McHattie in the hunt for mayor

The race to replace Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina is heating up. Tonight, we’re profiling the first of three front runners — current city councillor Brian McHattie.

McHattie has represented ward one as a councillor for eleven years. But in this election, he’s trying to break out of that mindset in hopes of serving the entire city. Part of that strategy includes a safe neighbourhood streets plan that he revealed earlier today.

Brian McHattie: “Most of our capital budget goes to main arterial roads.”

If elected, Hamilton mayoral candidate Brian McHattie wants to build this city from the ground up by directing two percent of Hamilton’s capital budget to fixing neighbourhood roads and adding sidewalks where none exist: “Some areas with no sidewalks whatsoever. Particularly up on the mountain and in Waterdown and in places like that, which is unacceptable.”

He was the first candidate to file his papers and has been actively campaigning all summer in an attempt to reach each of Hamilton’s 190 neighbourhoods: “Being a mayor is a very different role than being a ward councillor. And to represent a whole city you need to have that perspective.”

During his tour, he reversed his staunch opposition to the Red Hill Valley Parkway, driving on it for the first time.

He says his cross-city trek has opened his eyes to issues he didn’t recognize as a west end councillor, including lack of attention to rural constituents: “They think quite rightly that Hamilton council needs to spend a lot more time thinking about the rural areas.”

But he also believes downtown development is necessary to offset taxes in the city’s outskirts: “King Street, Main Street, Cannon, Wilson and Barton Street — the opportunity for over a hundred new developments along those corridors.”

Pro light rail transit from the get-go, McHattie feels the best way to boost the core is an east to west LRT line.

McHattie certainly got out of the gate early. He’s already visited about two-thirds of the neighbourhoods on his must see list. But Fred Eisenberger and Brad Clark are now actively campaigning as well. We’ll be profiling them in the coming days.