council

Saturday October 15, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 15, 2022

New Hamilton council must grow political will to tackle complex and polarizing issues

Of the myriad issues and challenges facing Hamilton’s new city council, few are as complex and polarizing as homelessness and the drug epidemic that continues to take a horrific toll.

Glorious architecture gallery

Mental health, poverty, addictions, safe and secure housing — all are at play in one big tangled Gordian knot. But if the new council just begins with a sense of urgency and addresses some of the pieces, it will already have achieved what the current council has not.

To begin, we need a broad and official acknowledgment that what is happening now isn’t working. While no one wants to see tent encampments in the lower city or elsewhere, the solution cannot simply be to tear them down and displace the residents. All that does is move the problem from one place to another, making it more difficult to serve this challenged population.

We have empathy for residents who feel less safe and inconvenienced by the presence of encampments, but there is no sweeping this under the rug.

What we need is more stable and secure housing options. The current council hasn’t done nearly enough. A part of the solution could be the HATS initiative which would see homeless people accommodated in purpose-built small shelters, clustered together for optimal service delivery. Tiny shelter communities are working in many other places in Canada and the U.S., including as close as Kitchener.

Some Hamilton councillors have expressed support for HATS, but that support is typically accompanied by a list of locations where they don’t want the settlement to be. Everyone can agree the idea should help, but no one wants to see in their ward. That’s not real support. In other cases local government has actually become actively involved in the project, but here council has been hands off. The private group driving the pilot project is seeking a site, and if they find one on private property, HATS could come to life. But it will be in spite of city council, not because of it.

Similarly, consider the opioid epidemic. Three years ago, city hall recognized the need for more supervised consumption and treatment services sites (CTS) that are proven to save lives by having resources on hand to help overdose victims. The limited services running now are literally saving lives, but the supply of CTS sites is far from adequate.

October 1, 2022

We know the city needs more. Community groups are actively working on plans for more, but they are facing opposition from residents, in particular in the lower city. Their argument goes something like: Inner city wards already house an above average number of services and shelters, so the needed CTS capacity should be in some other part of the city. The problem with that is that the population that needs the service isn’t someplace else, and it doesn’t make much sense to open a CTS site where drug users won’t use it.

It is worth noting here that city staff are not the issue. They are already working with others on the ground with community partners. What’s missing is political will. It is our fervent hope that a new council and mayor will change that. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

 

Wednesday July 27, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 27, 2022

‘I love this city’: Former Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath enters Hamilton mayoral race

March 30, 2022

After weeks of speculation, Andrea Horwath is making it official.

Ontario’s former NDP leader is running for mayor of Hamilton.

“I’ve decided to jump in the race because I love this city. I always have,” she said.

“It’s the place where I get my passion from, and I’ve spent my whole life fighting for and working for Hamiltonians.”

Horwath, 59, makes it a three-way contest between main mayoral contenders Bob Bratina and Keanin Loomis.

Wednesday March 30, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 30, 2022

Bob Bratina announces plans to run for Hamilton mayor, says he offers ‘veteran knowledge’

Bob Bratina says he suspects there will be new faces around the council table come October and is making the pitch it would help to have a familiar one too — his.

The veteran politician said he plans to run for mayor when nominations open in May, promising a positive, forward-looking campaign.

“There needs to be a little bit of stability in terms of veteran knowledge of how a city council works,” he told CBC Hamilton Tuesday morning, the day after announcing his intentions to run during an interview on CHML.

“I think it’s hard to disagree with the fact that you can’t just completely throw everybody out and start all over again. There are ramifications to that.”

Bratina, a former broadcaster, previously served as Hamilton’s mayor from 2010 to 2014.

He was elected as MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek for the Liberals in 2015 and again in 2019, but broke with the party over its support of Hamilton’s light-rail transit (LRT) project.

Bratina has been a vocal critic of LRT since his time on council. In May last year, he announced he wouldn’t run federally again, and teased then about the possibility of throwing his hat back in the ring for mayor.

LRT Gallery

On Tuesday Bratina said he thinks people are “tired” of hearing about LRT, noting it’s “on a course of its own” and in the hands of councillors.

“If I were to become mayor, with the council, I would have one of 16 votes.”

Bratina joins Keanin Loomis, who stepped down from his role as the CEO of Hamilton’s Chamber of Commerce in January to run for the top job on city council.

Fred Eisenberger, Hamilton’s current mayor, said Tuesday that he hasn’t made a final decision on whether to run again, but “I would not bet against it.”

He added the window for nominations runs from May to August and he will make a decision during that time.

On Tuesday Bratina declined to speak about it in depth, saying “the past is for memoirs” and adding that he believes that council at that time functioned well.

January 12, 2012

He did say most of the “antagonists of the past” have moved on, describing the municipal officials of those days as “an old boys group who were around since roughly the beginning of the century.”

Now, Bratina said, he’s focused on the future.

He’s 77, but said he views any suggestion that could preclude him from running as “ageism,” noting with a laugh that he’s healthy and even considered running Around the Bay this year.

“The main thing I have … is the passion for it,” he said. “If the electorate decides it’s time for me to go, that’s fine. It’s up to them. But it’s not up to pundits to say what I should or shouldn’t do.”

Municipal elections will be held on Oct. 24. All potential candidates have until Aug. 19 to file nomination papers. (CBC) 

 

Saturday May 30, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 30, 2020

SoBi decision a symptom of a deeper problem

If the SoBi bike share debate that has polarized Hamilton city council, and many citizens as well, was just about money, it would be a one-sided affair.

