Pandemic election brings lineups, delays
Whatever the result, the city will have at least three new faces in Parliament and, with luck, an opportunity to influence policy on issues like housing and pandemic recovery
Sorry, Hamilton voters: the pandemic federal election nobody wanted is not quite done yet.
Final results — particularly in close races — could remain uncertain for days thanks to a record one million mail-in ballots submitted by COVID-19-wary residents. Elections Canada says it will only begin counting those ballots Tuesday.
In Hamilton, nearly 18,000 voters requested mail-in ballots — although that didn’t prevent early-morning lineups Monday at polling stations that were expected to be slowed by COVID protocols and staff shortages.
Preliminary results nationally
and in Hamilton’s five ridings were unavailable or too close to call before The Spectator’s print publication deadline (so check TheSpec.com for updated results by scanning the QR code with this story).
What we know for sure: Hamilton will be sending at least three fresh faces to federal Parliament thanks to the retirement of MPs in Hamilton Mountain, Hamilton East-Stoney Creek and Flamborough-Glanbrook.
Another good bet: Hamilton will end up in a “strong position” to influence decisions of the next federal government, said political scientist Peter Graefe, particularly on issues like housing, climate change and pandemic recovery.
Why? All three major political parties targeted Hamilton and its three open seats in this 2021 snap election, with party leaders hitting the Hammer at least eight times in 36 days.
“These are not ridings they take for granted,” said Graefe, a McMaster University professor and expert on Canadian public policy. “The seats they don’t have, they think they can win (later), and the seats they do have, they’re afraid of losing.”
In Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, for example, polls suggested the race was a toss-up between the Liberals and NDP, with a strong showing possible from the Tories.
That spurred one of the city’s scrappiest campaigns, with Liberal city councillor Chad Collins accusing NDP labour lawyer Nick Milanovic of being a “political tourist” because he worked as a professor in Ottawa — while the New Democrats responded by reminding voters of Collins’ role on a city council that infamously hid details about a 24-billion-litre sewage spill for legal reasons.
In Flamborough-Glanbrook, where longtime Tory MP David Sweet retired after pandemic controversy, the Liberals were fighting hard to change the colour of a riding the Conservatives narrowly won by a few hundred votes in 2019.
Also in Hamilton’s favour: some of its biggest issues are “high on the radar” for all political parties, noted Graefe.
Unaffordable housing is a growing emergency in Hamilton, where thousands of people sit on waiting lists to access subsidized units, the cost of home ownership and renting has skyrocketed, and a growing number of tent encampments have spurred controversial evictions and legal battles.
The issue features prominently in the platform of just about every party, Graefe said. If the country ends up with another minority government, co-operation seems likely on actions like building more social housing units.
Promises on climate change — at least from the Liberals and NDP — are “not so different,” suggested Graefe, with general agreement on growing the carbon tax and helping cities adapt to a warming climate.
All three big parties also support better bus service for Hamilton and a recent federal promise of $1.7-billion for rapid transit (although the Tories have not specifically endorsed light rail transit as the best option.)
The Tories, too, have promised to honour a past Liberal promise to spend $400 million helping ArcelorMittal Dofasco phase out coalfired steelmaking — a major source of local greenhouse gas emissions but also a lung-busting pollution threat for lower-city residents.