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TPR Email Edition for April 20, 2018: The New(s) Newsletter – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 20, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
View this edition in its original format, with images, on our MailChimp page.

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I’ve redesigned the newsletter, and welcome your feedback. Today I launch a new template for the newsletter that is designed to provide you with a condensed summary of the information you need to be an engaged local resident in a condensed easy-to-read format. (Replies to this email are sent to me)
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– Joey Coleman
P.S. One section is absent today, “New on The Public Record” as I spent yesterday working on this redesign.
Look for new content on The Public Record this weekend, including the Mountain Plaza mixed-use residential planning application, McMaster University takes the City to the OMB for non-decision on the Main West/Treymore residence, and news from the Heritage Committee that the Padoga sign is being restored.
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“Angel of Dieppe”, dead at age 103. Sister Agnes Marie Valois remembered for her daring efforts to save lives during the disastrous 1942 Dieppe Raid. Her obituary in Le Journal Paris Normandie (French), and remembrances from Hamiltonians who met her in today’s Hamilton Spectator.
(Photo courtesy Capt (Ret) Tim Fletcher of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry)
NDP MPP Questions Value of Union. An voicemail recording obtained and published by CBC reveals that MPP Paul Miller questioned the loyalty of a staff member who took parental leave, and suggested the union representing the staff member, Todd White, is “really digging a hole for themselves” and that NDP MPPs are not happy with the union. Read more and listen to the voicemail at the Toronto Sun.
Veteran Affairs Cmte to Visit Hamilton. The Federal Standing Committee on Veteran’s Affairs to will visit Hamilton and Six Nations this spring to “study on needs and issues specific to indigenous veterans“.
Dofasco Aiming to Fix Emissions Problem. Members of ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s Community Liaison Committee heard the company’s plans to eliminate particular emissions by moving scrap handling indoors. Community members received this positively, The Hamilton Spectator reports.
Register to Participate in OMB hearings for Television City, Mac Student Residence. Case coordinators have been assigned to the OMB appeals filed by Brad Lamb’s Television City, and McMaster for non-decision to build their new public-private partnership student residence at 1190 Main West. Click the links for contact info for the case coordinators, who you can email to request notification of the pre-hearing date to register as a participant.
HSR mobilizing for Mac Exams on Sunday. I noted on Monday the HSR would need to operator full service this coming Sunday due to rescheduled McMaster exams. The HSR is promising every 20 minute service on the 51-University, which will be inadequate for demand, however, I’m being told by HSR operators management is seeking more drivers to volunteer for Sunday, I’m hopeful the HSR will provide the full service (every 8 minutes) required for exams.
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Parent Taking School Board to Court Over Charity Policy. A Halton Catholic District School Board parent is taking them to court on their new “sanctity of life” policy which forbids fundraising for groups that “either directly or indirectly, abortion, contraception, sterilization, euthanasia, or embryonic stem cell research” Among the charities banned are Sick Kids, Canadian Blood Services, cancer research charities, and the United Way.
Parent David Harvey, a retired non-practicing lawyer whose wife has terminal cancer, is filing a judicial review application. Harvey, during his career, successfully argued two cases at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Bikes on Ottawa LRT. OC Transpo will continue to allow bicycles on their LRT system, including the new Confederation Line opening in November, and continue to monitor demand during peak times. OC Transpo says two bikes would take up the same space as five or six riders.
Engaging Disengaged Voters. Steve Paikin gathered young people into a panel discussing why millennials, immigrants, and Indigenous people are often missing from voting lines come election day in Ontario”
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Apr 25 Why Mid-Sized Cities Will be Sustainability Leaders. Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring hosts former Winnipeg Mayor and former Ontario Environment Minister, now Executive Director of the Pembina Institute Glen Murray for a free public talk at the RBG next Wednesday evening. RSVP and details
May 3 Port Authority Community Update. The Hamilton Port Authority is hosting an community update. Details
May 6 Finding Level Ground: Discussion on Affordable Housing. Beasley Neighbourhood Association is hosting a group of panel discussions on how to keep Beasley a complete community, and affordability challenges across Hamilton in general. Details
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TPR Newsletter for April 15, 2018: Deciding to Not Decide // Week in Review – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 15, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
It was a busy week, I regrettably didn’t get a newsletters out after Monday, so this is a Sunday newsletter reviewing the week that just past.
Joey’s Opening Note
You may not like the outcome, but you can begrudgingly respect the process.
On Tuesday, Mayor Eisenberger gave his annual address to the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Mayor’s breakfast. To compare his speech to the rubber omelettes served is fair; both lack freshness and were bland. Here’s the thing, in an election year, Eisenberger could not win.
Had he delivered a rousing speech, he’d open himself to criticism that he was using his office to campaign, especially after his “informational” update flyer distributed in The Hamilton Spectator a few weeks ago. (Among the discussions in the foyer were people commenting on this taxpayer funded campaign material with Eisenberger’s name five times on the front cover).
So Mayor Eisenberger went bland, and said basically nothing, which was better than being seen to use his office for campaigning.
Wednesday, City Council debated urban chickens again. Similar arguments that a been made in the past were made again. The primary difference is time, seemingly in recognition that they were repeating themselves, counsellors decided to engage in an unofficial competition of who can deliver the most chicken puns. Everyone seated at desks in the Chamber seemed to have a good time, while some in the gallery rolled their heads and groaned at the cheesiness.
In the and Council voted 10 to 5 against a “compromise motion” to have staff re-study the issue and bring forth recommendations to Council.
Ward 11 Councillor Brenda Johnson said aloud after the vote that she oppose having a staff report when counsel is already made up its mind and would vote down urban chickens anyway. Putting aside our feelings (and I know the demographics of this newsletter – many of you support urban chicken) on this matter there is a positive in Council not wasting staff time (and our limited tax dollars) when they’ve already decided the matter in advance.
Staff time wasted on reports the Council will not read, and will not affect change, his time away from reports such as family-friendly housing that presently has no deadline and no staff assigned to writing it. In this instance, Council deserves some credit for not wasting everyone’s time.
The Downtown Secondary Plan (DTSP) will be debated by City Council this coming Tuesday. Last Tuesday, the Useful Knowledge Society of Hamilton hosted a very information discussion on the plan. The event featured a presentation overview of the Plan from City of Hamilton General Manager of Planning and Economic Development Jason Thorne, followed by a Question and Answer with City of Hamilton Director of Planning and Chief Planner Steve Robichaud joining Thorne to answer audience questions. Full videos of the event are on The Public Record. Photos on Joey’s Instagram.
TPR contributor Rob Fiedler continues his look at the DTSP, exploring how the DTSP hopes to see Hamilton’s Downtown as a complete community and not just a playground for young single profesionnals. Fiedler explains the challenges of implementation, and why multi-unit family housing is important to the future of urban cores.
Details are emerging in three separate human rights complaints file against two local MPPs, the Hamilton Spectator provides details.
Hamilton Mountain MPP Monique Taylor is alleged to have pressured one of her employees to file a false sexual harassment complaint against another employee, and other violations, by two of her former employees.
Hamilton East Stoney Creek MPP Paul Miller is alleged to discriminated against
constituency assistant Todd White when White decide to take parental leave and poisoned workplace. White is also Chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. Among the most serious of allegations, White alleges Miller used “derogatory phrases” referring to people in the LGBTQ+ community, and that Miller criticizes the appearance of women. These details are included a story by HCN’s Kevin Werner.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is standing behind her MPPs at this time, saying she wishes to see due process for all involvement. Miller and Taylor remain candidates for the NDP in June’s election.
Friday was the “Hamilton Summit” at City Hall, a full day of sessions in which City Council explained why they feel they’re getting a bad deal from the province.
Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin choose summit day to make a competing announcement at McMaster University that the LRT request for proposals was being issued, and used his press conference to unveil the three bidding teams that qualified for the project. The not too subtle underlying message, Council repeatedly asked for $1-billion for LRT, the Province delivered, and Council is not getting a raw deal. (The LRT remains vulnerable to cancellation depending on the outcome of elections this year)
Back at the Summit, there was one good session involving two academics discussing municipal financing strategies, including Dr. Harry Kitchen explaining where municipalities should their existing taxation powers to raise revenue effectively. Many of Kitchen’s ideas – runoff water pricing, road tolls, etc – are political suicide.
“Inclusionary Zoning” is now in force, the Provincial Government announced Wednesday.
The details of the new regulation are not yet posted to the Ontario Regulations website. We know from the press conference that each municipality will be left to decide if they want to implement inclusionary zoning, and how they will implement it.  This is a response to criticisms of the earlier regulation that it was too weak, too cookie-cutter, and unworkable for a variety of reasons.
Pro-IZ stakeholders, who’ve seen the regulations, tweeted positively about the changes. However, the stakeholders are in Toronto which is a very different real estate market that Hamilton – the City of Toronto has much more leverage to demand IZ from developers as per-foot sale prices are double that of Hamilton.
What does this mean for Hamilton? It means Council must decide to implement inclusionary zoning, then resource and assign staff to writing a polic then decide if they wish to implement the staff recommendations. In short, it depends on the results of both the provincial and municipal elections. As is the case with almost all government policy good government results in good policy, and bad government bad policy.
Over at TVO.org, John Michael McGrath is raining truth all over the announcement: Ontario’s housing minister believes cities will use new zoning powers wisely. Toronto sets out to prove him wrong.
The government press release said $5.9 million but translated in the units it’s actually somewhere between 20 and 25 units of affordable housing for a 13 km LRT route or approximately 1.5 units for every kilometre of track. The $5.9 million figure was celebrated as a great step towards addressing the cities of affordable housing crisis and showing that there will be community benefits from the LRT. However 25 units is a lot less than the number of units of housing being displaced by expropriation to build the LRT. McMeekin responded very professionally to my criticism of how few units this is by tweeting “My hunch is the additional monies will link up with other allocated funds + (stay tuned) and that the total impact will be much more significant” .
Council debated area-rating funds during a series of heated debates, with Councillors attacking each others character, accusing one another of bullying and ulterior motives, and pointing at some uses as being slush fund spending.
Two Council watchdogs, Viv Saunders and Gabriel Nicholson, sparked the discussion when they went into detail on area rating spending, and showed that much of the spending was not for infrastructure, a violation of the Municipal Act which only allows Special Levys to be used for their intended purpose.
In the end, Council voted to have staff create definitions for what is infrastructure. This report is not expected until the next term of Council.
May
Newsletter top photo: Panel discussion at Tuesday’s Useful Knowledge Society discussion of the Downtown Secondary Plan.

