Mayor blasts Skelly over LRT talk

Councillor criticized for allegedly speaking on behalf of city while telling PC Leader Doug Ford that Hamilton doesn’t want LRT project

IN AN UNUSUAL MOVE, Mayor Fred Eisenberger has publicly lashed out at councillor and Progressive Conservative candidate Donna Skelly for “undermining” Hamilton’s LRT project.

In a tweet earlier this week, the mayor derided Skelly as a “rookie councillor” who “doesn’t much care about Hamilton” who is now making a “third attempt” to become an MPP.

Eisenberger elaborated in an interview. He criticized Skelly for allegedly speaking on behalf of the city and telling Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford that Hamilton doesn’t want the $1-billion provincially funded LRT project.

“It’s just not her role to be advocating or suggesting that she speaks on behalf of the citizens of Hamilton and this council,” Eisenberger said.

The problem is, Eisenberger appears to be reacting to, if not fake news, certainly misinformation.

The mayor says he was motivated to speak out because of a “number of indications” on social media that Skelly told Ford the city didn’t want LRT during a meeting at the Hamilton Club. Eisenberger says that prompted the Tory leader to shortly afterwards say if elected premier he’ll give council the option of using the $1 billion for other infrastructure priorities.

“I heard reports that’s what occurred and that’s what I was responding to,” Eisenberger said.

But according to Skelly, she’s never discussed LRT with Ford. She says the February meeting at the Hamilton Club was a rally that took place when Ford was campaigning for

leadership of the party. Ford didn’t offer council the billion dollar option until early April, close to a month after he became leader.

Skelly, who backed Christine Elliott for party leader, attended the Hamilton Club event but says she didn’t directly speak to Ford then or since about LRT, not that she wouldn’t want to on any issue she believes is important to Hamilton.

“It’s absolutely 100 per cent not true.”

Skelly, a vocal LRT opponent, represents Ward 7 on the central Mountain and is the PC candidate in Flamborough-Glanbrook. She refuses to respond to Eisenberger’s personal criticisms, but suggests he should get his facts straight.

“The way to do that is to talk to someone rather than govern through social media.”

Skelly acknowledges she has talked to party officials about LRT.

“I’m a candidate running under a PC banner. It’s my responsibility to bring issues of concern to my party, the officials within my party who are making decisions, as well as the leader.”

Did she influence the party’s decision to offer Hamilton the billiondollar option?

“Probably. I’ve shared a number of issues and I’ll also be advocating for a number of other things that people in this city want. And I’m not ashamed of that. That’s my job.”

But Skelly firmly denies ever saying or implying she was speaking on behalf of council, which has formally approved LRT but remains deeply conflicted over the project.

Coun. Jason Farr, a strong LRT supporter, this week told Spec columnist Scott Radley’s CHML talk show that at least 10 of 15 council members will want to revisit the issue if Ford is elected premier and the billion-dollar option comes to pass.

That chronic uncertainty, ominously reminiscent of the stadium debate that bedevilled Eisenberger’s first term, may help explain the mayor’s uncharacteristic low blow on Skelly.

The attack also had its bizarre elements.

It’s true Skelly unsuccessively ran for the Tories in 2011 and 2014. But that’s a strange knock from Eisenberger, considering he also had a few failed bids for mayor.

He lost in 2000, dropped out of the 2003 race because of a conflict over his role as chair of the Hamilton Port Authority, and failed to be re-elected in 2010.

At least Eisenberger and Skelly agree on one thing: There is no $1 billion sitting in a provincial vault with Hamilton’s name on it.

Eisenberger points out that the consortium chosen to build the 14-km line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square will finance the project, which will be paid back over 30 years by the province and operating revenues.

Similarly, Skelly says a Progressive Conservative government would underwrite and amortize the infrastructure projects Hamilton might undertake if council rejects LRT.