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Tuesday October 23, 2018

October 22, 2018 by Graeme MacKay
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By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 23, 2018

The Eisenberger train rolls on

Fred Eisenberger handily won the so-called “LRT referendum” election to become the city’s first repeat mayor since amalgamation.

But it is still unclear whether his signature project, a controversial $1-billion light rail transit line, will survive the election of a council that remains badly divided over LRT.

The veteran politician, 66, fought off a surprising challenge from Vito Sgro, a behind-the-scenes Liberal organizer who was not well known but ran a well-organized “Stop the Train” campaign hinging on the use of LRT cash for other infrastructure.

Eisenberger told jubilant supporters at his Upper James Street headquarters that there was a “fair number” of votes cast against LRT — “but we got more.”

“I see that as a mandate for us to move forward on LRT,” he said to a huge cheer from supporters squeezed into the room. 

The veteran politician, who has served two terms as mayor separated by a defeat, repeatedly rejected the notion that LRT was the defining campaign issue. But Monday night, he told The Spectator “for those who wanted to make it a referendum, well, I consider this a referendum.”

It’s possible the fraught debate helped push up voter turnout in 2018 to an unofficial 38 per cent — not fantastic, but an improvement from last election’s dismal showing of around 34 per cent.

The LRT is backed by an unprecedented coalition of politicians, businesses, developers, education and health institutions, unions and anti-poverty groups.

But that establishment support certainly did not translate into a unified council. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 


Alternative Outcomes

As with most elections it’s never easy to fully prepare the perfect cartoon for the end result. Less complicated about the 2018 Mayoral election, compared with previous campaigns, was the fact that it was a two person race among a full slate of fringe candidates. Yesterday, I drew up three scenarios, all involving the proposed LRT. Full disclosure, two of the versions were revisions of cartoons drawn for the 2014 municipal vote which never went to print. The one which ran above, dubbed “happy Fred”, was the more celebratory version for Mayor Eisenberger – it was also the last cartoon I created, thinking it was the least likely cartoon to be used.  The version I put most effort into was “sad Fred”, showing him asleep at the levers as his train glided off a cliff.  If the numbers had been tighter between the Mayor and his main challenger Vito Sgro, I thought sad Fred would work best by reflecting his downplaying of LRT as a major issue in 2018. There was only one Sgro victory version, and as the first, and perhaps only depiction I ever draw of the man, it was the first cartoon I drew yesterday, showing him above the neck, and full-faced. Yesterday morning as people began casting ballots, Vito Sgro was viewed as a very possible candidate to topple Eisenberger and take Hamilton on a future course without LRT. While the project is by no means a for sure thing for this city, with several anti-LRT councillors returning or elected, it’ll take a Mayor with a mandate to champion it among council and the Doug Ford government. It has been more than 10 years since the offer of $1 billion was presented to Hamilton to upgrade its transit system, I think it’s time to get it moving once and for all.


…It has been a loooong conversation on making LRT and enhanced GO Transit a Billion dollar reality in this city.  Here’s a gallery of transit cartoons from the past 10 years or so…

October 23, 2018
October 23, 2018
October 13, 2018
October 13, 2018
October 4, 2018
October 4, 2018
August 14, 2018
August 14, 2018
April 7, 2018
April 7, 2018
November 4, 2017
November 4, 2017
November 29, 2017
November 29, 2017
April 19, 2017
April 19, 2017
January 14, 2017
January 14, 2017
December 6, 2016
December 6, 2016
October 1, 2016
October 1, 2016
October 27, 2016
October 27, 2016
July 27, 2016
July 27, 2016
May 27, 2016
May 27, 2016
May 17, 2016
May 17, 2016
August 7, 2015
August 7, 2015
May 27, 2015
May 27, 2015
May 15, 2015
May 15, 2015
January 27, 2015
January 27, 2015
April 24 2015
April 24 2015
March 7, 2015
March 7, 2015
February 7, 2015
February 7, 2015
February 3, 2015
February 3, 2015
January 23, 2015
January 23, 2015
December 13, 2014
December 13, 2014
2014 Mayoral Race
2014 Mayoral Race
October 28, 2014
October 28, 2014
July 26, 2014
July 26, 2014
June 10, 2014
June 10, 2014
April 21, 2014
April 21, 2014
March 10, 2014
March 10, 2014
February 28, 2014
February 28, 2014
November 5, 2013
November 5, 2013
October 25, 2013
October 25, 2013
May 29, 2013
May 29, 2013
April 28 2013
April 28 2013
April 20, 2013
April 20, 2013
October 24, 2012
October 24, 2012
September 27, 2011
September 27, 2011
July 22, 2011
July 22, 2011
July 20, 2011
July 20, 2011
September 25, 2008
September 25, 2008

Not to mention these from 2010 and before:

              

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: caricature, Editorial Cartoon, election, Fred Eisenberger, Hamilton, LRT, Mayoral Race
← Saturday October 20, 2018
Wednesday October 24, 2018 →

Please note…

This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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