HAMILTON — Hamilton is in the midst of what many have called a change election: a new mayor and at least six new councillors will be heading to city hall next term.
To get a sense of how the race for the top job is shaping up, TVO.org speaks with candidates Andrea Horwath, Bob Bratina, and Keanin Loomis about their platforms, public statements, and priorities.
Up now: Andrea Horwath, 59, a community activist-turned politician who sat on Hamilton city council from 1997 until 2004, when she was elected as a NDP member of provincial parliament. Horwath then led that party from 2009 to this June.
TVO.org: So how about we start with the beginning of your campaign race and your decision to leave your role as MPP and run as a mayoral candidate. I know some people were critical of that. They said you might be looking for a consolation prize. How have you addressed that or any of those concerns or criticisms?
Andrea Horwath: Well, I looked very carefully at how I could best serve not only the people of my riding, but also Hamiltonians overall. After the election was over and I’d taken some time to restabilize myself (it was quite a busy election), I took the time to think about it. And I felt that I could serve the people of my riding and the people of Hamilton best as the mayor of our city that I love so much.
TVO.org: How has running for mayor differed from running for provincial government?
Horwath: Well, it’s really more about the difference between running as a leader — which gives you responsibility for the entire province — versus MPP, versus city council. And one of the things I have loved about this campaign is being back on doorsteps and talking to everyday people in my own community. I’ve talked to everyday people and business people and NGO folks and leaders around the province for a number of years now during campaigns, but coming back home and connecting with those folks at a grassroots level, where I got my passion from in the first place really, has just been magic.
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TVO.org: When you were in Queen’s Park, how able were you to stay on top of local Hamilton issues? Have you had to kind of reintegrate yourself, or did you feel that you were following all of that already?
Horwath: Not only did I follow it myself as much as I could — and that was pretty much every day — but I also had a number of MPs that were also representing Hamilton, and we often talked about what was happening in the city. So there was a lot of engagement with what was happening in Hamilton.
TVO.org: In your housing plan, you’ve talked about eliminating the affordable-housing wait-list, increasing housing supply, and recognizing housing as a human right. I’m wondering if you could elaborate on this plan.
Horwath: Sure, and it’s interesting, because what I’m hearing on the doorstep, regardless of where I go — whether I’m in Ancaster, whether I’m in Stoney Creek, whether I’m in Binbrook — people are concerned about the cost of housing, across the spectrum. Housing for folks who are lower income, housing for folks that need supports, an ability to rent at an affordable rate, so that young people can have a roof over their head that gives them stability, young people who are unable to even dream anymore of owning their own home. How much parents are worried about that situation where their sons and daughters are just not able to even think of buying a home in our community anymore. So it’s come up on the doorstep constantly, no matter where I am in Hamilton.
I do believe that a stable roof over your head is really the only way you can make your way in life. You really can’t achieve or accomplish anything, whether that’s working on your mental health, whether that’s trying to deal with an addiction, whether that’s going to school or retraining, whether that’s excelling as an entrepreneur — you have to have a stable home that meets your needs and creates that place of stability before you can really achieve anything in life.
We have a serious crisis in Hamilton when it comes to all parts of the housing continuum, if you will. I’ve been talking to the not-for-profit providers, and I’ve been talking to the development and building community. If we’re going to solve the housing crisis in Hamilton, we all need to be at the table. And, across the board, there are real concerns about the city’s lack of ability to move projects forward and get housing built.
There is a collective of not-for-profit providers that, right now in the hopper, have 3,000 units of affordable housing — traditional rent-geared-to-income affordable housing that they can build within the term of council. But they need the city to be at the table to help unlock the funding from the feds and the province. It shouldn’t be like that.
Agenda segment, March 1, 2022: Is politics the enemy of housing?
I’ve talked to people every day who say that they’ve been on the waiting list for affordable housing for seven years. I met a guy the other day in Stoney Creek: 12 years, he’s been on the waiting list for affordable housing. It’s a crisis.
But, again, we have also lots of demand for purpose-built rentals for missing-middle housing: the townhouses, the duplexes, the semis, that kind of first-time-buyer type of housing that helps people get into the market. The starter home, if you will. We have lots of demand for that as well. And that will help young people actually realize their dreams if they can get into those kinds of units. But those are not being built either to any great extent in Hamilton.
There’s just so much work that needs to be done, and housing is a human right. People deserve to have a shelter over their heads that keeps them safe from the elements and provides the basic necessity of life.
TVO.org: Practically, what do you think would change if, in Hamilton, we recognized housing as a right?
Horwath: Well, I would think that what would change — and I’m hoping to change this myself as mayor — is that everybody is at the table to solve the problem. It’s not us against them. It’s not a fight for a limited number of resources. If housing is a priority, and it is, then we need to build that priority into everything that city hall is doing, first and foremost.
