Ikhuiwu details his mayoral platform, focusing on the housing crisis and the importance of unity
The Silhouette sat down with mayoral candidate Solomon Ikhuiwu to discuss his platform and experience running in the upcoming municipal election.
An evangelical preacher, trained paralegal and author, Ikhuiwu is a candidate in Hamilton’s mayoral race who is excited about unifying the city and advocating for its residents.
Ikhuiwu outlined the four key pillars of his platform as integrity, affordability, environment and community. Practically, the issues Ikhuiwu highlighted as being central to his platform are addressing the housing crisis and unifying the city.
In particular, Ikhuiwu identified housing as being one of the most important issues in this election. In the past he has donated clothing to unhoused residents of Hamilton, cleaned up parts of the city for them and spent a lot of time talking to them. He expressed that these experiences have driven him to prioritize the housing crisis in his platform.
"Winter is coming and [unhoused people] don't have a place they can call home and many of them complain that the shelter system is worse than prison,” said Ikhuiwu.
Winter is coming and [unhoused people] don't have a place they can call home and many of them complain that the shelter system is worse than prison.
Solomon Ikhuiwu, Hamilton Mayoral Candidate
Ikhuiwu did not provide more details regarding his plan to address the housing crisis. In their article, CBC Hamilton noted his platform also includes developing transition programs for unhoused folks.
In terms of unifying the city, Ikhuiwu spoke about hoping to increase collaboration between different parts of the city. He did not provide further details on how this unity would be achieved.
Ikhuiwu did, however, speak about his desire to be an accessible and open mayor. Despite not having prior political experience, he believes his experiences as an author and a preacher have given him the ability to connect with many people and help them with the different circumstances of their lives, making him well-equipped for the job of mayor.
“Let me clarify that I'm not a politician. I represent the everyday, hard-working people,” said Ikhuiwu.
Finally, Ikhuiwu emphasized the importance of the student vote in this election, emphasizing that student voices matter for the path of the city. He also urged students to give Hamilton a chance, rather than rushing to leave the city upon completing their degrees.
"[Students] tell me things like I can't wait to leave the city of Hamilton, I can't wait to move somewhere else, I can't wait to take my talents to a different place because we don't want to be a part of [this city]. So, my plea to the students is: be patient with city hall. Be patient. I'm bringing change. Give us a second chance,” said Ikhuiwu.
[Students] tell me things like I can't wait to leave the city of Hamilton, I can't wait to move somewhere else, I can't wait to take my talents to a different place because we don't want to be a part of [this city]. So, my plea to the students is: be patient with city hall. Be patient. I'm bringing change. Give us a second chance.
Solomon Ikhuiwu, Hamilton Mayoral Candidate
Solomon Ikhuiwu is running for mayor in the Oct. 2022 municipal election. His candidate profile has be posted as part of a series the Silhouette is running to build student awareness about the municipal election. Candidate profiles will continue to be posted in alphabetical order over the next few weeks. Election Day is Oct. 24 and more details on how to vote can be found here.
The former leader of Ontario’s NDP, Horwath is running for mayor of Hamilton with an action plan to address long-standing issues in the city
The Silhouette sat down with mayoral candidate Andrea Horwath to discuss her current campaign and the most pressing issues for the 2022 Hamilton municipal election.
Horwath has a long political resume that starts with her position as Hamilton’s Ward 2 city councillor from 1997 to 2004. Then, in 2009 she was elected as leader of Ontario’s New Democratic Party, a position she held until 2022 when she stepped down and declared her intention to run for mayor of Hamilton.
“I had been the leader [of the Ontario NDP] for 13 years and I felt like it was time to pass the torch. I had done a lot of hard work. I was very proud of the work that I had done but there comes a time that you know that your leadership needs to be passed onto somebody else,” said Horwath.
Horwath’s platform addresses the issues Hamilton faces at length with her action plan that looks at making Hamilton a great place to live, work and raise a family. Horwath’s action plan includes increasing the affordability of Hamilton by working on the “missing middle” housing needed in Hamilton and creating a diverse economy by fostering film and agricultural sectors while collaborating with McMaster University and Mohawk College.
