Ward 14 (West Mountain) Councillor Mike Spadafora and challenger Kojo Damptey traded sharp accusations over policing and whether the incumbent is present enough in the ward he represents, during the Cable 14 all-candidates’ debate that repeatedly turned personal.
Spadafora and Damptey are the only two candidates running in the ward in the upcoming Oct. 26 municipal election.
The Hamilton Independent’s previous coverage of the Ward 14 race can be found here.
In 2022, Spadafora won in a seven-candidate race with 28.48 per cent of the vote (2,610 votes), with Damptey in second with 27.62 per cent (2,531 votes).
Damptey opened the debate by framing his candidacy as something “new.”
“Now more than ever, we need civic leaders with a track record of coming up with solutions, ideas, new ways of thinking,” Damptey said. “This election is about offering something new. Because the old ways of municipal politics are not working.”
Among his proposals is the creation of neighbourhood councils in each of the ward’s nine neighbourhoods.
Spadafora asked voters to judge him on his first term.
“Today isn’t about making promises about what I might do someday, but what I’ve done, what we have accomplished together, and what remains to be delivered,” he said.
“I’ve pushed for greater accountability around Council decisions and deliverables. I’ve advocated for better roads, sidewalks, parks, public spaces, recreation, safer neighbourhoods and responsible planning as our community continues to grow. And importantly, I’ve stayed connected to the people I represent.”
The sharpest exchanges came after Hamilton Spectator journalist Andrew Baulcomb asked whether the city should prioritize investment in upstream social services, housing and community-led safety initiatives, or focus on traditional crime enforcement and police budgets.
“I think we need to do both,” Spadafora said, arguing that Hamilton has spent more on social programs and homelessness than most municipalities in the area. What needs to change, he said, is accountability from the agencies the city funds.
“We need to ensure that the agencies that are providing these services for us, that we’re funding, provide the outcomes that we need for our residents, to ensure that we are moving individuals in shelters into transitional housing and hopefully into permanent housing with support,” he said.
“I don’t believe we can do that without also investing in our police. They go hand in hand. If we want safe communities, we need police. We are not going to be able to have a city that’s based on defund-the-police sort of advocacy.”
Damptey said he helped develop Hamilton’s community safety and well-being plan, which is mandated by the province, alongside Hamilton Police and community organizations, and argued the city has not invested in it since.
“That plan actually talks about providing the preventative solutions to address some of the issues that we’re dealing with,” Damptey said.
Spadafora then directly addressed Damptey’s past comments about policing that he made on social media.
“You have publicly stated that you stand for defunding the police of this city,” Spadafora said. “We cannot have candidates that are going to be here and stand for defunding our police when we need our police more now than ever.”
“There’s never been a positive comment from this individual about the police,” Spadafora continued.
“You’ve publicly stated about defunding the police, abolishing it, all sorts of things in regards to our members. And these are the members that put their life in danger every single day to keep our community safe.”
The debate took another personal turn when Damptey raised the question of Spadafora’s residency.
Spadafora, who acknowledged he does not currently live in the ward, accused Damptey of reversing his position from the 2022 campaign.
In 2022, the last time Damptey ran, he was living in Ward 8.
Spadafora continued defending himself.
“I grew up in the ward. I went to school in the ward. I know that ward inside out. But now all of a sudden you live there for 15 minutes, and you know everything there is to know about the residents.”
Spadafora also pointed to his outreach record.
“I’ve sent 20,000-plus emails engaging with my residents. You came to my town halls. You sit at the back of my town halls. And then you come here and mislead people, saying I don’t engage,” he said. “Look into the camera and be honest with the residents. That’s all I ask.”
“I’m in the ward every day. I have family who live in the ward,” he added.
“I’ve been in the community for four years as a councillor. I’ve been in the community my whole life, from day one.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