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license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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TPR Newsletter for April 2, 2018: It's Not For Sale, Unless It's For Sale – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 2, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
Is the Discovery Centre for sale? Jason Farr says its not for sale, but that Council’s giving the “first right of negotiation” to whichever developer wins the right to buy Pier 8 lands from the City. So, not for sale, unless it’s for sale.
Thursday’s meeting was expected to be tense; with residents taken by surprise by the idea of selling the Centre. The meeting took an unexpected turn as Farr accused residents of having personal issues with him, called Graham Crawford his “nemesis”, and to another “some residents are not happy and they will never be” about the Waterfront Trust.
Full video and a short story of the meeting is on The Public Record
I’m very happy to share that The Public Record’s expanding to provide in-depth issues coverage of our municipal election, with Rob Fiedler joining as our first contributor. Rob’s unique blend of academic knowledge and on-the-ground community experience will provide us a unique informed lenses into planning, urban development, and community engagement.
Rob’s first column explains how the proposed Downtown Secondary Plan maximum heights do not automatically mean developers can build to the limit; the plan subjects tall buildings to appropriate location, and create a system which encourages development on surface parking lots.
A quick note that McMaster University is hosting four free lectures entitled “The Trump Talks” on Wednesdays this month at their Jackson Square location. More information here: https://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/worthmentioning/the-trump-talks-free-public-lecture-series/  (These are not listed below as they are outside of TPR’s civic focus, but we note as many of you may be interested in attending.)
Next Week
Newsletter top photo: The crowd at Thursday’s public meeting on the possible sale of the Discovery Centre.


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TPR Newsletter for April 4, 2018: Don't Argue With a Farmer About Farming – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 4, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
I wasn’t going to write on urban chickens but it provides a good reason to share my surprise that backyard chicken rental companies are a thing. In Saskatoon, Rent The Chicken is expanding despite urban chickens being banned.
In Hamilton, urban chickens were back on the Council agenda with a downtown resident delegating in favour of them. The delegation by Christina Sousa at yesterday’s Planning Committee was interesting, both because it reopened the file, but also because she both excelled at points in her presentation, but unfortunately went too far in trying to claim benefits from urban chickens that do not or barely exist.
It was her claims that urban chickens would assist in decreasing the tick population – citing that Hamilton is now an area of risk for Lyme Disease, and minimizing the cons related to potential health issues from urban chickens, which undermined an otherwise excellent delegation.
Councillor Robert Pasuta, who is a farmer and has chickens, corrected her claims about ticks, explaining that cut urban grass is not an environment for ticks and that the hens would have no ticks to eat; Sousa argued with Pasuta “I’m just saying if ticks happen to be in your backyard, they would eat them, they eat any grub, bug, insect”.
Pasuta shared his experiences and concerns, Sousa tried to counter them. At no point did she concede a point to Pasuta, and what followed for Sousa was a series of very tough questions from other Councillors as Pasuta’s skepticism provided them cover to be just as skeptical.
A key point in delegating (and a lesson many of us have learned the hard way) – know what you don’t know.
Had Sousa kept her presentation to the proven hard facts about successful urban chicken policies in other municipalities, not grasped at Lyme Disease and ticks, and simply acknowledged Pasuta cons to her pros, the delegation would’ve been more effective and the vote may have ended in her favour.
In the end, Sousa’s desire to have committee vote to re-study the urban chickens issue failed on a 5-4 vote. This vote will go to full Council next Wednesday for ratification, and I expect a lively Council debate on the topic.
Kevin Werner at HCN filed a report on the Council debate, it’s a good read and summary of the debate.
Next Week
Newsletter top photo: Chickens at Cedar Farms by Flickr user jalexartis, Licensed CC-BY


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TPR Newsletter for April 5, 2018: Waterfront Wonder or Worry? – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 9, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
View Email Edition in your web browser
The storm clouds over the City’s Pier 8 sale are darkening, but you wouldn’t know from the celebratory mood at City Hall Friday as they unveiled visuals of a sunny Pier 8 alongside marketing materials from the four remaining bid teams to purchase the Pier.
The City is not releasing the bid submissions for Pier 8, leaving us to look at the marketing materials for hints at what the bidders are proposing to do. I dive into the bid packages and look at how they fit into the waterfront puzzle.
Three blocks away, over at the courthouse, City lawyers were attempting to defend the Waterfront Trust in a lawsuit brought by Sarcoa. Sarcoa is arguing – with a lot of supporting evidence – that the City stated they were exempt from local bylaws because Pier 8 was federal land at the time they leased, and the Waterfront Trust was a city agency. Sarcoa is seeking a judicial order preventing the sale of the Discovery Centre; a key piece of the Pier 8 plans.
Combined with the ongoing OMB appeal by two industrial users of the Port, the City is going to either have to spend a substantial portion of its Pier 8 sale proceeds on settlements, or be tied up in litigation.
Keep an eye on this file, for the right price, Sarcoa and the industrial users will probably settle with Council, but at the “right price” will taxpayers also be happy?
Ontario’s public broadcaster devoted Thursday’s discussions on its flagship The Agenda to the topic of gentrification in Hamilton, and published a series of stories from Hamilton, London, and Kingston to supplement the discussion.
Hamilton born host Steve Paikin brought together a good panel of Hamiltons to discuss the issue: McMaster Professor of Geography Dr. Richard Harris, Ward 3 Councillor Matthew Green, Realtor Krysta Boyer, and Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction member Laura Cattari. It’s an insightful discussion well worth watching.
Published Thursday, only a day prior to Hamilton Police arresting and charging The Tower‘s operator with Conspiracy to Commit an Indictable Offence in the Locke Street mischief, TVO explored how various Hamiltonians are viewing gentrification and the impact of Hamilton becoming a suburb to Toronto.
Friday, The Agenda devoted 26 minutes to discussion what has changed, and what is not changing, in the transition of the Ontario Municipal Board into the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.
Last week, the FBI raided and the US Department of Justice shut down well known sex classified ads site Backpage.com; the reactions to this have ranged from positive – due to Backpage being used by child sex traffickers – to negative with those who work with those in the sex trade saying sex workers were able to use the site to vet potential clients.
Hamilton’s Municipal Law Enforcement division used the site to monitor and shut down men’s “spas” which were serving as fronts for prostitution. Nearly all the Licensing Tribunal cases involving violations by spas citing listings on Backpage.com as evidence of prostitution occurring at these “spas”. With prostitution being driven further underground, will Municipal Law Enforcement find it harder to find and prosecute violating spas?
Tonight
Tomorrow
Wednesday
Thursday
Newsletter top photo: Waterfront Shores proposal for Pier 8.


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TPR Newsletter for April 5, 2018: What's Good for the Councillor is Good for the Citizen – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 5, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
This afternoon, the Accountability and Transparency Committee (which the City refuses to livestream for reasons they won’t say, but I’ll record) will vote on allowing members of Council to participate in Council meetings by phone. My note today looks at this policy, and why Council should make remote delegations available to citizens as well.
Let’s separate policy from practice. As a matter of policy, providing Councillors the ability to participate and vote by phone is good for those unexpected and exceptional circumstances.
As a member of practice with our current City Council, this policy is likely to be abused; and even the creation of the policy is an attempt to address the chronic problem of cancelled and delayed meetings as more than 50% of City Councillors are not showing up to meeting on time most days, and often don’t show up to meetings at all.
Both the practice problem aside by looking at two recent examples of exceptional circumstances: Ward 14 Councillor Robert Pasuta’s medical leave of absence, and the December 2017 Special Council meeting on the OMB ward boundaries ruling.
Pasuta had to take over six months leave from City Hall last year after a farm injury prevented him from driving to City Hall, and even upon returning, he had to work limited days under his doctors orders. Could Pasuta have participated in Council meetings remotely (with the permission of his doctor) if the option was available? Is it good policy to enable a Councillor who cannot make it to City Hall due to medical limitations to remotely participate? Do we Hamiltonians, as the employers of our Councillors, wish to set an example as a good employer by accommodating our employees. I submit the answer is yes.
On December 12, 2018, the Ontario Municipal Board overturned City Council’s attempt to gerrymander wards to their own incumbent advantage.  An emergency Council meeting was called for December 18 as Council needed to decide within 21 days if they would appeal the decision. The decision came during Council’s five week Christmas recess. What if a diligent Councillor had booked a vacation, this particular Councillor’s only one of the year, during this time period; not expecting an emergency meeting. That’s an exceptional circumstance.
What’s good for the Councillors is good for the citizens; Council should allow remote delegations into Council meetings from designated locations (such as library branches) across Hamilton’s suburban communities. Residents of Flamborough, for example, should be able to attend any of the three library branches in their community to be able to delegate and respond to questions from Councillors via video link.
Citizens should not be forced to drive Downtown to City Hall, only to site for hours on end in Council Chambers all the while feeding a parking metre. Hamilton City Hall say they are committed to “Community Engagement & Participation“, this is a great way of reaching that goal.
Next Week
Newsletter top photo: Council Chambers at City Hall.