“We have to make sure people coming out of university can not only afford to live in our city, but there are opportunities for them. And that’s one of the other pieces that I speak to in my action plan. Let’s make sure that we are creating a vibrant economy that prioritizes people’s ability to make Hamilton their home,” said Horwath.
We have to make sure people coming out of university can not only afford to live in our city, but there are opportunities for them. And that’s one of the other pieces that I speak to in my action plan. Let’s make sure that we are creating a vibrant economy that prioritizes people’s ability to make Hamilton their home.
Andrea Horwath, Hamilton Mayoral Candidate
Horwath’s platform also pushes for better transportation by addressing the $2.3 billion infrastructure backlog of roads and sewers, as well as increasing HSR services in frequency and neighbourhoods public transit reaches. She spoke about denser development in Hamilton’s existing wards in order to halt urban sprawl and the expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundary. A large expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundary was voted against in a city council vote last November.
“We have some parts of our city that have no service whatsoever. People have no choice but to jump into a car and we need to turn that around,” said Horwath.
In addition to pushing for public transportation, Horwath’s platform focuses on how green livable neighbourhoods will be promoted using multiple strategies. Her action plan pledges to follow Hamilton’s Urban Forest Strategy for better urban forests and continue Hamilton’s Urban Indigenous Strategy under Indigenous leadership. Horwath also emphasized the importance of being transparent in progress made in the Climate Change Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Following the pollution of Chedoke Creek, Horwath says that the city needs to rebuild trust with the public.
“I think that one of the really disappointing, not even disappointing, outrageous things that we've all been dealing with was the sewage leak into Cootes Paradise and that's unacceptable. Not only the fact that it happened, that it was going on for so many years, but the lack of transparency around how people found out about it. It's really about trust,” said Horwath.
Horwath spoke optimistically about the future of Hamilton and how she hoped to bring her experience to the position of mayor of Hamilton.
“I think Hamilton’s poised for a really great future. There’s so many amazing things happening. I just want to be able to use the experience, the knowledge, the networks, the capacity that I’ve built to help our city realize its potential,” said Horwath.
I think Hamilton’s poised for a really great future. There’s so many amazing things happening. I just want to be able to use the experience, the knowledge, the networks, the capacity that I’ve built to help our city realize its potential.
Andrea Horwath, Hamilton Mayoral Candidate
Horwath reminisced on her time at McMaster as a labour studies student and explained why she believes McMaster students should vote in Hamilton’s municipal election.
“What I would hope is that by engaging in what's happening at the municipal level, people who are attending McMaster University can learn more about what a great city this is,” said Horwath.
Andrea Horwath is running for mayor in the Oct. 2022 municipal election. His candidate profile has be posted as part of a series the Silhouette is running to build student awareness about the municipal election. Candidate profiles will continue to be posted in alphabetical order over the next few weeks. Election Day is Oct. 24 and more details on how to vote can be found here.
C/O Michael Pattison
Pattison has built his campaign on affordability, transparency and food insecurity
The Silhouette sat down with mayoral candidate Michael Pattison to reflect on his current campaign and the most pressing issues for the upcoming election.
Pattison is running as a mayoral candidate for the third time in his political career, having previously campaigned for the position in 2014 and 2018. He is running again this term to address issues involving affordability, transparency and food insecurity in the municipal government.
Affordability is the biggest point of Pattison’s platform. He discussed the importance of funding mental health initiatives as a key part of his affordability plan.
“The worse that our mental health slides down and the harder that finances get on people, I believe [that] is one of the biggest precursors for mental health [challenges]. When you are terrified of losing your home, not being able to eat or not being able to pay your bills — these things weigh on people so heavily on a common scale. Whether it is through more therapy or having different social meeting groups, [mental health initiatives] can help the overall city of Hamilton as a whole,” said Pattison.
As another key aspect of affordability, Pattison highlighted the importance of addressing the housing crisis in Hamilton.
“From a city perspective, my number one thing is: winter is coming. We have to have safe, secure spots for those that are homeless or are becoming homeless or we're going to then have a death issue on our hands,” said Pattison.
From a city perspective, my number one thing is: winter is coming. We have to have safe, secure spots for those that are homeless or are becoming homeless or we're going to then have a death issue on our hands.
