What would your mayoral candidate do?
The race for mayor is coming down to two major candidates, Eisenberger and Sgro
THERE 15
ARE mayoral candidates hoping for your vote on Oct. 22.
But only two, incumbent Fred Eisenberger and veteran political strategist Vito Sgro, appear to have the well-organized and funded campaigns needed to successfully reach out to all voters in a citywide election.
The two candidates most famously differ over Hamilton’s $1-billion LRT.
Eisenberger says the 100 per cent provincially funded light rail transit line is a transformative city-building project that will benefit all of Hamilton. Sgro is the anti-train candidate pushing to kill the project and spend the funding, if possible, on more buses and infrastructure. The Spectator dealt with the LRT debate in detail in an Oct. 12 story package.
But it (usually) takes more than one issue to evaluate the best leader for Hamilton and its $2.2-billion budget.
Below, The Spectator takes a comparative look at the relatively sparse platforms on offer from both major contenders in what has so far been a low-key campaign.
The city’s other would-be mayors face an uphill battle to sit in the mayor’s chair — but they still bring interesting ideas to the race. We’ve included a selection.
Visit TheSpec.com’s election page for our full list of candidate surveys, websites and contact information.
Affordable housing
Eisenberger points to this topic as a signature achievement: $50 million to fight poverty and build affordable housing over the next decade, funded by utility dividends and the Future Fund — “not the taxpayer.” Council has also put aside city property and sold parking lots with the aim of building affordable units.
It also negotiated a small — some say too small — percentage of affordable housing to be built into a privately developed new neighbourhood planned on Pier 8.
Sgro says he wants to form a “multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency” group to find ways to get the best bang for existing affordable housing bucks. He wants that group to provide a plan within 90 days to create 1,000 new units of affordable housing.
Interestingly, both candidates see affordable housing potential on the LRT corridor — whether the project is killed or not. Worth noting: the city consulted with a wide range of anti-poverty, housing and community groups to come up with the current 10-year affordable housing plan.
Policing
Hamilton sees less crime today, particularly violent crimes, compared to a decade ago. But spikes in any given year — like a marked jump in gun violence and home invasions in 2017 — tend to spur calls for more police. It’s a common theme in ward races both in the lower city and suburbs this election.
Both aspiring mayors say they support adding more police officers and bumping up the bricks-andmortar policing presence in growing suburban areas like Waterdown.
Worth noting: the police service already has a new suburban station and patrol district in its long-term plan. A new mayor and council could influence how quickly it happens by providing the needed cash.
Transit taxes
City council put off a debate on area-rated transit taxes last term. A new council will likely debate whether to phase in a unified transit tax rate for urban areas or continue letting suburban residents pay less based on level of service and preamalgamation town boundaries.
Sgro wants to extend express bus service to suburban communities like Mount Hope and Winona — but has said previously he will “not touch” the pay-by-service taxation system.
Transit advocates question who will pay the operating costs for new express buses to far-flung communities if council refuses to change the multi-tiered tax system. (Provincial LRT funding is for capital costs, not annual operating expenses.)
Sgro said he will consult with communities to see if they want to pay extra for his proposed new express bus service, but added he is confident there is an appetite for “proper, reliable” bus service to those areas.
Eisenberger voted against a study on transit taxes last term. But he says “transit expansion is happening, and we need to pay for it.”
He expects a new council to study the options and his early preference is an urban-rural split for transit taxes, similar to that adopted by council in 2011 for other services. (That means fully rural areas would continue not paying for transit.)
Marijuana
The province has told cities they have to decide by January whether to “opt in or out” of playing host to new, sanctioned and privately run marijuana dispensaries now that recreational pot use is legal.
Both candidates say they will not personally oppose legal dispensaries setting up shop in Hamilton, and both have stressed the importance of lobbying for community controls and stamping out the black market.
Waterdown
Both candidates came out swinging against an out-of-left-field request by Burlington incumbent Mayor Rick Goldring for the province to give Waterdown to his Greenbeltbound city.
But Sgro used the opportunity to question the Hamilton incumbent’s commitment to suburban Hamilton and suggest LRT project dollars could instead be spent on a Waterdown bypass.
Eisenberger has argued the city has spent tens of millions on Waterdown projects like a twin-pad arena, new library and seniors hub, and water tower in recent years.
But he has also promised new spending is on the way, including on completion of at least a part of the east-west bypass in the upcoming term.
Compost plant
The city’s compost plant was shut down in a hurry this election year after a fetid smell started wafting far and wide across the lower city.