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Truck Fire on Hughson Street North – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 21, 2018
The Hamilton Fire Department responded shortly after 3:45pm Saturday afternoon for a single vehicle fire on Hughson Street North. Our Joey Coleman happened to be at Dr. Disc for Record Store Day when the fire began and captured these photos.


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Useful Knowledge Society of Hamilton: Downtown Secondary Plan – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 12, 2018
What does the proposed Downtown Hamilton Secondary Plan mean for the future of Hamilton’s primary downtown area and central business district?
The Useful Knowledge Society of Hamilton asked this question Tuesday night at Mills Hardware in the downtown core, inviting City of Hamilton General Manager of Planning and Economic Development Jason Thorne to present to an audience of around 60 residents on the plan.
Following his presentation, Thorne was joined on stage by City of Hamilton Director of Planning and Chief Planner Steve Robichaud for a question and answer discussion with Raise the Hammer editor Ryan McGreal. A brief break was taken before the floor was opened to the audience to ask questions.
The Public Record recorded the entire event, and we’ve posted two videos to our YouTube channel. Part One is Thorne’s presentation and the panel discussion that followed. Part Two is the audience question and answer.  (Note: the last portion of part two is audio only due to an error in my video camera, I apologize)
Selected photos from the event are on Joey Coleman’s Instagram and Flickr pages.


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VIDEO: Ward 2 Residents Turn Out to Oppose Sale of Discovery Centre – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

April 2, 2018
The first public meeting on City Council’s exploration of selling the Discovery Centre on Hamilton’s West Harbour waterfront took an unexpected turn as Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr accused residents of having personal issues with him, called a resident his “nemesis”, and to another “some residents are not happy and they will never be” about the Waterfront Trust.
One woman felt the need to say to Farr “play nice, Jason”.
“I don’t mind, I signed up for this”, Farr told the audience. “If you want be beat me down, that’s not a problem, really, throw the rotten tomatoes, I’m cool with that” as people expressed opposition to the idea of selling the Discovery Centre.
Over 50 people packed into the Evergreen Storefront on the evening of Holy Thursday, around a dozen forced to stand due to a lack of seating, and many people having to step out at times to cool down outside as temperatures rose in the space.
Councillor Farr sought to discuss development along Piers 5 to 7 at the start of the meeting. Ward 2 resident Graham Crawford stood up at the beginning and asked for a show of hands from those who were present to discuss the Discovery Centre sale. Crawford called for the Discovery Centre to be discussed first, and crowd agreed.
Under a barrage of questions from the audience, Farr said the Discovery Centre isn’t for sale at the moment, but Council is exploring a possible sale, and a final decision will be made at a Council meeting in June.
Farr said proponents bidding to purchase Pier 8 lands from the City ar invited to separately bid on purchasing the Discovery Centre in a “first right of negotiation” bid. Farr envisions institution use of the Discovery Centre, including the possibility of the building being in private hands with those uses.
The City plans to post submissions from developers bidding on Pier 8 on April 6.
Farr promised more public meetings prior to the June Council meeting; a few people heckled form the crowd that future public meetings should be held a space designed for public meetings; specifically the auditorium of the Discovery Centre.


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City Trying to Hire Elections Voting Staff at Below Minimum Wage – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 10, 2018
Hamilton’s Elections Manager is seeking election day staff to work at rates below Ontario’s minimum wage laws. A posting on the City of Hamilton website says that Election Assistants will be paid $160 for working 12 hours on election day, the $160 payment includes pay for two hours of training. Assuming this election that elections staff will get an hour unpaid lunch (which has never happened before) the hourly rate for Election Assistants will be $12.31 per hour. It’s $11.42 if they don’t get an unpaid lunch.
Ontario’s minimum wage is $14 per hour. The City of Hamilton is required by law to pay minimum wage.
Greeters will be paid $130 for the day, including the training, putting them at $10 per hour if they get an unpaid lunch break. Without that lunch break, the pay is $9.29 per hour.
Deputy Returning Officers will be paid $200 for the day, which if they get an unpaid hour for lunch, means $15.28 per hour. If they don’t get an unpaid lunch, they’ll barely make more than minimum wage at $14.29 per hour.
Busier polls are known to take more than one hour past the 8 p.m. close to complete voting of those in line, and counting, meaning some staff will be even less than the already below minimum wage rate.


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COLEMAN'S NOTE: Horwath's LRT Position, Public Opinion, and Why LRT Could Be in a Lot of Trouble – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 21, 2018
The online uproar Thursday night was swift and loud following Andrea Horwath’s reported statement on Hamilton’s B-Line LRT project that City Council has the option of spending the $1-billion dollars on other local transit projects.
Depending on your interpretation of her comments, she was either changing her position on LRT, providing an honest answer to a question – that being that the Province cannot impose its will upon the municipality -, or that she was changing her position on LRT in response to declining public support for the project.
(I interpret it as an honest answer that municipalities are deserving of respect in local decision making)
Horwath issued a carefully and strongly worded statement Friday morning stating “Should Ontario people elect me to serve as premier … Hamilton is getting an LRT, and there will be no more delays”.
Horwath’s first role and priority is as leader of the Ontario NDP, a party which has a very good chance of forming the next government. She cannot afford to get drawn into a local issue quagmire such as Hamilton’s LRT; especially since other parts of the province have good reasons to be resentful of the Hamilton LRT deal – no other municipality is getting 100% no-strings attached funding for higher order transit.
Hence, Horwath is not clarifying why she choose her wording Thursday at TheSpec.
Political operatives affiliated with all three parties are telling me off-the-record that polling both for the provincial and municipal elections is showing that LRT is increasingly unpopular.
I haven’t seen the polls, and I can’t confirm this information, but coming from all camps, I consider it credible.
Even Mayor Fred Eisenberger, the current champion of LRT, is seeking to minimize LRT as a topic in his re-election campaign.
Was Horwath’s statement on Thursday reflective of opinion polling in the riding of Hamilton Mountain? Is the NDP trying to thread the needle on the issue to avoid losing Hamilton Mountain to the Progressive Conservatives? We don’t know.
The recent Metrolinx non-scientific poll of public opinion along the B-Line LRT corridor reveals a very real problem for Hamilton’s LRT project: public opinion.
Normally, I don’t write citing non-scientific polls. In this case, I make an exception because of who conducted it and why it was conducted. Metrolinx conducted the survey to determine support for LRT projects they are building
Only 59% of those surveyed in Hamilton support the LRT project, the Hamilton result contrasts with significant support found in other communities with LRT projects nearing construction or underway.
This poll was conducted along the LRT corridor, where support for the LRT is believed to be highest in Hamilton. With only 59% support there, it’s reasonable to believe the LRT does not enjoy majority support elsewhere in Hamilton.
How did LRT lose public support? Especially along the corridor?
There’s been a noticeable shift in what I’m hearing on LRT in East Hamilton and Stoney Creek. People are telling me they’ve changed their views on LRT, with two themes being prevalent: Hamilton can’t even run buses, and the LRT means displacement.
People are telling me they’ve needed to purchase a second vehicle in households were one partner used to commute to work by HSR, and they owned a single vehicle for necessary errands or a partner who could get to work efficiently by public transit. (An identified challenge that is not unique to Hamilton)
In Stoney Creek, for example, during the Transit Crisis there were occurrences of 90 minute service gaps during rush hour, with 60 minute rush hour service gaps occurring enough that effectively public transit was no longer an option.
People have to get to work, and while City Hall says cancellations amounted to less than 2% of all trips in 2018, this still equals five weekdays of the bus missing each year. How many jobs allow you to be randomly late five times per year?
Now that people have come to rely upon their second vehicle to get to work, they do not see themselves using the LRT, they look at the construction as being very disruptive, and see the LRT as taking away lanes from cars.
The HSR Transit Crisis has diminished both the HSR’s paid ridership count, and severely undermined confidence in public transit.
Hamilton’s LRT has primarily been presented as a economic development project from the beginning; but it needed a strong public transit use case to gain and maintain public support.
Some East Hamiltonians who rent are trapped; if they have stable housing, they cannot move without paying hundreds of dollars more per month for a similar sized unit. Many who are renting from smaller landlords in duplexes and triplexes face the anxiety of their landlord selling, and then being forced into the rising rental market.
(A business model of small scale rental is to capture value appreciation and capital gains, and Hamilton’s substantial land value appreciation makes selling attractive.)
The City has tirelessly promoted Hamilton as, among many slogans, the new Brooklyn – a place for people to move to and take advantage of lower price housing stock. The impact of these marketing campaigns on attracting new residents – with higher paying jobs based in Toronto – is impossible to measure, but long time Hamiltonians feel squeezed and point to this as a factor.
Residents of East Hamilton remember the City’s infatuation with attracting the “Creative Class”, that the LRT is primarily marketed as a economic development project, and politicians citing the planned LRT as a primary reason for new development along the LRT corridor.
New build one bedroom apartments are renting for over $1,500 per month; making them unaffordable for most Hamiltonians in a city where the median total income of one-person households was $33,153 in 2015.
Padmapper is reporting the average one-bedroom listing on their website last month was $1,060 per month, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
Even at the median income of $33,153, average rent is above 30% of income. Over half of Hamilton’s one-person households have incomes below this median.
The LRT isn’t the cause of raising rents in Hamilton, it is however a tangible political issue that people can use to express their frustration at government in response to rising rents.
This Thursday, the Hamilton Tenants’ Solidarity Network and the Hamilton Legal Clinic are holding a meeting to organize people being displaced by LRT expropriation. The LRT is increasingly been seen as a problem for people living along the route; and not enough is being done to address this.
I read Horwath’s comments as just the latest in a series of events that put the LRT project in doubt.
It was Ward 3 Councillor Matthew Green’s motion to have the LRT run by the HSR which delayed closing of the project contract. Green moved the motion to support the local Amalgamated Transit Union’s fight to have the LRT workers unionized in their Local.
Organized Labour is split on the LRT, opposition in the community is getting louder, the Ontario Liberals appear destined to loss on June 7th, the Progressive Conservatives are promising to eliminate the Hamilton LRT project if elected, the NDP is promising to implement it, but with no agreement on the state of Provincial finances, does a project with lukewarm support survive if the Provincial Treasury is bare?
Right now, the LRT project financial model is design, build, finance, operate and maintain. This means the Provincial government will be paying finances charges to the private consortium which builds the LRT over a 30 year term.
Organized Labour wants – at a minimum – to see this changed to have the local HSR operate. Will a NDP government ignore Organized Labour and maintain the LRT project as is?
Who will lead LRT in the future?