That means all the folks I’ve already talked about need to be at that table — the staff, the various departments — because it’s not only Planning and Economic Development: it’s the building department, it’s engineering, it’s all kinds of different folks. Public works need to be at that table to push through the log jams. There are serious log jams that we have in Hamilton.
And, look, I know these issues are not unique to Hamilton; it’s hard to get housing built in our province in many communities. When you are in a housing crisis, an affordability crisis, the way that we are, whether it’s rental, whether it’s homeownership, whether it’s affordable housing, we need to get serious about the solutions. Identifying that and making that commitment around a housing-first type of policy is exactly what will help us not only recognize that housing is a human right, but also start to solve the problem in Hamilton.
TVO.org: Probably one of the most obvious signs of unaffordability in Hamilton is the proliferation of encampments in the city. What would you do to fight houselessness and help people in encampments?
Horwath: I really believe that every solution has to be included in the crisis that we have with houselessness. When I talk about, for example, not-for-profit providers that have 3,000 units ready to go, we need to expedite those units.
But we also have to recognize that people who are living rough, people who have been unhoused for significant periods of time, are often people who are also struggling with other issues: with mental-health crises, with addictions. And we can’t just pretend that shelter is all they need. They need the services to help them become stable. So we need transitional housing. We need housing with wraparound supports that give people a fighting chance of being able to be successful when housed.
There is no doubt that we need the other orders of government to be at the table to help us provide those wraparound services and to make sure that those folks are getting what they need to be able to be stable. I’m confident that I’ll be able to have those conversations, and I know that those conversations are already happening at both the federal and the provincial orders of government. It’s going to take all of us, but we can’t pretend that encampments are going to be eliminated without providing the housing and the supports to get people stabilized.
Agenda segment, October 14, 2022: What to ask a municipal candidate about housing?
TVO.org: Under your leadership, would the city continue with its policy of encampment evictions?
Horwath: I’ve always said that I don’t believe that we should be just moving people around. If you’re going to be taking somebody out of an encampment, it has to be to a better place where they have some stability and some shelter. There are also issues with our shelter system in Hamilton that I’ve heard about from not-for-profits, NGOs, and other community-based organizations that are helping the most vulnerable in Hamilton, and we need to get serious about how we fix those problems to create that emergency temporary shelter as well.
TVO.org: Would the policy continue or no? Sorry, just to be clear.
Horwath: As mayor, I’m certainly not in favour of simply moving people around. But I am in favour of making sure that we provide alternatives for people instead of living rough in our parks. So the policy will be determined by the council. As you know, there’s one vote per person on council. But, as mayor, that’s the kind of leadership I’m going to try to provide — the leadership that says, let’s not just move people around; let’s actually start solving the problem.
TVO.org: This year, we’ve seen a marked increase in pedestrian collisions and deaths in the city. That’s led to great concern about street safety. What’s your plan to make it easier and safer to get around the city for all types of transportation?
Horwath: Well, it’s been tragic. It’s been horrifying. And, of course, one of the higher-profile tragedies that occurred was with Boris Brott, who lost his life not too far from where I live. And it’s just awful: parents should be able to feel secure that, when they send their kids down the street to the park, they’re going to be safe. Cyclists should be able to know that, if they’re going to work or going on errands or getting some exercise, they’re going to be safe on the streets.
These accidents are happening in every part of our vast city. And some say it’s not even appropriate to use the word accident. These are drivers who are hitting people, who are killing people, who are injuring people on the roads. And that has got to stop.
So, absolutely: there are a number of different things that can be done to try to make sure that our roads are safe for all users. Some of those things I started implementing back when I was a city councillor in Hamilton, before I was elected to the provincial legislature. There are traffic-calming measures, engineering-type solutions, rumble pads, speed bumps, narrowing of sidewalks, changing from fast-moving one-way streets to slower-moving two-way streets. I don’t know if I said on-street parking. There are just all kinds of solutions.
What I’ve always believed, though, is that when you’re looking at how to address a problem in a particular community or stretch of road, you have to engage the community. They know their roads the best; they know what their concerns are. That engagement, that collaboration, is always extremely important.
Agenda segment, June 21, 2022: How do we make roads safer?
The piece that tends to be missing from this discussion is that we also have people who continue to drive irresponsibly. We need to start thinking about how we instill in people the responsibility that they need to have around the way that they drive.
I’m very pleased to see things like restrictions on right-hand turns at red lights, for example; the city has been implementing some of these solutions already, and that’s a good thing. But I keep thinking we need to start doing something to communicate to Hamiltonians that they have a responsibility to the other people in our community who are using the roads. I, like many people, have been doing my errands or getting from one place to another in a car and have been very careful as I’m driving, keeping my eye out for everybody else who’s on the road. And I’ve seen people just boot by me, just whizz by me in their cars. And, every time, I just shake my head.
