachelor of Education degree in 2009.

Prior to being elected to Windsor City Council in 2014, Fred worked in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He has extensive management experience having been the Director of Business Development for the region’s largest automotive retailer group and currently serving as the Executive Director of the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County.

Fred and his wife Carolyn reside in Ward 1 in the City of Windsor. He is a three-term City Councillor, re-elected in 2018 and 2022 on a platform that placed taxpayers first, while working to build stronger neighbourhoods. As a councillor, Fred has been a strong proponent of fiscal responsibility at City Hall. He has also focused on job creation in the region; holding the line on property taxes; continuing to decrease the City’s debt, increasing its financial reserves; and investing in our roads, sewers and parks infrastructure. Fred believes in a strong and vibrant City of Windsor with a quality of life that is second to none.

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You can listen to the full conversation here or on your favourite podcasting app!

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Generally the first half of the conversation is:

 – Allow you to introduce yourself, who you are, what your day job is/was, why you ran for office. Your journey overall. 

– As you are a Councillor for Ward 1 in Windsor (which isn’t very descriptive. Describe your ward geographically, who are your people in the Ward- what do they do for a living, what are the issues that show up in your inbox or at council? 

– How does Ward 1 fit into the broader City of Windsor? 

– How does it fit into SW Ontario (if you think it is even in SW Ontario). Why should someone in Kincardine or Waterloo care? 

The second part of the conversation is a bit more policy/political discussion. 

– I think it is fair to say you are known as a “fiscal hawk” on the City Council. I want to focus on that a bit and dig a little deeper, what is your vision for the city? There are some services that are expensive and just need to be paid for and maintained. How do you balance that with, 

– I recently had the Friends of Ojibway Prairie on the Podcast talking about the new urban national park that will be largely situated in your Ward. They have lots of great ideas and proposals, some of which have big price tags (overpass over Ojibway Parkway). What are your thoughts on the Urban National park and potentially some of the costs that the City may need to bear to support it? 

– Housing  is “the issue” – you have taken a position that residents need to be consulted on projects in their neighbourhood/community. Could go a few directions – discussion of Roseland, Fourplexes etc. 

– We end with something you are looking forward to in the rest of 2024 – event, project, etc.