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Corktown Plaza Redevelopment Proposes 31 and 34 Storey Tall Buildings – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 25, 2018
Slate Asset Management is planning to submit application for two tall buildings on the present site of the Corktown Plaza at 225 John Street South.
At a public meeting Thursday night, they unveiled plans for a mixed-use development with one tower of 31 storeys and another of 34 storeys. Slate says they’ll be rental aparements, with a podium of six to eight storeys that will consist of retails, apartments, and parking hidden out of view.
Slate’s application is one of the first following the passage of the new Downtown Secondary Plan and the enhancement of the Tall Building Guideline into policy. Corktown Plaza is just outside of the Downtown Secondary Plan boundaries.
I wasn’t able to attend last night’s public meeting, I have been working on this file for a few weeks now.
In late April, I asked Hamilton’s Chief Planner Steve Robichaud if this development will be judged against the Downtown Secondary Plan. Robichaud stated that it will be expected to meet the intent of the plan as well as the Tall Building Guidelines.
In early May, Brandon Donnelly, Slate’s Vice President of Development, stated that they plan to submit an application that would meet those tests.
Donnelly posted a summary of the proposal on his blog this morning.
We’ll need to await the submission of the detailed planning application in the coming weeks to learn the height in meters as it relates to the escarpment, to see if the proposed 31 and 34 storey buildings meet the new Downtown Hamilton height limit.
The property is presently designated to be zoned Mixed Use Medium (C5) with a height limit of 22 metres. The City’s new Commercial Mixed Use Zoning is not in effect due to an ongoing Ontario Municipal Board appeal by 26 different appellants of the city-wide zoning plan.
The property is close to a GO Station, and on a major arterial road. There are existing 14 and 21 storey buildings across the street from the property.
Corktown resident Cameron Kroetsch – who is running for Ward 2 City Councillor – posted a series of photos of Slate’s proposal to his Facebook page last night.  Beasley resident Corey Helie-Masters posted a good photo of the render to his Twitter account last night.


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EDITOR'S NOTE: Jennifer Keesmaat Meets With Ted McMeekin in Hamilton – Is 191 York Blvd in Play? – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 8, 2018
Hamilton-born former Chief Planner of Toronto Jennifer Keesmaat was at Hamilton City Hall Monday to meet with local MPP Ted McMeekin. Asked about the purpose of their meeting, “it’s under embargo” was the response with a smile. (Meaning they were not going to share what they were meeting about, not that there is an actual embargo)
Keesmaat is now CEO of the Creative Housing Society (CHS), a new corporation which is seeking to build 50,000 “affordable” rental units which will target middle-income rents who are presently being priced out of the market.  (Quotations on affordable due to there being no agreed definition or formula to the term affordable rental units)
CHS hopes to partner with municipalities, which are cash poor but land rich, to build on land owned by cities.
The municipality gets more rental housing, and CHS is able to build at a lower cost in places where land values are the primary pressure making rental housing construction unattractive for the private sector.
In a recent interview with TVO, Keesmaat states her new venture wishes to start building its first rental project within one year, are looking at the Toronto or Vancouver market for the first project. Hamilton’s housing market is now directly tied to Toronto’s.
The City is looking for a private-sector partner for a planned CityHousing development at 191 York Boulevard.
In 2016, the City started seeking a private partner, stating its desire to see a 20-storey 400-unit mixed-income mixed use development at 191 York Boulevard to include “affordable” units.
Last week, the City announced $9.51-million in funding for the project from the proceeds of a complicated land sale arrangement with the Province and Mohawk College.
Last week’s arrangement saw the Province transfer the former Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital site at West 5th and Fennell to the City of Hamilton, the City then sold portions of the lands to Mohawk College – which is presently landlocked and in need of room to expand, and the money from the sale was transferred to CityHousing for the 191 York Boulevard project.
Ted McMeekin’s fingerprints were on the arrangement. The usual (and arguably proper) procedure is for the Province to sell its land at market value or lease at a nominal fee to other government bodies. In this instance, the land was transferred to the City of Hamilton at no cost, then sold to Mohawk College which itself is an agent of the Province.
Somebody had to maneuver this deal at Queen’s Park, and convince civil servants in the Mowat Block (Ministry of Advanced Education) and Ferguson Block (Treasury Board Secretariat) to allow this deal to proceed. McMeekin is one of the few MPPs who commands enough respect and trust in the civil service to be able
McMeekin completed his Social Work Masters thesis in 1975 on affordable housing. In my recent conversations with him, he says his primary passion remaining in politics is to create more affordable housing. 191 York Boulevard is one of his present obsessions.
Keesmaat is looking for her first project, the City is looking for a partner, $9.51-million is already on the table – plus the value of the land – as the municipal contribution, planning approvals are effectively guaranteed, the City already has policies in place to waive application and development charge fees.
This is the perfect project for Keesmaat.
We’ll have to watch and see.