Michael Pattison, Hamilton Mayoral Candidate
Pattison also advocated for transparency in city spending. Discussing the allocation of funds from residential taxes, Pattison claimed the largest allocation is towards an unknown department listed as “other” in the 2021 tax distribution report.
“When you go through the city budgets, they give you an average residential tax rate and they break it down by department. And if you were to look, you'll see where social services comes in, you'll see where education comes in, policing, and things like that, but yet the largest piece of the pie is just listed as ‘other’. And after going through line by line of our overall budget, I am yet to figure out what the ‘other’ is,” said Pattison.
However, the City of Hamilton’s annual tax dollar distribution chart only mentions “other” for other city services. After reaching out to city hall, other city services was explained to encompass the capital levy, where tax dollars are used to finance capital projects for all city programs and services, as well as smaller dollar value city services. Additionally, policing services were found to be the largest allocation, followed by education services, and then other city services.
The third main issue in Pattison’s platform is the importance of food security for Hamiltonians, similar to his platform in 2018, due to increased rates of food insecurity across Hamilton.
“We're going to come into a food crunch. I believe that this winter is going to be a very unfulfilling time for people . . . We've done nothing as a city to work on our food security issues. Even dealing with local farmers, we haven't put anything in place. We haven't helped them with green housing, we haven't done anything to come up with a local supply of guaranteed food,” said Pattison.
When asked about the potential challenges of mayorship, Pattison foresaw the learning curve that comes with the position as the biggest hurdle.
“A mayor basically has three distinct roles and mastering those three roles is something that I'm game for. I have the ability to maintain all three levels: within city council, you're basically a moderator; within the city executive, you're the CEO and in the public, you need to be a role model. So, trying to master those three, coming from just a blue-collar background that was just born and raised in this city,” said Pattison.
Addressing the McMaster University community, Pattison wanted students to become more engaged with the election and municipal government.
“I believe that you're our future leaders. And you know, it's the choices that are made today that set up tomorrow. You guys are the future and you need to be involved now. If you're not involved now, then you're going to let old coots make all the decisions; they're going to be detrimental. Whereas the fresh new ideas, the fresh new perspectives on life, give me different perspectives that we don't see in our lifetime,” said Pattison.
I believe that you're our future leaders. And you know, it's the choices that are made today that set up tomorrow. You guys are the future and you need to be involved now. If you're not involved now, then you're going to let old coots make all the decisions; they're going to be detrimental.
Michael Pattison, Hamilton Mayoral Candidate
Michael Pattison is running for mayor in the Oct. 2022 municipal election. His candidate profile has be posted as part of a series the Silhouette is running to build student awareness about the municipal election. Candidate profiles will continue to be posted in alphabetical order over the next few weeks. Election Day is Oct. 24 and more details on how to vote can be found here.
Jim Davis runs for mayor a second time with the same platform, maintaining his focus on affordability
Jim Davis could not be reached for comment on his campaign for mayor in the 2022 Hamilton municipal election. The following info included in this article pertaining to Davis's platform is found in his post on the Facebook page Vote Jim Davis 4 Mayor of Hamilton.
Davis ran in the 2018 mayoral election where he finished fourth. He is now running a second time with the same platform as he believes many of the same major issues from when he ran previously are still unresolved.
In the Facebook post stating his platform, Davis makes it clear that his priority is to make living in Hamilton more affordable.
His platform relies on city-run programs, including daycare, recreation and housing initiatives, to keep costs of living low and address the community’s concerns.
Davis believes the city should train current employees for new responsibilities and offer them a raise in pay instead of hiring new workers where possible. He notes that particularly when it comes to the city-run programs he’d like to develop, such as the daycare, there may be a necessity to hire new individuals.
Davis also pledges to keep streets safe by keeping one-way traffic, and reversing the decision made by Hamilton’s city council in May to convert Main Street to two-way traffic due to studies that consistently reported one-way streets led to more pedestrian deaths. In addition to preserving one-way streets, Davis plans on updating heavily travelled roads by laying concrete, which he claims will save the city money.
Jim Davis is running for mayor in the Oct. 2022 municipal election. His candidate profile has be posted as part of a series the Silhouette is running to build student awareness about the municipal election. Candidate profiles will continue to be posted in alphabetical order over the next few weeks. Election Day is Oct. 24 and more details on how to vote can be found here.