Just the other day, I was travelling down Bay Street, and we were beside the FirstOntario Centre. We were stopping because the light had turned red. A woman was crossing in front of our car, and a van came booting up the street and ran the red light. Honestly, if that woman had been five steps, maybe six steps ahead of where she was, she would have been mowed down by that van.
People have to pay attention. People are hitting people in cars. And that’s just not acceptable. We need to broaden our efforts, yes, in terms of the roadways and how they function, pull people in to have those conversations. But, also, we need to start talking directly to Hamiltonians about their responsibility to keep people safe.
TVO.org: One of the hot-button issues in this discussion has been the conversion of Main Street to two-way traffic. You expressed a little bit of trepidation around when we should do that in relation to LRT construction. Could you elaborate a bit on that?
Horwath: Sure. I really believe that we have to do everything very carefully and that, when it comes to transportation networks, we have to be thoughtful about what the traffic patterns are going to be and how we deal with them when there’s a major construction project that’s on the horizon.
Shovels are supposed to go in the ground next year. I’m a big champion of two-way streets. I was the first person in Hamilton to bring the concept of two-way streets to our city. It started in the north end, on McNab Street North, and it moved to a number of other roadways, including Queen Street and James and John and others. So I’m a big proponent of two-way streets, because they not only slow down traffic, but also help the business districts, frankly. They help business districts with people’s abilities to move around and not have to drive all kinds of blocks in a big circle to try to get back to the business that they might have accidentally missed.
But when it comes to the two-way on Main Street, I want to hear what the traffic planners are saying, particularly in terms of the LRT construction. I think that’s a reasonable and thoughtful approach. I’m not opposed to it overall, but I do think it has to be an integrated transportation system.
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TVO.org: Another safety topic: Hamilton is, unfortunately, known for having a very high rate of police-reported hate crimes. We’ve got far-right candidates running for trustee, a white nationalist running for mayor; we had that high-profile incident where a white-nationalist sticker was placed on a campaign sign. What would you do to fight hate in the city?
Horwath: Just the other day, we had to call police ourselves. My campaign had to report the heinous vandalism of one of my signs. It was misogynistic. It was racist. It was hateful. It was awful. As you know, I’ve been on a number of campaigns in my career, and I have personally never seen anything so despicable as what I saw on that sign.
I have always been somebody who stands up against hate. That’s what leaders need to do. All leaders in our city, all leaders in our community, need to stand up against hate in every form. That’s just a bottom line. I will always do that. I always have done that, and I’ve always also taken the time to try to pull people into all the conversations and all the orders of participation that I’ve had any kind of kind of purview over as a leader. That’s what I’ve always done, whether it was as a city councillor in neighbourhood discussions or as a leader of my party as an MPP. It makes for better decisions, and it welcomes people into our cities’ decision-making processes.
When I was the leader of the NDP, I took over a party that talked a good game when it came to diversity but wasn’t really doing anything. And not only did we elect 50 per cent women in 2014 and 2018 and more than 60 per cent women this past election, but we’ve also completely changed the look of our caucus. We have so many people elected that represent all kinds of different faith backgrounds and ethno-cultural backgrounds and the LGBTQIA+ community. If you’re going to actually push back hate, you have to welcome people in and tell them and show them and listen to them in terms of all of the existing structures and opportunities.
It’s not just about talking about hate. It’s about pushing back against hate by welcoming people in and showing everybody — all Hamiltonians — that we all belong here and have an important part to play in our community. It’s about always being vocal, always calling out the hate, always standing against it as a leader, which I’ve always done. But it’s also about making sure that the fabric of our community is as representative of and as diverse as the people who live here.
TVO.org: I’m sorry to hear about that sign incident.
Horwath: Yeah, it was pretty ugly.
TVO.org: I also wanted to ask you about Indigenous consultation. Just last week, we learned that, after disagreements over consent and consultation with the Haudenosaunee Development Institute led to various work stoppages, the city has asked to wait a year before continuing the Chedoke Creek cleanup. How would you work to honour treaties and consult with Indigenous communities in your work?
Horwath: Well, it’s one of the advantages I bring to the mayor’s chair that I don’t think any of the other candidates have: my experience with exactly those kinds of initiatives. I’ve spent a long time at tables with First Nations leadership, with Indigenous folks. You may know that we elected the very first First Nations MPP, in 2018. But, even prior to Sol Mamakwa being elected as a New Democrat MPP, I’d spent many years learning about the responsibilities and the obligations that we, as treaty people, all have.
