Wednesday September 19, 2018
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 19, 2018
Hamilton
Wednesday September 12, 2018
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 12, 2018
Local elections getting lost in the sound and fury
Between Doug Ford’s unprecedented antics at Queen’s Park, Donald Trump’s daily bombastic proclamations and NAFTA negotiations, it’s little wonder local elections — in Hamilton and across Ontario — are being drowned out. But it’s time for that to change.
Our municipal governments have more impact on our day-to-day lives than their more senior brethren. Yes, they’re at the bottom of the food chain — as Ford has so brazenly demonstrated — but they deliver front-line services. Our sidewalks and roads, our safe water supply, public transit, recreational centres and parks, waste disposal, libraries, animal control, tax collection — these and a host of other services and costs flow directly from city hall.
And every four years, we have a chance to pass judgment on the current city council. We can endorse them, collectively or individually. We can change out people we’re not happy with. We can clean house if that’s appropriate (even though we get to vote only for our respective ward councillor, mayor and school trustees).
So while Ford and Trump may be more dramatic (and melodramatic), it behooves us to pay attention to what’s coming up on Monday, Oct. 22. The Spectator has already begun to do that, and we plan to ramp up our coverage beginning this week.
Bottom line: If you live here, pay taxes, raise kids, retire, and you’re an engaged citizen, these elections matter. Don’t miss the opportunity to get involved in local democracy.(Continued: Hamilton Spectator Editorial)
Saturday September 8, 2018
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 8, 2018
Scientists urging people to stop dumping aquarium and market fish into Hamilton Harbour
Harbour scientists say they have been finding some strange new creatures in Hamilton Harbour this summer, suggesting people are dumping aquarium and fish market species into the waters.
June 24, 2015
“We’ve seen some fish that really should not be there and it’s really a sign of people purposefully and irresponsibly and illegally releasing fish into Hamilton Harbour,” said Becky Cudmore, senior science adviser on aquatic invasive species with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Among the findings are four tilapia fish and a type of aquarium catfish. This is on top of an established population of goldfish, the outcome of untold numbers of people emptying their aquarium fish into the bay and Cootes Paradise.
“What we are seeing with goldfish is something we don’t want to see happening with other species,” she said.
She believes the tilapia, a non-native species originally from the Middle East and Africa, were bought at a fish market and then released into the harbour in a misguided effort to save the fish from being eaten.
“It’s not fair to the fish because they are not meant to be in that water,” said Cudmore. She urged people with unwanted aquarium fish to take the fish to pet rescue centres or back to the store where they bought them.
She expects tilapia in the harbour will die out over the winter because the species prefers tropical environments. But some could survive by using warm water effluent from Hamilton steel mills as an overwintering haven.
Tys Theijsmeijer, the head of natural lands for the Royal Botanical Gardens, says as well as adversely affecting native species, introduced species can bring new diseases to the ecosystem. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)
Tuesday August 14, 2018
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday August 14, 2018
Hamilton chamber continues to prepare for LRT construction
The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce is launching another series of seminars to prepare businesses for light rail transit (LRT) construction.
April 7, 2018
The four-part series starts on Thursday evening with a session called “Countdown to Construction.”
Chamber President Keanin Loomis says it is planning on the basis that the $1 billion, provincially-funded project will proceed as scheduled, despite ongoing political questions.
The funding commitment was made by Ontario’s former Liberal government.
There has been much speculation in recent months about whether the 14-kilometre LRT line between McMaster University and Eastgate Square will proceed under Premier Doug Ford’s new PC government.
Loomis, a steadfast supporter of Hamilton LRT, notes that “if everything goes right, as I expect it will, we’re going to be facing construction next year.”
The construction is expected to happen over a period of about five years and Loomis recognizes there will be disruptions for businesses along the corridor, but he remains confident they will be “temporary” and “manageable.”
Metrolinx, based on the project’s latest timelines, is expected to award the contract to build Hamilton’s LRT in 2019. (Source: Global News)
Saturday July 21, 2018
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 21, 2018
These are dark days for recycling and composting in Hamilton
If you’re among the thousands of citizens who try to do the right things about recycling and waste diversion, these are not good times.
It’s a discouraging double-whammy.
May 2, 2018
Part one happened early this year. After years of imploring citizens to put items like coffee cup lids, Styrofoam and black plastic in the recycling box, city officials had to reverse that. It was, in the words of city recycling manager Emil Prpic, a “market-driven” eco-dilemma. The problem is, virtually no one wanted to buy those recycled goods. In January, China, which was the giant in the buying market, cracked down on imported plastics. It applied new more stringent purity standards that ruled out most of our plastics.
There must be more buyers than China? Yes. But China has been voracious, consuming more than half the world’s recyclables. There isn’t adequate infrastructure yet to make up for that lost capacity.
So in Hamilton, and many other municipalities, recyclables have to be stored or handled by a third party. Tragically, some of this stuff is ending up in our landfills.
That was bad enough, but then more recently the second whammy hit. The city’s composting plant on Burlington Street East was stinking. It has been odiferous for a long time, but recently the problem has been getting worse. Last month, responding to growing citizen complaints, the plant was closed until a solution can be found.
April 24, 2018
So that food and organic waste you have been separating? It’s going into our only landfill site in Glanbrook. Something like 660 tonnes — daily.
So no food waste recycling. Limited plastics recycling, with the most common types — so-called low grade plastics — being not recyclable because no one wants them. If they’re mixed in with other, legitimate recycling, they contaminate them and have to be sorted by hand otherwise the entire load is useless.
Just to add insult to injury, we’re living under a new government that doesn’t appear to believe the environment matters at all, and next door to a superpower that is losing its mind and racing backwards on environmental protection. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)