Whitehead goes on LRT listening tour
Combative-LRT critic believes support based on branding but open to debate
The penny has finally dropped for Terry Whitehead.
After years of trying to counter every pro-LRT argument going, the west Mountain councillor believes he’s figured out why so many people still support it.
According to Whitehead, the $1billion project’s allure is simply the “symbolism” of the thing.
He believes people are enthralled by the image of a modern transit corridor. They see it as a material metaphor for a progressive city on the move regardless of whether it’s the right project at the right time.
“It appears to me that people are hidebound to do this regardless because this is about the branding, it’s about the image, it’s about progression.”
If Whitehead sounds a tad relieved by his late-breaking epiphany, he has every right to be. Watching the city’s establishment line up behind the project has given him something of a spacey feeling.
“Because major establishment organizations have jumped on board to support LRT, it almost makes me feel I’m living in a different dimension and maybe I’m missing something here.”
To make sure he hasn’t crossed into a higher or lower plane of existence, Whitehead is reaching out to some of the project’s top-drawer proponents to hear their points of view.
“I don’t want to argue why I’m not supporting it; I want to better understand why others are.”
He’s got a lot of hearkening to do, as the recent municipal election demonstrated. The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, the Realtors’ Association of Hamilton-Burlington, Hamilton Halton Home Builders’ Association, the Hamilton Halton Construction Association and other big community players all stand behind the LRT plan.
So, incidentally, does The Hamilton Spectator, which means Whitehead will need to book a meeting with Spectator editor-in-chief Paul Berton. Maybe I can sit in on it for a followup column.
Until then, we can safely say in general terms all the above organizations see LRT as an investment in transit, infrastructure, jobs and economic development. And here’s a heads up to the honchos of those institutions: Whitehead’s listening tour has already begun. In fact, that’s where his revelation that LRT is about brand building not city building came from.
“The conclusion that I have coming from those conversations is this is really about image.”
I suspect he may have a very different impression if he listens a little harder and longer to a few more people. That’s not to say Whitehead is wrong about the symbolism of the project. Boosting the city’s image is a piece of the LRT pie. But there are other slices, too, as I’m sure he’ll quickly discover after talking to, say, Keanin Loomis, president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.
Whitehead proactively raised the subject of his listening tour in the context of the recent Ontario auditor general’s report, which found Metrolinx didn’t fully assess whether LRT or BRT was the best option for Hamilton before the Wynne government committed to funding LRT in May 2015.
He says he isn’t surprised by the finding because he’s argued the same thing for years. You may recall that back in 2016, Whitehead released his own 58-page report questioning the validity of many of the benefits ascribed to light rail. The report was savaged by LRT supporters who accused him of cherry-picking the material.
Undaunted, Whitehead was also a driving force behind the 2017 councillor-funded opinion poll which found that 48 per cent of Hamiltonians were opposed to the project, 40 per cent were in favour of it, and 12 per cent were undecided.
What next? Harmony-mongers will be relieved to hear Whitehead doesn’t intend to introduce a “polarizing argument” to the new council until relationships are stronger. Meantime, he’s keeping his ear to the rails and his powder dry while waiting to see what Premier Doug Ford has to say in his promised meeting with Mayor Fred Eisenberger.