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FIEDLER: Downtown Secondary Plan Gives Clearer Permissions Because LPAT Puts Planning Control in Hands of Council – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 9, 2018
Two weeks ago, City Council approved Hamilton’s new Downtown Secondary Plan (DTSP) without amendment or much fanfare. A week prior, during a lengthy Planning Committee meeting, interested members of the public, community groups, and other stakeholders made their views known.
Full disclosure: I attended Planning Committee and made a statement on behalf of the Beasley Neighbourhood Association (BNA) in support of the new DTSP.
Despite receiving approval at City Council, the new DTSP isn’t quite over the finish line yet. There is a very real possibility that the new plan will be appealed and end up at new Land-use Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). We won’t know for several more weeks.
We do know that the law firm Turkstra-Mazza and the planning consultancy Bousfields submitted letters on behalf of Television City Hamilton Inc., 163 Jackson Street West, outlining land-use planning objections—mainly to the use of the Niagara Escarpment to determine the height limit for tall buildings within the Downtown Planning Area.
City Council also received correspondence from the Hamilton-Halton Home Builders’ Association (HHHBA) arguing policies related to density bonusing for community benefits via implementation of Section 37 of the Planning Act were premature and should be held in abeyance until further consultation is done.
Representatives for other development interests spoke at Planning Committee the previous week outlining specific objections or concerns related to the accompanying zoning changes, specifically that they appeared to impact developments already approved, but not yet under construction.
So hard to say for sure, but given that City Council’s non-decision on Television City was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB)—just before the Board was set to be no more—it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the proponent appealed the new DTSP to its replacement: the LPAT.
None of this is particularly unusual.
Official Plans and Secondary Plans function as big picture documents that provide a framework and medium to longer-term vision for how a city or particular area will develop via private and public sector investment. OMB (now LPAT) appeals can be about the big picture, including community impacts related to social justice and environmental concerns. More often, however, they are about economic interests linked to property rights: objections to land-use planning policies that add costs or limit what might be done with a piece of land.
If your interest is to maximize the revenue generated from a particular land parcel or the structures on it, then all things being equal you’d prefer flexibility of use, fewer requirements, and greater permissions in terms of height and density.
Of course, Ontario’s Planning Act, which has been amended significantly since being first enacted in 1946, still retains as its basic intent that municipal planning decisions balance macro-planning (what is in the best interests of its inhabitants given the regional context) with micro-planning (ensuring the compatibility of proximate land-uses).
To this end, the Planning Act outlines its purposes in Section 1.1 as follows:
(a)                to promote sustainable economic development in a healthy natural environment within the policy and by the means provided under this Act;
(b)               to provide for a land use planning system led by provincial policy;
(c)                to integrate matters of provincial interest in provincial and municipal planning decisions;
(d)               to provide for planning processes that are fair by making them open, accessible, timely and efficient;
(e)                to encourage co-operation and co-ordination among various interests;
(f)                to recognize the decision-making authority and accountability of municipal councils in planning.
So, while the province has assumed the role of regional planner with (b) and (c) achieved through the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) and Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (Growth Plan), the Planning Act itself achieves (f) because it delegates the authority to regulate land-use in prescribed ways to local municipal councils.
If the preceding seems a little pedantic, it is to draw attention to the potential significance of the recent shift from OMB to LPAT: the increased importance of the PPS, Growth Plan, and a municipality’s Official Plan (OP).
Simply put, under the old regime at the OMB expert evidence from professional planners gained overwhelming importance in decisions via the notion of “good planning” and seemed to overtake municipal council’s power to regulate land-use, including via zoning by-laws (see Section 34 (3) of the Planning Act) to prescribe the minimum and maximum heights and densities of development.
When municipal officials made reference to the need for a plan or planning decision to be “reasonable” and “defendable” at the OMB, they were in effect saying as a key part of the determination we need to anticipate how this might be received at the OMB should it be appealed. And there is no hard-or-fast definition of what constitutes “good planning”. Just an OMB member’s determination based on the mix of jurisprudence and evidence, the latter mainly from recognized experts, presented during an appeal hearing.
Given that provincial policies lean heavily toward Smart Growth intensification it should be no surprise that most appeals by development interests seeking more height and density than permitted in municipal plans framed their cases before the OMB around how their proposal aligned with this and should be permitted on that basis. Taken in isolation it was often hard to sustain contrary planning arguments, especially once nearby precedents could be drawn upon.
Understandably on the community side of the equation for those with some knowledge of planning as it is practiced in Ontario and the resources and willingness to fight OMB appeals, this has encouraged so-called NIMBY responses to proposals that deviate from the existing character of an area. After all, based on the logic of precedent, once you’ve allow a development that is larger and denser than what exists, it is difficult to argue that the next one shouldn’t also be allowed given the OMB favours (all-things-being-equal) like treatment in the application of land-use controls. That means once a new precedent has been set the onus shifts from proponent to planning authority (City Council) to establish why reasonably similar applications should not be approved.
This is why height is often a sticky point in planning disputes and we see strange and sometimes counter-productive (from the point of view of design and architecture) fights over whether a project should be 30 or 34 storeys. Aside from apparent NIMBY opposition to towers in or near low-rise residential areas and architecture/design considerations, height is about the power to determine how much can be squeezed onto a particular land parcel. To put it bluntly it’s about dollars-and-cents for proponents—more floors means more floor-space or units—and maintenance of overall planning authority and negotiating leverage for the Planning Division and City Council.
We don’t yet know how the LPAT might alter this dynamic, but in theory it should shift the balance of power back toward municipal councils and to those who elect them. Certainly, the development industry fears the latter. Rather than reliance on “good planning” in its broadest meaning and most liberal application, appeals to the LPAT may only be made on the basis of whether a decision (in whole or in part) is “inconsistent” with the PPS or fails to “conform” to or “conflicts” with the Growth Plan or fails to “conform” to the applicable municipal Official Plan.
On its face this changes the rules of the game significantly and suggests, amongst other things, that municipal councils will have an increased able to set height and density ranges in their Official Plans and Zoning By-laws provided they can be defended as consistent with the PPS and be shown to conform to and not conflict with the Growth Plan.
What will “consistent” with, “conform” to, and not “conflict” with actually mean in practice?
To say for certain we need enough appeals to run their course under the new framework. An educated guess might forecast that empowering municipal councils will rebalance the planning and development approval process, so that the purposes laid out in Section 1.1 of the Planning Act can be more fully realized. A key component of that would be restoring local democratic control of planning, which many believe the OMB had come to seriously undermine, provided municipal decisions follow the lattice work of applicable policies/rules, so to speak.
Where might this lead?
That depends on whether municipal councils in being responsive to voters strike the right balance between what “near neighbours” want and what is in the broader public interest—i.e. can they mediate conflicts that arise between adjacent or proximate residents/property owners without falling prey to the sort of paralysis that might result if no one is willing to compromise.
The overall aims of provincial policies such as the PPS and Growth Plan, not mention major investments in rapid transit infrastructure via Metrolinx, are to gradually make our cities and suburbs more compact and dense so they are more tax efficient and transit-supportive. Those aims, along with curtailing farmland devouring sprawl, are easy to support, in principle. They prove harder for many to support when they mean densification next door, on your block, or in the neighbourhood.
In my next and final installment on the new DTSP for TPR, I’ll explore several of policies that get us beyond height and density. The new plan, to the extent it can, speaks to culture, public spaces, heritage, housing, and environmental concerns that remind us that planning isn’t merely reducible to planning for development—it should embrace the “soft city” that each of us creates through a mix of mundane interactions, desire, imagination, daily routine, and our participation in social and political life.


