Ejaz Butt keeps faith in shadow of Hamilton’s higher-profile mayoral contenders

Build the LRT. Halt urban sprawl. Help the homeless. Stop wasting money.

It's all on Ejaz Butt's to-do list should he become Hamilton's next mayor.

The 68-year-old former taxi union president knows he faces erasure with higher-profile rivals in the media spotlight.

But I said to myself, No, I will keep a low profile, keep on doing my job and let's see what will be the outcome.'"

So in the run-up to the Oct. 24 vote, he'll keep distributing flyers, posting videos on social media, and chatting up people in bars and outside grocery stores.

I do have a team of volunteers. People are working with me," Butt adds.

And it's not his first rodeo.

In 2014, he mounted his first mayoral campaign, but his 1,579 votes came well short of Fred Eisenberger's 49,020.

Butt says he didn't run in 2018 because of health problems and the city told him he couldn't because he didn't meet the deadline to file his campaign expenses.

That's in the rear-view mirror and, despite the pleadings of his family to enjoy his retirement, the former cabbie says he didn't want to sit this one out.

I said, No, I'm running for it because I owe the city.' Whatever I achieved in this life, this is from the city."

After moving to Canada in 1987 from Pakistan, where he was in the military and reached the rank of major, Butt started driving a taxi. He also had a gas station and mechanic shop. His two sons grew up to be a police officer and doctor.

The first five years, I think I was working like a donkey," Butt says with a chuckle.

He took on leadership roles, one as founding president of the Ontario Taxi Workers Union. He also led the Muslim Association of Hamilton. In both cases, they were rocky tenures, he acknowledges.

When you want to change the status quo, it becomes the adventure of your life."

His competition in the mayoral race are Keanin Loomis, former CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, ex-Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Bob Bratina, most recently a Liberal MP but also one-time mayor.

So what would Butt offer as mayor? What people have told him, Butt says.

I'll tell you one thing: My campaign didn't start after the nomination. I'm constantly interacting with people for the last three years."

That feedback includes more than 2,000" responses that led to his platform.

One plank is accessibility. Butt says he'll make himself available to constituents every weekend, day and night.

Fiscal responsibility is another. Tax dollars must be spent wisely," he says. I know that the money is being wasted."

The city can catch up on its sizeable infrastructure deficit without hiking taxes, Butt contends. And my plan is to freeze the taxes for four years."

With much already spent on LRT - and $3.4 billion committed by the provincial and federal governments - it makes sense to press forward with the project, Butt says.

He encourages downtown development but not on outlying farmland, arguing Hamilton's urban boundary must remain firm.

The city's main problem," however, is a lack of affordable housing, says Butt, whose pitch includes a 40 per cent discount" of up to $500 a month to help people on Hamilton's wait list for subsidized units secure homes in the private market.

He's also calling for more shelters and social programs, including psychiatric treatment, for people who are homeless.

On traffic, the city's busiest intersections should have flyovers and underpasses to improve flow, Butt says.

He also wants a referendum for Waterdown residents to decide whether to ditch Hamilton for Burlington, a proposal that would reopen the thorny issue of 2001's provincially mandated amalgamation.

So will it be two times the charm for Butt?

It's not possible for him to knock on every door, but there are still several weeks to go until Oct. 24, he points out.

Anything can happen."

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com