Rick Fuschi

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Rick Fuschi (born August 16, 1948) is a conservative politician and political activist. He is a three-time candidate for federal office in Windsor, Ontario.

Fuschi was born in Rome, Italy, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Windsor. He is an autoworker, and has been employed with what is now the Daimler Chrysler Corporation since 1969. Fuschi has also operated a family metal-production business in Windsor since 1978, and served for two years in the Windsor Regiment reserve militia.[1] He is a member of the Canadian Auto Workers union, although he has often criticized the positions of the CAW leadership (Windsor Star, 8 May 2002).

Fuschi wrote in favour of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1987 (Windsor Star, 2 October 1987), and wrote numerous Letters to the Editor in later years criticizing the provincial New Democratic Party government of Bob Rae. In 1996, he defended the workfare programs of the Mike Harris government (Windsor Star, 9 July 1996). He sought the Canadian Alliance nomination for Windsor—St. Clair in the 2000 federal election, but lost to Jeff Watson (Windsor Star, 28 October 2000).

Longtime Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Herb Gray retired from the Canadian House of Commons in 2001, resulting in a by-election for the Windsor West seat on May 13, 2002. Fuschi again sought the Canadian Alliance nomination, and defeated Watson by about ten votes (Windsor Star, 22 March 2002). He finished a distant third, losing to New Democrat Brian Masse. When informed of Masse's victory, Fuschi commented, "It's tempting to say you get the kind of representation you deserve." (Windsor Star, 14 May 2002). The following year, Fuschi wrote in support of private health service provision (Windsor Star, 9 August 2003).

The Canadian Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to create the Conservative Party of Canada in early 2004. Fuschi joined the new party, and defeated rival challenger Greg Lowry to win the Conservative nomination for Windsor—Tecumseh in the 2004 federal election (Windsor Star, 26 March 2004). He again finished third against New Democrat Joe Comartin.

During the 2004 campaign, two of Fuschi's campaign signs were vandalized with Swastikas and obscenities. Fuschi is not Jewish, and the incident was interpreted as simple vandalism rather than a hate crime (Windsor Star, 15 June 2004).

He again defeated Greg Lowry to win the Windsor—Tecumseh Conservative nomination in May 2005 (Windsor Star, 10 May 2005), and was the party's candidate for the 2006 federal election. He finished third against Comartin.

Fuschi has frequently criticized the Liberal Party as being anti-American (Windsor Star, 17 June 2004). With reference to the Liberal Party's long tenure in government, he once wrote the following:

One of the Greek philosophers is quoted as describing democracy as a system, whereby ten fools hold sway over nine wisemen. Surely that philosopher was speaking of Canada. Only fools continue to re-elect a government which is as visibly inadequate, and dangerously jealous of its powers as that of Jean Chretien, and now, Paul Martin.[2]