Candidates up ante in final appeal to Hamilton voters

Candidates hoping to land at city hall are making last-ditch efforts to win over Hamilton voters in the dying days of an increasingly close - and sometimes nasty - election campaign.

Seven seats around the council horseshoe are up for grabs with incumbents opting not to run again. That includes an open mayoral race with three main rivals looking for the electoral edge to secure the chain of office come Monday.

It's been billed by some as a change election" meant to shake the political cobwebs off city hall after a term rattled by scandals. The imbroglio kick-started an unofficial campaign well before candidates hit the hustings, says Chris Erl, a political scientist with Toronto Metropolitan University.

In some ways, this campaign started years ago," said Erl, a Hamilton resident, pointing to brewing outrage in 2019 over the twin scandals of Sewergate" and the slippery Red Hill Valley Parkway.

Suggestions that Keanin Loomis was mulling a mayoral run date back to that time, he said, while persistent rumours" of Andrea Horwath jumping into a mayoral contest have circulated since before 2018.

Loomis, 47, announced his election plans in January and made it official at city hall in early May, followed by Bob Bratina, 78, in mid-June, with Horwath, 59, throwing her hat in the ring by late-July after stepping down as Ontario NDP leader.

In the home stretch to election day, the contenders to replace outgoing mayor Fred Eisenberger have vied for the spotlight and voters' favour with a flurry of late-contest announcements. But negative attack ads, sign-stealing and racist, misogynist vandalism have also ramped up late in the campaign.

A lot of folks have talked about the negative tone of this (mayoral) election," said Erl. But, he also pointed to a bright spot" in the election battle when all major candidates put politics aside" to publicly denounce the hateful defacing of election signs for women and racialized candidates.

Especially in competitive open contests, candidates' last-ditch efforts before voters hit the polls can matter, says Jack Lucas, a University of Calgary political scientist with a focus on municipal elections.

A lot of the time, people aren't even aware that a municipal election is happening until very late in the game."

And while some may have decided their candidate for mayor, they may still be mulling their options at the ward level, Lucas suggested.

Some of that stuff can happen very last minute with conversations with friends and family, and information they get from the campaigns themselves."

At the same time, people are increasingly drawn to advance polls, which can lock in many votes before election day.

In Hamilton, 31,719 ballots were cast during advance or special advance polls this month. That's up from 17,052 early voters in 2018 - an election that saw more than 137,000 ballots cast in total.

In this fall's contest, 91 hopefuls are running for council, including a nine-candidate mayoral race and 82 in Hamilton's 15 wards. For school board seats, there are 59 contenders.

While no single overarching issue can frame this election, there is no shortage of weighty topics for voters to consider. You can check out in-depth Spec features on each of the following:

Housing and homelessness

Housing - or the lack thereof - topped the list of issues cited by voters in a recent Hamilton election poll. Mayoral candidates are promising thousands of new units, reduced red tape for builders and help for affordable developments.

But where" to put housing is also a touchy subject, with everything from new condo towers to triplex gentle density" projects emerging as discussion points in ward races.

There are also stark differences of opinion, in ward races and the mayoral battle alike, on how to deal with visible homeless encampments.

Transit

Transit is always a contentious topic, even if the fate of the city's $3.4-billion LRT is (probably) not at stake.

This time, you can blame the debate over whether to tax all urban residents equally for transit, which spurred one mayoral front-runner to switch positions on area rating late in the campaign.

Transparency and scandals

Are you still mad about the Sewergate" spill into Chedoke Creek, or the mysteriously buried Red Hill safety report? Most candidates are jostling to stake out a claim as a change" candidate for an electorate tired of city hall secrecy.

Road safety

A deadly year on Hamilton roads has prompted more talk about street design, two-way traffic and speed cameras than ever before in a city election. But some candidates differ over how to make our roads safer.

School board culture wars'

Endorsements of some would-be trustees by anti-woke" and freedom" groups have generated concerns among some voters and parents.

Taxes

Taxes are a worry for voters in every election. But with city bureaucrats warning of failing infrastructure and a possible tax hike of 6.9 per cent next year, the topic has sparked more conversation among some candidates.

On the hustings

This election hasn't exploded into major pyrotechnics but it has set off a few firecrackers.

