A first for Windsor city council.
Council will meet virtually on Friday Feb. 21 to vote on potentially overriding Mayor Drew Dilkens' veto that was used to reverse a council decision and end the tunnel bus service.
On Jan. 27, city council voted 7-4 not to eliminate the Transit Windsor tunnel bus and special events bus, a move that would have resulted in a $1.4 million cost savings in the budget.
Under Ontario's Strong Mayor powers, Dilkens had 10 days to veto any council amendments.
Dilkens issued the veto on Feb. 6, citing the tunnel bus as being an economic development engine for the City of Detroit and not Windsor.
He also argued that he could not justify funding the cross-border service in the face of President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
In order to overturn the mayor's decision, council requires two-thirds, or eight votes, going against the veto.
Ward 4 Councillor Mark McKenzie says he's not sure which way the vote will swing.
"I've actually had some conversations with other councillors and some are saying maybe they will actually change their vote," he said. "I think a lot of us also want some more information. I can confirm that there have been conversations with the City of Detroit. Those conversations are ongoing, and so we'll see where we are at on Friday."
He says it was Detroit officials who first reached out to Windsor administration.
"I would love to see Detroit be like a partner with us on it," McKenzie said. "Whether they're going to pay for 50 per cent of it, splitting the costs there, maybe Detroit takes over the service themselves and then we kind of just facilitate it, which Detroit used to run the service so I'd be okay with going back to that as well."
McKenzie says he's been hearing mixed reaction from his ward 4 constituents.
"Some are saying 'you know what, with everything that's going on with Trump and the tariffs, and him saying Canada is going to be the 51st state, yeah maybe we should at least suspend the service', and then you're hearing from some of these activist groups who have been out and are emailing all of the councillors and saying 'we need to keep this, it's an essential service'," he said. "I do see both sides of it."
McKenzie says his stance has always been Windsor tax payers should not be on the hook for 100 per cent of the service.
The vote will take place at 9 a.m. and is open to the public to watch through Zoom.