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Hamilton Municipal Election Issues 2018: Dundas as its Own Ward – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 22, 2018
Ward 13 (Dundas and West Flamborough) City Council candidate John Mykytyshyn tells Hamilton Community News that if elected, he’ll “work tirelessly to have Dundas have its own ward again”.
In TPR’s first issues analysis piece, I’ll look at what Mykytyshyn’s promise means, and what he’ll need to do to implement the promise.
First some brief background.
The Town of Dundas was incorporated in 1847, and for a time surpassed the economic activity of Hamilton, enabling the Town to create its own unique institutions (such as its own Carnegie Library which today is the Carnegie Gallery) and identity separate from City of Hamilton. Dundas was an independent Town until 2001 when it was involuntarily amalgamated into the new single-tier City of Hamilton.
As part of amalgamation, Dundas (and other suburban municipalities) were granted disproportional representation on City Council as part of what was to be a short-term political compromise to alleviate concerns about lost identity and independence.  Dundas was granted its own seat on Council as part of this temporary arrangement.
For 15 years, successive Councils deferred addressing ward boundaries, leaving the temporary boundaries in place. In 2012, over 1000 residents signed a petition calling on Council to review ward boundaries. Council voted to begin a review in 2015. In April 2015, Council voted 8-8 to only receive a staff report on ward boundaries to begin the review. A tie vote fails, meaning the status quo prevails. In this instance, because Council had previously directed the review to occur, the review happened.
In October 2016, Watson and Associates filed its ward boundary review report. Council rejected the report, and sent the consultants back to create ward boundaries suggested by the Council which attempted to maintain the status quo, including maintaining Dundas as its own ward.
In September 2017, just weeks before an Ontario Municipal Board hearing into the Council approved wards, Council amended them further in a last second attempt to save their own ward proposal.
The Council amended boundaries shaved off slivers of Ward 1’s Ainslie Wood neighbourhood to increase the population of Dundas. It was this attempt to increase the population of Ward 13 that was the crux of the OMB’s overturning Council’s amended wards.
OMB Executive Chair Dr. Bruce Krushelnicki wrote the slicing of Ainslie Wood to add population to Dundas was “as an unreasonable error which divides a community of interest without apparent justification” because it divided a functional neighbourhood, and diluted the ability of the student and renter populations of those Ainslie Wood to obtain effective representation.
Those groups would represent around 10% of the new Dundas ward, and have interests which would significantly differ from the core of Dundas, and due to their small proportion of the ward, they could be ignored by the Dundas Councillor.
A reasonable person can ask: don’t the interests of Dundas significantly differ from those of rural Flamborough?
So why would those two interests be grouped in one ward when the OMB ruled Dundas could not be combined with slivers of Ainslie Wood?
The key difference is in the new Ward 13, neither interest can dominate the other.
There is effectively no path to winning the new Ward 13 that does not involve serving the interests of both urban Dundas and rural Flamborough.
A candidate cannot run a campaign focused solely on the narrow interests of one half of the Ward as neither group possesses enough votes on its own to dominate the ballot box and elected their “own” Councillor.
There’s an argument to be made that having a Councillor who must weight various interests in the ward they represent makes for better governance for the City of Hamilton as they cannot solely take a narrower urban or rural view.
Dundas lacks sufficient population to be its own ward in a 15-member Hamilton City Council.
Representation by population is an important concept in electoral democracies, especially in local politics. What are acceptable disparities in ward populations?
The OMB Hamilton wards decision tackled this in paragraphs 152 to 171, stating the new wards “strikes the appropriate balance. It achieves a high degree of population parity without slavishly adhering to some mathematical ideal”.
Based upon the questions asked by Executive Chair Dr. Krushelnicki during the hearing, the meaning of this statement is that representation by population is not an absolute, that there can be some variation in ward population sizes, but those variations must be for reasons of practically or minor voter protection – it cannot be for political convenience or deal-making.
The 2016 population of Dundas is 24,285, the total 2016 population of Hamilton is 536,930. With 15 wards, the average population per ward is 35,794.
Dundas is short by 11,500 of the population needed to obtain its own Council seat.
This provides two obvious policy means to make Dundas it’s own ward, and I’ll ask Mykytyshyn which he’s looking to implement: Mykytyshyn will need to increase the population of Dundas by at least 7,000 people or increase the number of City Councillors to 22.
In short, more high density mid-rise development (including demolition of existing single family homes and low-rise structures) or more politicians at Hamilton City Hall.
To make Dundas its own ward, with its present population, will require increasing the number of Councillors to decrease the population per ward. To make Dundas a ward requires adding seven new Councillors.
Is adding more Councillors feasible, and would it reflect representation averages in comparable municipalities?
The Toronto Ward Boundary Review background report found the average population per ward for Canada’s 10 largest municipalities is 53,606. Hamilton was the lowest, Calgary the highest at 78,345. (Report page 26: Original Link, Archived on TPR)
Based on the data, one can reasonably argue that Hamilton already has too many politicians.
The public is unlikely to have much appetite for more politicians, and the fact that Hamilton has more municipal politicians per capita creates the opportunity for a populist to call for less politicians on Council.
Before we leave the ward populations discussion behind, the numbers reveal something more interesting – where people have traditionally been served by part-time ward councillors in smaller municipalities, it appears residents wish to continue to have access to their local politician at the neighbourhood level.
Hamilton, Ottawa, and Winnipeg are post-amalgamation cities. Both Hamilton and Ottawa were amalgamated in 2001. Winnipeg was amalgamated in 1972.
It’s been 18 years since amalgamation here in Hamilton, 47 years since amalgamation in Winnipeg.
Even with nearly 30 years longer as one city, the legacy of the former communities of Winnipeg continue to influence the composition and size of Winnipeg’s City Council. There are 15 wards in Winnipeg, the boundaries have a legacy in the former municipalities. The populations of the wards varies from 31,000 to 54,000 residents with an average of 44,000 residents per ward, nearly 10,000 people below the average of comparable municipalities.
I lived briefly in Winnipeg during the early-00s attending the University of Manitoba; it took only weeks for me to be told the stories of the former municipalities, and that I was living in the former Rural Municipality of Fort Garry. I would quickly learn of the other former municipalities whose community spirit continues to this day in their service clubs and curling clubs. I was a student member of the Kiwanis Club of Fort Garry, and regularly attended the Kiwanis Club in Kildonan.
The community of Dundas has multiple Rotary Clubs, it’s own archives and museum, and a host of other cultural institutions which serve to maintain the vibrancy of its community. These are what define a community.
The sentiment for a Dundas ward is a reasonable one, however with the current population of Dundas is not practical. Under a 15 ward system, the OMB has ruled it illegal.
For the purposes of analyzing this issue, let’s look at the alternative to increasing the number of politicians, that is to increase the population of the town of Dundas by approximately 33% to bring it to the average ward size of Hamilton. To achieve a population level which would allow Dundas to have it own ward with 10% less than average population, Dundas will need to grow its population by approximately 25%
The residents of Dundas are not likely to support such a huge amount of growth; in fact many residents of Dundas delegated in front of City Council numerous times expressing concerns about the current growth trends in Dundas, such as the development of mid-rise buildings and demolition of smaller buildings.
A nine-storey development at 71 Main Street in Dundas was a major lightning rod during the 2014 municipal election. When Council voted 9-6 in favour of the development (page 9, December 9, 2015 City Council minutes), after City planning staff stated it met the requirements of the Provincial Growth Plan, a group of Dundas residents came together to successfully fund-raise for an OMB appeal which is ongoing.
Hamilton’s growth projections expect new Hamiltonian’s will wish to settle in either the urban core areas well served by public transportation, or the new medium density suburban townhome developments that are planned for Upper Stoney Creek, Binbrook, and Waterdown. The projection are that the population of Dundas will slightly decrease in the coming decade.
In conclusion, there is no practical means of making Dundas its own ward again.
Mykytyshyn is a very smart man, a skilled political strategist, a person who knows the facts you just read.
His promise, it’s pandering.
Even the term he uses “work tirelessly” is not a promise to achieve making Dundas it’s own ward, just a promise to spend energy in a futile venture.
Mykytyshyn’s statement happens to be the first that The Public Record is critiquing; I hope other candidates take notice that new journalism is in Hamilton, and will be analysing their statements to ensure our readers are informed, and candidates are putting forth realistic ideas for the future of Hamilton.


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Mayor Eisenberger Makes Election Year Promise to See HSR Start Providing Service for Major Events – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 20, 2018
Mayor Fred Eisenberger is promising that he “will work to ensure” Hamilton’s public transit agency, the Hamilton Street Railway, provides service to major events starting this summer.
This follows City Hall failing to plan for the Dundas Victoria Day fireworks by not providing HSR service.
Twitter user Bradley Vinette brought this to the City’s attention on May 15, without response. On May 18, he tweeted again, with the City responding they would not be providing service, except for an hourly regular service.
After HSR riders called out this position, City Hall scrambled and announced at the last minute that bus service will be provided.
Mayor Eisenberger promised a review of how HSR handles special events in 2006 when City Hall was caught by surprise by a New Year’s Eve which occurred on a Sunday.


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Preparing for a Lame Duck Council in Hamilton – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 21, 2018
Editor’s update note. Since this article was published in May, Ward 7 Councillor Donna Skelly was elected as a Member of Provincial Parliament, Rob Pasuta confirmed his plans to retire, Ward 3 Councillor Matthew Green stated he is not seeking re-election, and Ward 1 Councillor Aidan Johnson stated he is not seeking re-election.
This means 4 of the 16 Councillors are not seeking re-election, if a fifth does not seek re-election, Council becomes Lame Duck.
Original below:
City Council could grind to a near halt on July 27 at 2pm when municipal nominations close.
Section 275 of the Municipal Act states that once it becomes certain that less than 75% of Councillors are returning in the next term, the current Council cannot approve any real estate transaction over $50,000 or make any expenditure or incur any other liability over $50,000.
In Hamilton, if 11 or less of the current members of Council are seeking re-election to their seats, Council becomes lame duck on July 27.
Already, we know that at least one Councillor will not be returning to their current seat. Ward 14’s Rob Pasuta’s current ward is eliminated, and he’s not running in the new West Mountain Ward 14.
If Pasuta seeks re-election in the new Ward 13, and current Ward 13 Councillor Arlene Vanderbeek also seeks re-election, it is known for the purposes of Section 275 that one of them will not be returning to Council.
It is very reasonable to assume either the Liberals or Conservatives will win the provincial riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook; meaning that either Ward 7 Councillor Donna Skelly or Ward 15 Councillor Judi Partridge will vacant their seats.
(Related article on how Council will need to fill the vacancy, and why its extremely unlikely they’ll appoint someone who seeks election in October)
This is already two of the five vacancies required to trigger Section 275 restrictions.
Asked two weeks ago about City Hall’s planning for a possible Lame Duck session, City Manager Chris Murray stated that plans were beginning to be made.
A few other municipalities have already implemented resolutions delegating authorities to senior staff.
Section 275 only restricts the actions of Council during a Lame Duck period; it allows Council to authorize the City Manager to exercise the full authority of Council provided a resolution delegating those authorities is passed prior to June 27.
Already, Councils in a few municipalities have passed resolutions delegating all Council powers to their City Managers including: Strathroy-Caradoc, St Marys, Smith Falls as examples.


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Statement from The Public Record: City of Hamilton's Allegation of Inaccuracy Regarding Employment Standards and Elections Day Staffing – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 16, 2018
The City of Hamilton’s Elections Manager Tony Fallis states in emails to City Councillors that the City of Hamilton will shortly issue a public statement regarding “inaccuracies” in our recent article about the City’s attempts to hire Elections Day staff and pay them less than minimum wage.
As a member of the National NewsMedia Council, The Public Record takes all complaints regarding accuracy seriously.
The City has not provided any details of the alleged inaccuracies; an email to Council seen by The Public Record from Fallis states that our interpretation of the Employment Standards Act is wrong.
The following is an email I sent to the City’s Director of Communications in regards to the City’s planned statement, and my interpretation of the ESA.
Subject: Claims of Inaccurate Reporting by The Public Record
Date: Wed, 16 May 2018 10:58:33 -0400
From: Joey Coleman
To: John Hertel
CC: Chris Murray, Fallis, Tony,  Nicole Auty
Mr. Hertel,
I’m informed that the City’s communications staff will be issuing a statement regarding inaccuracies in my reporting on behalf of Mr. Fallis.
I will run the City’s statement in its entirety on The Public Record.
Prior to issuing the statement, I do wish to assist the City in
understanding the relevant legislation in Ontario regarding minimum wage and work.
Firstly, we need to address if the City of Hamilton is bound by law to meet the standards of Employment Standards Act.
While the City of Hamilton Act does grant the City certain privileges, it does not exempt the City from the Employment Standards Act (herein referred to as the ESA).
The current minimum wage in Ontario is $14 per hour. (ESA 23.1)
The work of elections day staff is not one of the types of work listed as exempt from the $14 per hour rate. If the City does hire elections day staff who are under the age of 18, the City can pay them $13.15 per hour.
Ontario Regulation 285/01 applies to the City of Hamilton.
The City of Hamilton’s posting for elections day staff states they are required to be on site one hour prior to the opening of polls.
O.Reg 285/01 1.1 states that when an employee is “required to remain at the place of employment, (i) waiting or holding himself or herself ready for call to work” they must be paid.
The Ministry of Labour clarifies on their website that mandatory training is work, and must be paid by the employer.
My calculation is accurate:
Two hours for training
9am to 9pm for election day
A total of 14 hours.
I do note that I have one inaccuracy, I calculated the possibility of an unpaid hour for a meal break. The City states there will be no meal breaks.
I will issue a correction for suggesting the City would provide its employees with an opportunity to eat during a 12 hour work day.
Therefore, I stand behind my reporting, and look forward to Mr. Fallis’ public statement of my inaccuracies.
Thank you,
Joey Coleman
Independent Journalist
Publisher, The Public Record
@JoeyColeman