Right out of the gate, Horwath faced criticism in some quarters for resigning as a freshly elected Hamilton Centre MPP to take a municipal run.

City hall is where she can have the most impact, she has responded, while Loomis has pointedly questioned the efficacy of career politicians" in municipal governance.

But their most memorable exchange was a dust-up during late-September's televised debate with Bratina sidelined by COVID-19.

Horwath asked where Loomis found the chutzpah" to run for mayor after spending only a couple of years" in Hamilton running a small organization." In turn, the lawyer by training called his rival's remark disrespectful" to Hamilton residents from elsewhere, noting he'd moved to the city in 2009.

The exchange resulted in blowback against Horwath by those who viewed her comments as exclusionary," Erl said.

The sharp back-and-forth wasn't the end of the jousting between the two candidates. Loomis used the exchange in video and other campaign pitches to newcomers to Hamilton - while late in the campaign, Horwath launched a series of video and newspaper attack ads alleging Loomis has flip-flopped on major issues and doesn't know where he stands."

Bratina - who had a conflict-riddled term as mayor in 2010-14, including a censure and an integrity commissioner sanction - stayed out of that fray.

But he came under fire for a series of robo-texts and calls warning residents of his opponents' far-left policies," calling them special interest candidates."

Loomis accused him of resorting to fear and personal attacks to try to win votes," while Bratina's campaign clarified he welcomes input from all advocacy groups, charities and residents."

But longtime McMaster University political scientist Henry Jacek said the former mayor's midcampaign strategy didn't likely gain significant traction.

There's a certain part of the population that respond to that, but I just thought it was too negative for the population."

Loomis, meanwhile, drew criticism for suggesting the municipality get out of the affordable housing business, but later walked back the remarks and said he misspoke. Late in the campaign, he also changed a major position in vowing to protect - not end - area-rated" transit taxes.

He has received increasing scrutiny in recent days - just as a poll suggested he was closing the gap with perceived front-runner Horwath.

Some labour critics labelled the former voice of Hamilton business as anti-worker" or too close to developers - although Loomis picked up endorsements from LIUNA and USW union locals. Others questioned his judgment over a past heated disagreement with the head of the YWCA over a newspaper opinion piece.

Jacek says the three main mayoral contenders offer something appealing for most of the electorate, which bodes well for voter turnout.

Horwath is a typical labour" candidate; Loomis is a business" candidate; and Bratina, a little unusual in some ways," leans Conservative-Liberal," he says.

So you've got all the bases covered for a lot of the voters. I would think that would bring out a good population."

But election races tend to boil down to two main contenders," Jacek says, pointing to Horwath and Loomis in a dogfight for the title.

Horwath has a big lump" of NDP supporters who have known her for a long time, but aspiring first-time politician Loomis has run a very good campaign" that seems to have gained momentum.

Lucas, the University of Calgary political scientist, points out mobilizing would-be voters to actually make it to the polls come election day will be hugely important."

Ward races

With a steady stream of platform announcements, the main mayoral rivals have hogged the spotlight.

But whoever ends up wearing the chain of office will have one vote on council - unless the province extends strong mayor" powers to Hamilton, of course.

A legion - 82 candidates - is battling it out for Hamilton's 15 ward seats - from downtown to the suburbs and rural areas.

In Ward 4 (east end), 11 candidates are knocking on doors, with the same number competing for Ward 5 (east end/Stoney Creek). Both races are free of incumbents.

Wards 11 (Glanbrook), 12 (Ancaster), 14 (west Mountain) and 15 (Flamborough) are also open races.

Meanwhile, in Ward 2 (downtown and area) and Ward 3 (central lower city), where incumbents face challengers, salient issues have been homeless encampments, supervised injection sites and traffic safety.

In west-end Ward 1, as well as Wards 6, 7 and 8 on the Mountain, increasing housing density in neighbourhoods predominantly composed of single-family detached homes while curbing residential sprawl has been a topic of discussion.

Council's decision to freeze the urban boundary and density have also come up in contests for Ward 9 (upper Stoney Creek), Ward 10 (lower Stoney Creek) and Ward 13 (Dundas), where aspiring city leaders hope to unseat incumbents.

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com

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