This election is about restoring trust
Candidates have until Oct. 24 to assure Hamiltonians they deserve our support and faith
When news came out that city council is entering into a 49-year deal with a private business consortium to operate downtown venues that won’t be paying property taxes — and that the details of the deal are confidential — it was a slap in the face to Hamiltonians still bruised from the Sewergate scandal.
How can a mayor and council, who voted to keep quiet the extent of 24 billion litres of mixed sewage leaking into Chedoke Creek, think the public would accept another secret? That we would be OK with public assets being handed over and not knowing the terms?
The deal for the downtown entertainment district is legal, but the optics are terrible. Do our politicians not understand that they broke our trust even before Sewergate with the Red Hill Valley paving scandal where a 2013 friction report was allegedly covered up and Hamiltonians died?
Only after relentless public pressure, on April 24, 2019, the city passed a resolution “requesting the Chief Justice of Ontario to appoint a Superior Court judge to investigate matters related to the disclosure of the friction report” so we can benefit from an independent, neutral examination.
The public part of the Red Hill Valley inquiry stalled due to COVID-19 and we can only hope to get some results before we go to the polls in October.
Even if the Red Hill scandal seems in the public’s rear-view mirror, do the mayor and council not understand they betrayed us recently when some voted as many as 14 times to cover up Sewergate? That the public is aware that the previous council knew before the last election?
None of them have been held accountable for such a blatant disregard for their duty to tell the people the truth and help us protect ourselves, our families and our pets. What about the long-term cost to the taxpayers and to the environment? How can we let them skate on Sewergate?
Now councillors have turned over three major public venues and three pieces of public land in a confidential deal that won’t be revealed until most of us aren’t even alive to read it.
That is the opposite of transparency. Have they learned nothing or are they so sure of their re-election they just don’t care about accountability?
Anyone in a relationship knows that trust is necessary to keep it healthy and build a future together. How can Hamiltonians have a healthy community and build a better city if we can’t trust our leaders?
In the past three mayoral elections, the ballot question was arguably about LRT. While it is a massive project with a big price tag, challenges and benefits, it is now moving forward. Anyone who runs on a platform focused on LRT has lost touch with how the people in this city are feeling.
We are tired of secrets, malfeasance and politicians who feel entitled to lead us. We are optimistic about the future and angry about the years of incompetence and embarrassing political scandals.
The issue that will galvanize the public in this year’s election isn’t about infrastructure, or probably even a mayor’s vision for the city. It will be about rebuilding the public trust. And they have a long way to go.
Every candidate running for mayor or council needs to message to the voter that they will not wade into the scandal swamp of Hamilton politics, that they will eschew in camera meetings and secret deals. That they will be transparent in how they spend our money and protect our health. That they will commit to honest and open communication and to treating all Hamiltonians with dignity.
The public trust is broken. Incumbents have until Oct. 24 to convince us they can fix it or become political history. Hamiltonians are not fools. We don’t need to recycle leaders who have let us down. We will only put our families, our taxes and our future in the hands of people we trust.