mayor

Wednesday June 22, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 22, 2022

Change will be key in this fall’s municipal election

Hamilton’s municipal election this fall will now include a race for an open seat in the mayor’s office. On Monday, three-term mayor Fred Eisenberger announced he will not be seeking a fourth term.

This is not intended to be report card on Eisenberger’s time in the city’s top political job. But some things need to be said. Serving Hamilton citizens for 12 years, and more if you count Eisenberger’s time as a city councillor, is no mean accomplishment. He deserves credit and accolades for that public service, and is receiving them, at least from many people.

Yes, he has his share of detractors. Much, but not all, of the criticism directed at him has merit, and we have authored some of it ourselves. But there is a time for everything, and this, we would argue, would be a good time to say thanks, and offer best wishes in whatever comes next for Eisenberger.

Those 12 years add up to three terms. While Eisenberger hasn’t said so himself, it is fair to argue three terms is enough. In this election, on this city council, change should be a key part of the campaign.

We have already heard from some incumbents — Sam Merulla, Brenda Johnson and Judi Partridge come to mind — who are enacting their own self-imposed term limits. Other long-sitting councillors should be having similar reflections. It’s not about failure, it’s about new ideas, new faces, new personalities and new energy. Hamilton’s government needs that.

But back to the mayor’s race. Right now there are just three candidates — former chamber of commerce chief Keanin Loomis, former Liberal MP Bob Bratina, who broke with his party because he disapproves of LRT, and former taxi union official Ejaz Butt. But there is a shoe that has not dropped yet.

Speculation is growing that outgoing Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, herself a former Hamilton councillor, might be considering entering the race. Queen’s Park insiders say comments she made this week suggest she is leaning toward running. After Eisenberger made positive comments about her potential candidacy, Horwath said: “I’m humbled that Fred considers me a strong candidate for mayor of our great city … I’m not ready today to make any announcements about Hamilton’s municipal election. But I can tell you that my heart is always in Hamilton.” Whether the speculation is right is anyone’s guess, but those comments don’t sound like someone who has decided not to run.

What would Horwath’s candidacy mean? Might she split the so-called progressive vote with Loomis, allowing ex-mayor Bratina to come up the middle? You would think her NDP affiliation would help her in Hamilton, but she sustained damage from some local labour advocates after she turfed Paul Miller from the Hamilton East—Stoney Creek provincial race. Might that factor in? And while she would almost certainly win many progressive votes, how would an NDP-leaning mayoral candidate go over with liberal and conservative voters (note the small l and small c) who make up a large chunk of Hamilton’s citizenry?

Still, bearing in mind that name recognition plays an outsized role in municipal politics, Horwath holds better cards than Bratina, and certainly than Loomis.

But then there is the timing. Horwath is due this week to be sworn in for another term as MPP for Hamilton Centre, which she won handily in the provincial election. How will it look if she quickly leaps to the mayor’s race in time to meet the Aug. 19 nomination filing deadline for the municipal election? The optics leave something to be desired.

The upcoming election will be a change election, even if public discontent with many sitting councillors doesn’t translate into wholesale change. We’ll have a new person in the mayor’s chair, and new faces in Ward 15 (replacing Partridge), Ward 4 (replacing Merulla), Ward 5 (Russ Powers temporarily replaced Chad Collins who won federally) and Ward 11 (replacing Brenda Johnson). Our bet is that we may see more change by nomination deadline day. Stay tuned. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Fred Eisenberger Gallery

Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger has announced he will not see a fourth term in elections later this year. He served in office from 2006 to the present, interrupted by a term under the mayoralty of Bob Bratina from 2010 to 2014. He has been on the receiving end of many editorial cartoons over the years.

August 18, 2000
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Fred Eisenberger, Live Sketch
October 18, 2014
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March 30, 2022
June 22, 2022

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) 

 

Wednesday February 7, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator –  Wednesday February 7, 2018

“Gentle giant:” Hamilton’s longest serving mayor, Bob Morrow dies at 71

Hamilton’s longest-serving mayor never stopped working for the community he loved.