Eisenberger said he wants the city’s shuttered compost plant “back up and running the right way” — as in, no mystery odours — as soon as possible. He’s not so keen on the idea of relocating the facility, noting it cost taxpayers “a pretty penny.” Regardless, he called a local food waste composting program “absolutely important” to the environment and to save space in Hamilton’s last landfill.
Sgro said he needs to learn more about the details of the facility contract, but added he expects “proper safeguards” to be in place when the facility reopens.
Oversight
Sgro, an accountant by trade, is
pitching the hiring of an auditorgeneral that is independent of the city and “answerable to the province.”
Some Ontario cities like Ottawa have created auditor-general positions independent of the city bureaucracy that make recommendations to council. Sgro said he wants an auditor-general with “even more independence” and provincially mandated clout, but conceded he does not yet know if that is possible.
The previous provincial Ombudsman, the always-colourful Andre Marin, called municipal experiments with auditor-generals “a dismal failure” in 2014. Since then, the province has expanded the ability of Ontario’s Ombudsman to investigate complaints about municipal government.
Eisenberger said he looked at the idea of an auditor-general during his first mayoral term (2006-10), but was told by former Canadian auditorgeneral Sheila Fraser that it made more sense to implement value-formoney audits, which council has done. Worth noting: the city’s internal auditor flagged serious issues last term, including overspending on public works contracts and ballooning consulting costs on a CityHousing Hamilton project.
Ward boundaries
Sgro has suggested changing and shrinking the number of city wards to match Hamilton’s provincial and federal ridings. He even sent out a press release welcoming Premier Doug Ford’s controversial decision to impose that change on the City of Toronto. (Sgro, however, proposes to keep the same number of Hamilton councillors, unlike a Toronto plan that specifically sought to reduce the political body count.)
In an interview, Sgro said the idea is a “starting point” for a conversation about ward boundaries. He pointed to resident dissatisfaction over the elimination of rural Ward 14. He also notes relying on provincial and federal boundaries would take future ward changes out of the hands of self-interested councillors.
Eisenberger opposes changing ward boundaries so soon after a painful, drawn-out Ontario Municipal Board battle that saw redrawn boundaries imposed on Hamilton for this election. The incumbent has drawn criticism for not voting to appeal that imposed change. Eisenberger said he voted to support council’s initial proposal to maintain the old wards with only minor tweaks.
Worth noting: the city’s own ward boundary study consultant also looked at a version of the federal riding boundary idea, but it didn’t make the final cut of recommendations.
Mid-peninsula highway
Sgro is calling for negotiations with Niagara Region and upper levels of government to create an “international trade corridor” to the border, connected to Hamilton’s airport.
This could look something like a long-planned mid-peninsula highway, Sgro said, but emphasized he was confident such a highway link could be built “without impacting valuable farmland” — a big environmental argument against the controversial project in the mid-2000s.
Eisenberger said there is “no hue and cry” at the moment for a new 400-series highway from Niagara to Hamilton’s airport. He argued council should focus on lobbying for a Highway 403 expansion through Hamilton (Sgro also supports this idea) and quicker action on a Clappison’s Corners interchange.
Worth noting: Hamilton council endorsed the idea of a mid-pen highway in the days of the last Tory government, which promised to build the $1.5-billion highway. The next Liberal government killed it.
The best of the rest OTHER CANDIDATES also have ideas worth chewing on. A selection: Michael Pattison
The founder of downtown café
Homegrown Hamilton wants a citywide accounting of what needs to be done to make both public and private buildings easier to access for the disabled. A recent study suggested it would cost $157 million to get most — not even all — city facilities up to scratch to meet 2025 provincial accessibility goals.
George Rusich
The founder of Karma Wellness
Clinic says Hamilton should have two councillors working per ward, but for the same pay as one. Rusich is also suggesting cutting the mayoral salary in half. Hamilton’s mayoral salary got some press earlier this year after a utility stipend pushed Eisenberger’s $180,000 salary above $220,000. (Sgro, it should be noted, is vowing to donate his utility stipend if elected.) Ute Schmid-Jones
Hamilton’s self-identified “Snowflake Lady” points to “climate resilience” as her big campaign issue. It’s a good one: Hamilton’s asphalt-heavy core is not ready to absorb the kind of storm that swamped the Red Hill Valley Parkway in 2009, city officials have admitted.
Henry Geissler
You know what Henry Geissler’s one-issue mayoral campaign is about simply by reading his campaign email address: northsouthLRT@gmail.com. He has repeatedly tried to convince council an A-line LRT makes more sense and would cause less disruption running from the airport to the downtown GO station. It’s a useful reminder that the rest of the city wants rapid transit, too.
Both candidates say they will not personally oppose legal marijuana dispensaries setting up shop in Hamilton, and both have stressed the importance of lobbying for community controls and stamping out the black market.