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TPR Email Edition for May 10, 2018: Will Keesmaat's First Rental Project Be in Hamilton – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 10, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
View this edition in its original format, with images, on our MailChimp page.
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The latest updates from The Public Record’s municipal election desk, visit our website for the latest updates, calendar of debates, and more.
New Candidates, Ward 7 Starting to Get Crowded
All but two of the nine present Catholic school board trustees have registered to run for reelection, and over at the Public School Board candidates who are known to harbour political ambitions beyond the name recognition building exercise of being a School Board Trustee have yet to declare their intentions.
The Ward 7 race, which if public opinion polls in the provincial riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook hold and Donna Skelly wins the MPP seat, will be an open seat has attracted its third candidate, who according to the City website does not live in the ward.
The first candidate is registered in Ward 8, Christopher Climie. Incumbent Ward 11 Councillor Brenda Johnson filed her paperwork quietly at the end of the day on Monday.
No candidates have yet registered in Wards 5, 6, or 14.
TPR’s full list of candidates includes Trustees and can be viewed here.
Candidates Start Their Campaigns with Slogans as they Test The Waters
Early days of campaigning are underway, with candidates tweeting (shameless plug: TPR’s candidate Twitter account list) and appearing at every event in their wards with more than a dozen people gathered. Ward 12 candidate John Scime issued his first newsletter this week, and Ward 9 candidate Cam Galindo released a sharp introduction video on his YouTube page.
Being so early in the campaign candidates are not saying much, most the material are feel-good generic statements of values as they try to determine what issues will connect with voters, as we await the outcome of the provincial election which will determine the course of Hamilton’s LRT project.
Can I use the term “third rail” for something which will be powered using overhead wires?
The Dundas Star interviewed the first two Ward 13 Council candidates; John Mykytyshyn says if elected he’ll “work tirelessly to have Dundas have its own ward again”. I look forward to asking Mykytyshyn his plan to do this. The Ontario Municipal Board ward boundary decision was clear that Hamilton Council cannot give disproportionate weight to Dundas compared to areas of the city with higher concentrations of visible minority voters. The obvious means of this is to increase the number of wards in Hamilton, however, Hamilton already has the most municipal politicians per capita of comparable cities. (Page 24 of Toronto’s Ward Boundary Review)
In Ward 2, incumbent Councillor Jason Farr has yet to launch his re-election campaign as this Tuesday’s O-Show discussed the growing desire of some in Ward 2 for a candidate who lives in the ward. Farr lives in East Hamilton just east of Gage Park.
City Hiring Elections Voting Staff at Below Minimum Wage
Hamilton’s Elections Manager is seeking election day staff to work at rates below Ontario’s minimum wage laws. A posting on the City of Hamilton website says that Election Assistants will be paid $160 for working 12 hours on election day, the $160 payment includes pay for two hours of training. Assuming this election that elections staff will get an hour unpaid lunch (which has never happened before) the hourly rate for Election Assistants will be $12.31 per hour. It’s $11.42 if they don’t get an unpaid lunch.
Ontario’s minimum wage is $14 per hour. The City of Hamilton is required by law to pay minimum wage.
Greeters will be paid $130 for the day, including the training, putting them at $10 per hour if they get an unpaid lunch break. Without that lunch break, the pay is $9.29 per hour.
Deputy Returning Officers will be paid $200 for the day, which if they get an unpaid hour for lunch, means $15.28 per hour. If they don’t get an unpaid lunch, they’ll barely make more than minimum wage at $14.29 per hour.
Busier polls are known to take more than one hour past the 8 p.m. close to complete voting of those in line, and counting, meaning some staff will be even less than the already below minimum wage rate.
Join The Public Record’s Coverage: Send Us What the Candidates are Sending You!
Be part of The Public Record’s Election Team, send up photos and scans of candidate materials, screencap Facebook ads that you see in your social media feed, and help all Hamiltonians know what the candiates are staying. Email them to electiondesk@thepublicrecord.ca, we’ll post all candidate materials to our website.
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Jennifer Keesmaat Meets McMeekin at City Hall – 191 York in Play?
Famed former Toronto Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat was in Hamilton Monday for meeting with local MPP Ted McMeekin. TPR’s Joey Coleman spotted them at City Hall, and writes why the meeting between Hamilton born Keesmaat and McMeekin should be viewed through the lenses of the ongoing manoeuvring by McMeekin on affordable housing and specifically the property at 191 York Blvd.
Asked the purpose of their meeting, Keesmaat and McMeekin smiled but didn’t say.
The pieces are in place for a deal at 191 York – Keesmaat is looking for her first project, the City is looking for a partner, $9.51-million is already on the table – plus the value of the land – as the municipal contribution, planning approvals are effectively guaranteed, and the City already has policies in place to waive application and development charge fees.
Full Story on The Public Record
FIEDLER: Downtown Secondary Plan Gives Clearer Permissions Because LPAT Puts Planning Control in Hands of Council
The latest from Rob Fiedler on how the Downtown Secondary Plan changed to respond to the new Ontario planning regime with LPAT giving local Councils control of planning from the OMB.
Full Story on The Public Record
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Air Quality Problems Across Hamilton, At Same Time Dofasco Emits Thick Black Smoke
Hamilton’s air quality has been amongst the worst in Ontario the past couple days, with Hamilton’s downtown air quality monitoring station last night reporting a high risk Air Quality Index level of 7 last evening at 10 p.m.
This comes as Dofasco continues to emit thick black smoke in the Hamilton’s air shed, telling local media that they are refurbishing a smokestack and that this will continue for at least a couple more days.
The black plume of smoke is clearly visible hanging over the City and has been subject to many tweets. CHCH speaks with local non-profit Environment Hamilton, Dofasco would not speak on camera to CHCH
Basic Income Pilot Featured on PBS News Hour
Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot here in Hamilton is the subject of a report on PBS News Hour. The report focuses on hopes Basic Income will reduce bureaucracy and red-tape; assist clients to pursue education, and improve the quality of life for recipients.
The PBS report brings a barely heard point of view on the basic income pilot. John Clarke of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty tells PBS his organization is concerned that basic income will drive down wages and increase privatization of public services.
“You’re shopping for health care, you’re shopping for housing, you’re shopping for public transportation, child care, all these things. And this is the prevailing agenda at the moment. And a basic income system takes us in that direction.” “If you create a situation where low-wage workers are receiving a significant portion of their wages out of the tax revenues, then the pressure on employers to increase wages is reduced, the pressure on governments to increase minimum wages is reduced.”
Watch the 10-minute report on PBS here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/does-a-basic-guaranteed-income-decrease-poverty
HSR A-Line Ridership Plummets During Transit Crisis
We don’t have accurate ridership numbers systemwide for the HSR, I chalk this up to management needing to focus on addressing the Council caused transit crisis than any unwillingness to get the information. Periodically, we do get are snapshots of individual routes. A report going to Council next week recommending the installation of bus shelters at four stops on the A-Line routes provides total passenger boardings at those stops.
HSR staff count eleven (yes 11) total passengers board for the entire day at the Upper James and Rymal stop, four (yes 4) each at the Airport Road and Twenty Road stops, and 21 total for a day at the Hamilton waterfront.
The A-Line was one of the most cancelled buses during the peak of the Transit Crisis. In an ironic twist, when Mayor Eisenberger diverted 32 senior City staff to work full-time on the #HAmazon bid, cancellations of the A-Line to the airport increased. The City tried to pass off the A-Line as “higher order transit” to the Airport.
Aidan Johnson in The Globe: Doug Ford’s Plan to Axe Sex Ed Rooted in Homophobia
Ward One City Councillor Aidan Johnson writes in The Globe and Mail that Doug Ford’s pledge to eliminate Ontario’s updated sexual education curriculum will harm LGBTQ students and “deprive queer youth of keys to flourishing. It would reinforce the closet’s lock”.
Johnson says opposition to the curriculum has roots in homophobia. Johnson shares the painful story of the violence he experienced from other students while he was a high school student, and how the old sexual education curriculum help to reinforce some violence.
Read Johnson’s full op-ed at TheGlobeandMail.com
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Mayor Wishes Town CAO Dead, Police Go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In the competition for Ontario’s worst municipal politician, Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Justin Altmann continues to keep a lock on second place behind Niagara Regional Councillor Andrew Petrowski whose lead is hard to beat.
Mayor Altmann’s past antics are summarized here by TheStar columnist Heather Mallick.
In his latest episode, Mayor Altmann alleged wished the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer dead. “I want Raycroft’s head on a platter. I want him dead.”
York Regional Police investigated, finding “did not explicitly utter a threat to cause bodily harm or death to Raycroft, rather only wished him death” and cleared the case as unfounded.
Is SimCity Good Training to Run a City?
Credit to SooToday for this unique attention grabbing article on the traditional candidate declares their running story.
29-year-old Derek Pearce is running for City Council in Sault Ste. Marie and is best known for his SimCity 4 project to recreate the twin Saults in the game.
“SimCity 4 requires players to think like city councillors, juggling municipal finances, transportation, utilities, land-use and environment issues to maximize quality of life for ratepayers”, writes David Helwig of SooToday.
London Health Unit and County Fight in Court Over Technicality of Leases, and It’s Ugly
London’s Health Unit – a provincially mandated public health agency funded by the municipality – is in court with Middlesex County over the Health Unit’s plan to move from a building it leases from the County into space it will lease from the private sector at the Downtown City Centre Plaza.
Middlesex County politicians are trying to block the move, the Health Unit claims in Court they are blocking the move due to their pecuniary interest in continuing to receive rent payments from the Health Unit.
Health Units enjoy some autonomy in provincial legislation to conduct their affairs independent of political interference, but report to municipal politicians in the form of a Board of Health. The autonomy is to ensure the public health is never endangered by political convenience.
An example be if politicians opposed a needle exchange program for political reasons, the Medicial Officer of Health can ignore their objection and implement the program – sending the financial bill to the municipality – with the declaration that the program is medical necessity and failure to provide the program will endanger public health.
This court case is being fiercely fought, and could be a landmark decision – does that autonomy extend the building that the health unit operates out of?
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May 15
HWDSB Meeting on new North (Scott Park Site) Secondary School. The public school board is inviting the public to a meeting at Prince of Wales Elementary School to discuss the new school and proposed programs. Details
May 17
Getting to 8-80: Hamilton. A grassroots neighbourhood associations event asking how to make Hamilton “The best place to raise a child and age successfully”. Details and RSVP
May 24
Public Consultation on Corktown Plaza Development. Slate Asset Management is holding a public meeting seeking community feedback and ideas on their planned mix use commercial and residential rental development. The meeting is 7pm at the Church of the Ascension, 64 Forest Avenue (at John Street South) in the Corktown neighbourhood.
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Newsletter top photo: A-Line Bus Shelter at Upper James and Rymal.