May 23, 2020

Uber violates its contract and pulls out. Annual operating cost is about $700,000. City Hall is staring down a pandemic-driven deficit of about $60 million. It’s clear city council won’t support that. A compromise plan worth about $400,000 would have bought some time while the city looks for a new partner. Council delivers a tied vote, which technically amounts to a defeat for the compromise motion. 

City council has killed the bikeshare program, at least for this season. Instead, it will pay $140,000 to store the 900 bikes. If that holds true, the gross savings for this season will be about $260,000.

This relatively trivial savings — the total annual operating costs amount to 0.02 of the city’s annual budget — is at least defensible, if this was all about money. That is, if this goes hand in hand with an ironclad decision to kill all discretionary spending until the municipal deficit is dealt with. But is it that?

Is council saying, for example, that under these circumstances not one red cent will go to supporting the 2026 Commonwealth Games bid? If so, they might want to make that public declaration so the organizing committee knows where it stands. The compromise proposal would have been financed from area rating budgets from downtown wards, so would not have impacted the general levy. Does this decision mean other projects that have area rating fund commitments — say the new Ancaster Arts Centre, for example — can expect their area rating funding to be withdrawn?

The answer to these and other related questions, is no, not necessarily. That’s because this decision isn’t just about money. It’s also about the suburban/rural-urban divide that has rendered this city council, on all too many occasions, dysfunctional and incompetent. 

July 25, 2007

Among city councillors from suburban and rural wards, projects that directly benefit urban wards and citizens don’t get the same support as those that benefit suburban and rural ridings. And, to be fair, the reverse is probably also true. It’s a form of parochialism all too familiar to Hamilton political observers. And it doesn’t serve the city overall well. 

In truth, especially at times like these, these people shouldn’t be called city councillors at all. They should be called ward councillors, because their own wards are really all they care about.

Don’t believe that? Consider this. City council agreed not that long ago to declare a climate emergency in Hamilton, in recognition of the climate crisis and its growing local impact. That’s a good, strong and progressive message.

But the very same councillors just voted to kill the bikeshare program, which by any measure was successful. Those 900-odd bikes served 26,000 active members, who took 350,000 trips last year. Those are trips that don’t pollute like cars and diesel buses do. They are trips that improved physical and mental health of the users. They are a feature of a pedestrian-friendly, environmentally conscious city, the kind that is more likely to attract young families and professionals.

This is what eight members of council — Merulla, Collins, Jackson, Pauls, Johnson, Ferguson, Partridge and Whitehead — killed for the sake of gross savings of around $260,000.

All may not be lost. Perhaps a new viable partner can be found to revive public bikeshare infrastructure. But that won’t solve what’s wrong with Hamilton city council. For that, we will have to wait until the next election in 2022. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, June 10, 2020

I’m very impressed with the sensitive, sensible, and informative political cartoons created by The Spec’s Graeme MacKay. His cartoons are one of the reasons why I continue to subscribe to the print edition. MacKay’s cartoons of the death of SoBi (May 30) and CAF’s report on Ontario’s nursing homes (May 28) were heart wrenching. We are fortunate to have him.

Catherine Marks, Dundas

Tuesday December 17, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 17, 2019

A ‘betrayal’ of the City of Hamilton — Ontario pulls out of LRT

Doug Ford’s Tory government abruptly cancelled Hamilton’s LRT project Monday blaming billions of dollars in budget overruns — then teased $1 billion in transportation makeup cash, instead.

Hamilton LRT Gallery

Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney gave up on a public announcement of the bombshell news after a crowd of residents and council members — including Mayor Fred Eisenberger — crashed a downtown Hamilton press briefing.

A visibly upset Eisenberger then took over proceedings and told the crowd the Tory government had killed the long-planned project in a “betrayal of the City of Hamilton.”

The mayor pointed out Premier Doug Ford publicly committed to the project — with the memorable quote “he wants an LRT, he’s going to get an LRT” — just weeks after the pro-light rail mayor won a convincing municipal election victory in late 2018.

“That was a lie and they’ve been angling to cut this project ever since,” Eisenberger said.

In a phone call Monday, Mulroney said she understood she was delivering “difficult news,” but emphasized the province cannot forge ahead with a project it now believes will cost $5.5 billion over 30 years.

The minister also reiterated the province’s $1-billion commitment to transportation in the city remains — but details are so far scarce on what the money could be spent on and who makes the decision.

December 7, 2019

Mulroney acknowledged the “anger and frustration” of residents who only nine months ago heard former Tory transportation minister Jeff Yurek announce the $1-billion LRT was “good to go forward” after a funding freeze described as a delay to study project viability.

Hamilton Chamber of Commerce head Keanin Loomis said he gave the Tory government “so much credit” for publicly sticking with the Liberal-approved project back in March. “I don’t know now if they knew at that point that they were going to do a bait-and-switch, but regardless, it is devastating for the economy in Hamilton,” he said.

Developer and union vice-president Joe Mancinelli said the project meant “thousands of jobs” to local construction workers and spurred LIUNA to start building two different towers along the route. “These are decisions that were (based) on a commitment that was made by the provincial government,” he said.

Mulroney said the incoming PC government was indeed concerned about the LRT budget from the get-go in 2018, but opted to get an independent cost estimate “to see if we could (still) deliver the project.”

Provincial officials forwarded to journalists a summarized page of “expert third-party” cost estimates that suggest the “total costs of the LRT” — including construction, financing and 30 years of operations and maintenance — had ballooned to $5.5 billion. (Hamilton Spectator)