When there are things that are impacting Indigenous land, there’s absolutely a requirement for consultation, for prior informed consent, for making sure that we have that engagement in advance and that there’s a government-to-government relationship that’s respected. These things are not easy — I’m not saying that they’re easy things — but they’re necessary things. If we’re serious about traversing a path of reconciliation that we can be confident is going to be positive and address some of the historic wrongs, we have to have those conversations.
It’s interesting. Many municipalities in, for example, northern Ontario, have had a long experience with that kind of engagement — maybe not so much in some of our southern communities. So there are lessons to be learned, and there are pathways to be considered to develop that kind of culture here in Hamilton. And I firmly believe that, as the mayor of Hamilton, I can begin that work immediately, because I’ve had the honour, really, of having a lot of engagement over the years with First Nations communities.
TVO.org: Staying on the engagement topic: you’ve said that one of the things that you’d want to do if elected is, within the first 90 days, strike a public advisory committee to hear from people about how they want to hear from the city. Can you tell me a bit more about that and about your governance plan more generally?
Horwath: Sure, I appreciate that. One of the things that we hear quite a bit is a real sense of concern around transparency, around engagement, around the city’s ability to have people feel that their voices are being heard and that the city is being accountable to the electorate and to the residents of Hamilton.
One of the things I’ve always believed is, if you’re attempting to deal with a concern that people overall are raising, the best way to deal with that is to engage people in the solutions. I’ve always been very much a collaborator. I’ve not been “my way or the highway” ever in my life. I used to do community-development work before becoming elected. That model is a model of engagement and of collaboration.
That’s what I believe needs to happen if we’re going to really change the way that people experience engagement, accountability, and transparency with this city. The best way to come up with solutions to challenges is to invite people into a conversation about those challenges. So, within the first 90 days, I want to set that table. I want to have those conversations, and I want to make sure that the people who are sitting around that table are people who represent the diversity of our city in every way.
Again, I’ve heard some comments about lack of engagement and lack of feeling of being a part of the city from some folks, and that needs to change. If we’re going to ever get to a place where we can realize the potential of our city and deal with the challenges we have, we all need to be part of the solutions, and we all need to be part of the excitement of where our city can go.
Agenda segment, May 11, 2022: Can Hamilton be an equitable city?
TVO.org: I also want to ask you about in the Cable 14 debate. You seemed to make the argument that your opponent Keanin Loomis, who’s been in Hamilton for 13 years, hadn’t maybe been here long enough to run for mayor — or at least that’s how it seems some people took it, and that kind of rankled them. I’m wondering what you would say to people who heard that and were put off?
Horwath: Well, on the contrary, what I was trying to illustrate is that the mayor’s position is a significant position and that my experience is much greater than his experience. That was what I was trying to illustrate at that time, and I still believe that. Our city is a pretty big city. And as I said just a moment ago, it has a lot of opportunities and a lot of challenges. For a city of this size, with this complexity, having experience in the mayor’s chair is going to be extremely important. That’s what I firmly believe.
TVO.org: During the campaign, you’ve talked to all sorts of people and attended events throughout the city. Have you learned anything particularly new or interesting about Hamilton during this campaign that has really stuck with you?
Horwath: Well, you know what? I’ve really been excited by the sense of excitement that I’ve been feeling on the ground. People love our city. There’s this real sense, no matter where I’ve been in Hamilton — whether it’s Flamborough or Glenbrook or Dundas or downtown Hamilton or Stoney Creek — there’s a real sense of excitement that people have for our city. For me, that’s really positive, because we’ve come off some pretty negative things.
I mean, you talked about the Chedoke Creek stuff in terms of the Indigenous voices that are concerned about the cleanup. We know we’ve had the issue with the Red Hill Valley Parkway. These are some of the things that are leading to those conversations about trust and transparency and engagement. And the homelessness crisis, which we all know we have, and the housing crisis, also. But not withstanding those things, there’s a real sense of excitement. There’s a real sense that Hamilton is on the precipice of something really great. Again, no matter where I go, I hear that come through. For me, that’s extremely exciting, and it’s extremely positive. There’s just a real sense that the future is ours to grab ahold of, and I’m hopeful that I can be a big part of grabbing hold of that future with the people of this city.
TVO.org: I don’t think I have any more questions for you. But was there anything we didn’t talk about that you wanted to add?
Horwath: I don’t think so. I’m really excited about the next couple of days. We’re going to keep working really hard. And then, on Monday the 24th, we’ll see where the decisions are made across the city. Absolutely, we’ll have new faces around the council table, and I firmly believe that’s an even more important reason we need some experience at the helm. I’m happy to be able to offer that experience to the people of Hamilton.
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
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