The quest for the mayor’s chain of office in Hamilton

Three front-runners lead the 2022 list of mayoral hopefuls. From left to right they are Bob Bratina, Andrea Horwath, and Keanin Loomis. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons and Facebook/Keanin Loomis

With the closure of nominations, the campaigns to become Hamilton’s next mayor are now in full swing. Although there are nine candidates who have registered, the race will come down to three individuals backed by their respective provincial partisanship.

In alphabetical order, Bob Bratina as the former MP for the Liberal Party, Andrea Horvath as the former leader of the provincial NDP, and Keanin Loomis as president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.

The race will offer a real choice for Hamiltonians in how they want to see their city governed.  And with the possibility of receiving greater provincial authority via the Strong Mayor, Building Homes Act, the selection of the next mayor will have stronger meaning for taxpayers.

The legislation enables the head of council to solely appoint the city manager and general managers, in addition to, proposing the city’s budget (rather than municipal staff). The legislation only affects Ottawa and Toronto, however, Premier Ford has indicated the law may be extended to other municipal jurisdictions.

There are real differences in the mayoralty candidates. Here are some of their respective features.

Bob Bratina

Bratina is a seasoned politician who has vast municipal experience. Representing downtown Ward 2, Bratina served two terms on City Council (2004 to 2010) before being elected as Mayor of Hamilton (2010 to 2014).  hereafter, he became the Liberal MP for Hamilton East – Stoney Creek.  

While Bratina had many accomplishments as mayor, his biggest achievements were to improve GO transit service to Hamilton, keeping property taxes low, and promoting greater citizen engagement.

His passionate history of opposing the downtown LRT is well known. His criticism is well founded when the Auditor General of Ontario estimated the price tag for the project escalating from $823 million (2016) to $1.083 billion (2018) to $2.32 billion (2020). Bratina strongly advocates that the money should be better invested in buses serving people across the city, rather than the LRT’s limited 14 kms.  

His platform focuses on six key pillars: Accountability, Housing, Economic Development, Infrastructure, Agriculture and Industry, and a Better Hamilton.

Andrea Horwath

After failing to win a provincial victory for the NDP after four attempts, Horwath resigned as party leader and thereafter entered Hamilton’s mayoral race. Though she was at Queen’s Park for some time, she is no stranger to municipal politics.

Horwath was the city councillor for Ward 2 from 1997 to 2004. With the death of Liberal MPP Dominic Agostino of Hamilton Centre, Horwath left city politics when she won in the provincial by-election representing the NDP. Later she successfully emerged as party leader of the NDP in 2009 and progressively led her party in successive provincial elections in 2011, 2014 and 2018.  With the loss of seven seats in the 2022 provincial election, Horwath resigned as party leader.

She has yet to publish her platform for her mayorly bid, however, she comments on her website, “My commitment to you is to be a mayor for all Hamiltonians – no matter where you live or when you made our city home, no matter your political stripe, and no matter your circumstances.”

Keanin Loomis

Having immigrated to Canada in 1996 from the United States, Loomis calls Hamilton home.  Although he has not served on municipal council, Loomis is a familiar face at City Hall. He has served on various committees, including leadership on the LRT, Open For Business and Government Relations subcommittees, the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Workforce Development, Mayor’s Economic Recovery Task Force and the Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee.  

After launching the McMaster Innovation Park’s Innovation Factory as their chief operating officer, Loomis was later hired as the president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. In this role, Loomis advocated for the resurrection of the LRT that had been cancelled by the province over concerns of the rising costs.

His detailed platform is centred on four themes: Truth, Trust, and Transparency; Growing Hamilton Smartly; Responsive City Hall; and a Safe, Clean, Healthy Hamilton.

Relative to the three primary candidates, The Hamilton Independent will be keeping up with the respective election campaigns and informing our readers.

Do you want to meet these three mayoralty candidates? You can see them at the Winona Peach Festival being held from August 26 to 28 at Winona Park.