Hamilton

Tuesday September 26, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 26, 2017

Donna Skelly seeks Conservative nomination

Ending months of speculation, Coun. Donna Skelly says she is seeking the Conservative nomination for the new provincial riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook.

“It’s been a tough decision. I love what I do, and I’m really proud of what I’ve done so far on council,” Skelly said.

“The truth is I think I can do more for the entire city at the provincial level.”

Skelly, who was elected to Hamilton council in a March, 2016, byelection, says she submitted her nomination paperwork and was interviewed by PC officials last week.

“At this point, I haven’t been approved as a candidate yet.”

It’s widely believed the party has been courting the high-profile former CHCH TV broadcaster with the intention of either acclaiming or appointing her.

PC riding association president John Demik could not be reached. But would-be candidates Nick Lauwers and Dan Sadler have previously said the party told them it would not back their bids, strongly suggesting there was a preferred choice in the wings.

“I am not being appointed, I can tell you that,” Skelly said, adding she has no idea how many nominees the party might approve.

Skelly notes that the waning popularity of the Liberal government means a lot of people want to run for the Conservatives.

If Skelly doesn’t have to face an open nomination contest, she’ll definitely be squaring off against fellow Coun. Judi Partridge in the June 2018 election.

Partridge was recently acclaimed the Liberal candidate for the same riding.

Skelly represents Ward 7 on the central Mountain. Partridge represents east Flamborough’s Ward 15.

Both reside within their wards and the boundaries of Flamborough-Glanbrook, a sprawling riding encompassing part of Hamilton south of Rymal Road, some of the Mountain brow, parts of Ancaster, all Waterdown, Carlisle, Glanbrook, Binbrook and upper Stoney Creek.

Skelly says the media might have fun reporting on the battle between the two councillors but she and Partridge get along “really well” and will conduct themselves professionally.

“It will be a healthy competition, put it that way.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

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Saturday September 23, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 23, 2017

Council looks to nix program forcing Hess Village bars to pay for police

The city is poised to kill contentious bylaw rules that force Hess Village bars to pay for extra policing during patio season.

August 14, 2013

Ward Coun. Jason Farr introduced the motion Tuesday that would remove paid duty policing from the special “entertainment district” bylaw governing the pedestrianized party strip.

The planning committee voted 7-2 in favour of the motion, which still needs a council sign-off next week.

The city has long insisted on extra policing along the strip, which earned a reputation over time for alcohol-fueled rowdiness and violence. Council passed a bylaw in 2010 specifically requiring Hess Village bars to pay for up to 10 paid duty officers to patrol on weekend nights in the summer.

But on Tuesday, Farr argued “the village is not was it was when we enacted that bylaw.”

He said bar owners report a “busy” night now attracts around 1,500 people compared to a high of 5,500 back in 2010.

The number of bars sharing the bill under the paid duty program has also shrunk from 15 a few years ago to seven this year.

More bars are also “getting wise” to the bylaw loopholes, he said.

Bylaw head Ken Leendertse explained some owners are adding more seating and cutting late-night hours to be treated as a restaurant, rather than a bar. Only the latter must pitch in for paid duty police.

Hamilton police Supt. Will Mason told councillors he agreed crowd sizes have “decreased somewhat” over time, “but not substantially.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

 

Thursday September 6, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 6, 2017

Blockade down in Caledonia

An Indigenous barricade that blocked a main thoroughfare in Caledonia for close to a month has been dismantled.

July 31, 2013

Ontario Provincial Police say they asked demonstrators to leave the Highway 6 bypass Monday night.

“Once we responded, they eventually dispersed … on their own,” OPP spokesperson Const. Rodney LeClair said Tuesday.

The protesters had moved their roadblock from its original location at Argyle Street South to the Highway 6 bypass earlier Monday.

LeClair said police responded that evening because a “group was gathering” and using tires and trees to block a stretch of the bypass, which runs between Greens Road and Argyle Street South.

No one was arrested or injured, he said.

May 8, 2006

The OPP reopened Hwy. 6 Tuesday afternoon after the Ministry of Transportation’s maintenance contractor cleared the road.

LeClair said he hadn’t been told if demonstrators were still occupying the area around the bypass Tuesday.

“We’re remaining in the area just to preserve the peace like we’ve said from the onset, just maintain public safety,” he said.

Protesters who support the Six Nations hereditary government, known as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, set up the barricade on Argyle Street South — Caledonia’s major thoroughfare — Aug. 10.

April 23, 2006

This spot — just south of town at the entrance of the former Douglas Creek Estates — is where a larger, more intense blockade and standoff took place in 2006 over land claims.

Indigenous people have renamed the site Kanonhstaton, “the protected place.”

This time around, demonstrators have said they were protesting the Ontario government’s transfer of a 154-hectare property known as the Burtch lands to the Six Nations Elected Band Council instead of the confederacy.

The return of the land, the former site of a correctional facility, was negotiated in exchange for the earlier barricade coming down more than 10 years ago.

April 21, 2006

On Monday, demonstrators issued a statement noting they had moved the barricade to the bypass “to unify the people of Six Nations and relieve pressure on our people and the residents of Caledonia.”

They erected a barricade on the bypass to “apply pressure on Canada to return to the negotiation table,” the statement reads.

It’s not clear what led the demonstrators to dismantle their barricade altogether or whether any issues were ironed out.

Protesters did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday September 2, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 2, 2017

Ticats’ Miserable Days, Summed Up

Football can be a dangerous, brutal sport. It’s particularly bad for brains. So far, most of the supporting evidence for that has come from studying the brains of dead players. Today, we’re going to change that.

For more than two years, The Spectator has been involved in a unique collaboration with a team of McMaster University researchers. We’ve been conducting sophisticated brain scanning experiments on nearly two dozen retired CFL football players to measure the long-term impacts of concussions and repeated hits to the head.

We believe this is the first study anywhere to report findings from living former football players using such a wide array of tests.

The results are “shocking,” one of our experts said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

Meanwhile, In a span of less than a day, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats went from controversy to contrition over the hiring of disgraced former coach Art Briles.

Team owner Bob Young and CEO Scott Mitchell both apologized for adding Briles as assistant head coach on Monday, an offer that was rescinded following an outcry from fans and an intervention by the Canadian Football League.

“Clearly, what was being contemplated was totally unacceptable to the general public and the media,” Mitchell said Tuesday. “I think when we took a step back and had a chance to talk to the league and some of our partners and some of our fans, what we thought was an opportunity to give somebody a second chance was clearly not acceptable in relation to what had previously happened and what (Briles) had been involved with.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Wednesday August 30, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 30, 2017

“We made a large and serious mistake:” Bob Young apologizes to TiCat fans

Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young is apologizing after a controversial near hire that sent fans and corporate partners into a frenzy.

“We made a large and serious mistake. We want to apologize to our fans, corporate partners and the Canadian Football League. It has been a difficult season and we are searching for answers. This is clearly not one of them,” Young said in a statement on Tuesday.

Art Briles – whose invitation to be a coach here was pulled late last night, was fired as the head coach of Baylor University last May after an investigation discovered the school mishandled numerous sexual assault allegations, including some against football players and that “football personnel chose not to report sexual violence and dating violence.”

CEO Scott Mitchell says the franchise was caught off guard by the level of anger that would follow the hiring of Briles, who’d been at the centre of one of the largest sexual assault scandals in U.S. college history.

“We underestimated the tsunami of negativity that was going to happen,” Mitchell told The Fan590 radio station in Toronto.

Mitchell said he believed Briles deserved a second chance after being fired from Baylor but society and the media decided it wasn’t the time. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)