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TPR Email Edition for May 22, 2018: Hamilton LRT Project Facing Public Opinion Challenges – TPR Hamilton | Hamilton's Civic Affairs News Site

May 22, 2018
The Public Record publishes a regular newsletter, we post it at the end of each day, sign up to get future editions delivered to your inbox in the mornings, or see our archives.
View this edition in its original format, with images, on our MailChimp page. (This version is primarily for web indexing)
Public Opinion Shifting Against The LRT Project
Hamilton’s LRT project is looking to be facing a crisis of public confidence, with even Mayor Fred Eisenberger seeking to not talk about the project in his re-election campaign. Long-time project supporter Ward 12 Councillor Lloyd Ferguson is willing to reconsider if Council can use the money for other projects, and last week Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath stated Council can use the LRT money for other transit projects.
In my latest Coleman’s Note, I write why the LRT project is facing serious risk as the HSR Transit Crisis and rising housing prices are turning public opinion against LRT.
Full Story on The Public Record
Preparing for a Lame Duck Council
Under new Municipal Elections rules, Hamilton City Council could become Lame Duck on July 27 and restricted from making any major spending decisions until the new Council Term in December.
I look at what City Hall needs to do before July 27
Full Story on The Public Record
The latest updates from The Public Record’s municipal election desk, visit our website for the latest updates, calendar of debates, and more.
Mayor Eisenberger Officially Registers for Re-Election
Mayor Fred Eisenberger officially registered on Monday for re-election; issuing a press statement to selected media. Eisenberger is not releasing his statement to the public, and there is no video of his media scrum. Bill Kelly, who has access to a recording of the scrum, wrote that Mayor Eisenberger “mused that the proposed LRT probably won’t be the key issue in the upcoming municipal election” and Kelly says it will be.
What could become an issue post-election is Mayor Eisenberger using his official Mayor’s Office /MayorFredEisenberger Facebook page for his re-election announcement. This follows a $30,000 spend on delivering 230,000 flyers promoting the Mayor’s now-election campaign accounts that was paid for using City of Hamilton funds.
Until someone files a complaint against a municipal candidate, and the Ontario Courts rule on an
The flyer, which Mayor Eisenberger says is in no way related to the election, and just happened to be produced for the first time in an election year, promotes the achievements of Mayor Eisenberger. The front cover (above) features Eisenberger’s name five times.
The domain Fred2018.ca was registered last year, it is not presently active. Eisenberger’s 2014 campaign used Fred2014.ca as the campaign domain.
New Candidates and Campaigning Updates
With the provincial election receiving nearly almost all political energy and attention, which should expect not to see many new municipal candidate registrations until after June 18th.
This past week the following candidates registered:
Of note, television broadcaster Steve Ruddick – who ran for the Liberal Party in 2007 – was at City Hall on Monday where he left with a candidate package after looking intently at the new Ward 14 map.
Ward 2 Council candidate Cameron Kroetsch launched his campaign website, with including a lengthy list of supporters, including 2010 runner-up Matt Jelly and 2014 runner-up Terri Wallis. Both Jelly and Wallis live in Ward 2. Incumbent Jason Farr is not yet registered, he is running his primary initiative of each year Participatory Budgeting until June 28. It is not likely he’ll register until after this initiative is complete. (Nicole Smith launched her website earlier in May.) Kroetsch also sent out a campaign newsletter last week.
Candidate Promises to Make Dundas Its Own Ward Again
Ward 13 City Council candidate John Mykytyshyn says he’ll “work tirelessly to have Dundas have its own ward again”
Is this promise something he can do, or just pandering? The Public Record dives deep into the issue to find out how to implement the promise.
Ward Polling Division Maps now on The Public Record
I’m sure at least a few of you will have an interest in seeing the new polling divisions in great detail. Now on The Public Record for viewing and download.
Note that voting locations are scheduled to be released on September 4th, and that polling divisions usually share voting locations.
Join The Public Record’s Coverage: Send Us What the Candidates are Sending You!
Be part of The Public Record’s Election Team, send up photos and scans of candidate materials, screencap Facebook ads that you see in your social media feed, and help all Hamiltonians know what the candiates are staying. Email them to electiondesk@thepublicrecord.ca, we’ll post all candidate materials to our website.
The Future of Copps, Hamilton Place, and Convention Centre
The behind the scenes lobbying by private companies seeking to secure long term contracts to manage Hamilton’s publicly owned entertainment facilities is spilling into the public with both sides speaking to The Spectator’s Andrew Dreschel in the hopes of improving their positions.
On one hand, we have Carmen’s Group – Carmen’s already runs the Convention Centre – partnering with Oak View Group, on the other hand, SMG is looking to bid again. They bid in 2013, partnering with Supercrawl Productions.
Current private manager Spectra won in 2013, and Council can renew their contract for another five years.
Here’s where it gets even more interesting, under the current contract Council has until August 3rd to let Spectra know if there is a renewal or if the City will open competitive bids. However, the real deadline for Council to decide could be the first week of July. If less than 12 members of Council choose to seek re-election, Council will become “Lame Duck” on July 27, and under Section 275 of the Municipal Act, restricted from approving any new spending or contracts with values greater than $50,000. I explain the Lame Duck provisions on The Public Record here.
Hamilton Tory Nomination Scandal in The Globe and Mail
In an absolutely stunning, and heavily researched report, The Globe and Mail reports of the Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas Tory nomination meeting “Behind the scenes, The Globe has learned, a printer was cranking out fake Rogers utility bills and Scotiabank statements in a classroom, according to multiple sources.”
The printing was creating alleged fake identifications for nomination voters, and was found out when officials became suspicious of similiarites in the alleged fake documents.
This comes days after a Tory candidate resigned following the revelation that information on 60,000 407ETR customers was stolen.
Mayor Eisenberger Makes Election Year Promise of HSR Event Service
Mayor Fred Eisenberger is promising that he “will work to ensure” Hamilton’s public transit agency, the Hamilton Street Railway, provides service to major events starting this summer.
This follows City Hall failing to plan for the Dundas Victoria Day fireworks by not providing HSR service.
Twitter user Bradley Vinette brought this to the City’s attention on May 15, without response. On May 18, he tweeted again, with the City responding they would not be providing service, except for an hourly regular service.
After HSR riders called out this position, City Hall scrambled and announced at the last minute that bus service will be provided.