That sounds like a cliché — except Bob Morrow literally spent the hours before his death working the phones to try to find a Sunday mass replacement organist for his beloved St. Patrick parish downtown.

His death Monday, at age 71, spurred a flood of online tributes Monday from friends, politicians of all stripes and even new Canadians welcomed by the former citizenship judge.

Morrow guided pre-amalgamation Hamilton as mayor from 1982 to 2000 and later stepped up in 2014 to fill a vacant Ward 3 council seat. But his passion for the community was visible outside of politics, too.

Morrow left “a number of messages” in the early hours of Sunday apologizing for missing mass at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church where he served as organist for almost a decade, said Fr. Tony O’Dell by email. “In his last message he reminded me that this was the first time he missed a mass during his time with us. He will be remembered as a true statesman and kind-hearted man in our parish and beyond.”

That was his father in a nutshell, said son George Morrow.

Morrow, who kept his health challenges to himself as much as possible, tried to keep up with his volunteer commitments despite being on dialysis for months due to an undisclosed illness, said his son. He said a complicating lung infection interfered with his father’s treatment and hastened his death.

Morrow is survived by his two sons, George and Kerr.

“He was so passionate about (his church duties),” said George. “He was going into the hospital and he was still calling around, looking for a replacement. It mattered to him.”

Those sorts of stories followed Morrow throughout his political career. (Hamilton Spectator) 

RIP Mayor Bob Morrow

News came yesterday of the death of Bob Morrow, Hamilton’s longest serving Mayor (1982-2000). His political career was coming to an end by the time I had arrived on the scene as the Spec’s editorial cartoonist in mid-1997. As the cartoons below illustrate, the issues he had been dealing with at the time were related to a declining downtown, ridicule of Hamilton, and the coming amalgamated city of surrounding communities into an expanded city of Hamilton. While he failed to attain enough votes to continue as mayor in 2000 he proved to be the biggest civic cheerleader of the city, and he served it well.

Bob Morrow- 1998
June 13, 1998
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November 1, 2000
January 24, 2014

Saturday October 14, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 14, 2017

The Next Big Thing in the Cannabis Industry

 
Canada has a pot problem, as Quartz Media recently warned us, but it’s a lucrative problem to have. One thing holding back this $8-billion market Forbes Magazine, April 13, 2017) is supply, and one little-known company plans to be the steward of it in a big way.  
 
When Canada legalizes recreational marijuana in less than a year, in line with a bill pushed through by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, legal supply is likely to be limited. There may not even be enough even if we are only considering medical marijuana usage. Keeping an eye on Insys Therapeutics (NASDAQ:INSY), Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG), Zynerba Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZYNE), Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE: IIRP), Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA).
 
The supply picture is so fantastically tight that Health Canada has had to streamline the approval process for growers because medical marijuana users have tripled in number since last year alone, according to Quartz. When it becomes legal recreationally, a Deloitte report estimates the economic  impact will be worth $22.6 billion annually in other words, more than the combined sales of beer, wine and spirits.
 
Meet Cannabis Wheaton the world’s first cannabis streaming company, backed by a powerhouse team, with the biggest industry trailblazer leading the way.
 
Not only is Cannabis Wheaton jumping into a huge potential market where supply is forecast to struggle to reach demand, but it’s offering a lifeline to new and existing growers who need financing to get off the ground fast.
 
Producers need a miracle grow strategy, and Cannabis Wheaton is stepping in to fill the gap with a ‘royalty’ business model that is new to this market.
 
And for investors, the major upside is that this model removes the risks associated with putting all your money into a single-crop producer.
 
Cannabis Wheaton is intending to ‘stream’ pot, and 15 partners have already been lined up, along with 1.4 million square feet of growing acreage. (Source: Markets Insider) 

 

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