A look at Hamilton’s new city council

Fred Eisenberger remains Hamilton’s mayor and still faces a council with divided views on light rail transit (LRT).

Eisenberger says he plans on having a lot of conversations with councillors in the days ahead and certainly before any affirmation vote on LRT. He’s hoping councillors against the project heard the message from citizens of Hamilton on election night and said he’s confident come December 1st, it will be full steam ahead.

The election became a referendum on LRT and Eisenberger says winning by a 20,000 vote margin shows a strong mandate going forward.

Over $130 million has been spent on the LRT project for King St. already. Last night there were concerns among councillors that the province could pull the plug on the billion-dollar project but Eisenberger says he will hold them to their word.

“They’ve confirmed on a number of occasions through Skelly, Minister of Transport, or the Premier that they are going to follow through,” said Eisenberger.

Even with several new faces joining city council, the LRT will still be a divisive issue in the upcoming term. Nrinder Nann, Sam Merulla, Chad Collins, Jason Farr, Maureen Wilson, and John Paul Danko have voiced their support for the project. Brad Clark, Judi Partridge, Terry Whitehead, Maria Pearson, and Brenda Johnson are anti-LRT while Tom Jackson, Arleen Vanderbeek, Esther Pauls and Lloyd Ferguson have not fully committed to either side.

At this time the provincial freeze on land acquisitions across Ontario remains, but Eisenberger says he’s hopeful it will be lifted soon.

Four new faces and one veteran grabbed seats on council and with a slight shake up to the 16 person roster, a gender balance was achieved.

On the current council there are 11 men and five women. Come December, chambers will have nine men and seven women with the addition of Maureen Wilson, Nrinder Nann and Esther Pauls joining the team.

Eisenberger still faces a deeply divided council saying, “leave your parochial political stuff behind now, lets get on with a vision for our city. The people have spoken, everybody get on the A-train!”

After December 1st the new council will come together for an affirmation vote on the project, all it needs is a simple majority to push the project through.