By: Donna Nadeem
Students may have a say in how the municipal budget is spent, with the latest participatory budgeting initiative.
Forward One is a municipal project where citizens of Ward 1 may vote for a new project to invest money in. Ward 1 was the first Hamilton region to adopt this method of a participatory budgeting to help engage community members in government decisions that directly impacts their lives.
Every year, residents of Ward 1 have the opportunity to voice their opinions about how the councillor of the ward should spend the $1.5 million annually dedicated to improving infrastructure projects through participatory budgeting.
The Participatory Budgeting Advisory Committee is a committee made up of 17 volunteers from Ward 1 who oversee and manage the Forward One process, as well as advise the councillor on how to spend the funds.
The MSU has been encouraging students to look over all of the ideas and vote for the projects that they believe will enhance their neighbourhoods and life in Hamilton.
There are a lot of projects submissions this year, from adding more bike racks and water bottle refilling stations to planting more trees and native plants and the McMaster Students Union encourages students to look over all of the ideas and vote for the projects that they believe will enhance their neighbourhoods and life in Hamilton.
Anyone can submit suggestions for projects they would like to see supported by the Forward One fund. Submissions can be completed online or in person at the Union Market in the McMaster Student Centre, Westdale Library, Locke Street Library and other brick and mortar locations throughout Hamilton.
Residents will be able to vote from March 19 and April 19. The votes are then processed by the PBAC and submitted to the councillor as suggestions, which are taken to council for final approval. After the top voted projects are announced, the appropriate city staff reviews them and an implementation plan is created using the original submissions. As well, all combined or amalgamated ideas that receive funding will be forwarded for implementation with all details of each individual idea submitted.
“The Participatory Budgeting Advisory Committee and councillor Aidan Johnson have been very receptive to students feedback on the process in the past two years. They modified the timeline last year to place the submission phase earlier in the academic year to better reach students,” said Stephanie Bertolo, associate vice president (Municipal Affairs).
“The voting period, which started this week, is also at a good time for students since they are still in classes and on campus,” Bertolo added.
“The Participatory Budgeting Advisory Committee and councillor Aidan Johnson have been very receptive to students feedback on the process in the past two years.”
Stephanie Bertolo
Associate vice president
(Municipal Affairs)
McMaster Students Union
Changes have also been made to the ballot lists and McMaster has been added as one of the communities in Ward 1, making the process more inclusive for those living on campus or identify with being part of the McMaster community rather than the neighbourhoods they live in.
The MSU has been encouraging students to look over all of the ideas and vote for the projects that they believe will enhance their neighbourhoods and life in Hamilton. The last academic year was the first time the Education Team held the Cupcakes and Community Change event, which encouraged students to submit ideas in the Forward One process.
“We held the event again this year, which also had great success. We had the largest number of paper ballots submitted in the Ward!” said Bertolo. “With McMaster being a community on the ballot, we will begin to be able to see how many students are voting.”
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At the Student Representative Assembly meeting on Oct. 29, ward 1 Hamilton city councillor Aidan Johnson addressed the SRA and Board of Directors for the first time since 2014.
After Johnson delivered some ward updates, he was met with contentious questions from the assembly.
Alex Wilson, caucus member (science) and Ainslie Wood resident, noted that students make up the largest demographic of ward 1, and asked Johnson if he agreed that “students deserve effective representation”. He also questioned Johnson about his characterization of ward 1’s off-campus student community as a “hygiene problem.”
Johnson responded that his use of “hygiene” was literal, not metaphorical, meaning that the community has a garbage, not student, problem.
Dodging the answer to Wilson’s first question, Johnson replied, “I’m sorry that you feel that way.”
Chukky Ibe, MSU president, expressed frustration over the fact that Johnson had not spoken in front of the SRA in three years. He also noted Johnson’s failure to sufficiently answer Wilson’s second question and alleged that Johnson characterized students as “low intelligence.”
Most of the following questions dealt with the recently passed motion to increase the number of bylaw officers in Westdale and Ainslie Wood. The program began in 2016, after Johnson stated that the McMaster area needed more help to aid the hygiene problem. The program does not address other problems within the community, such as absentee landlords for student housing.
This particular motion was met with a backlash from students, particularly Ryan Deshpande, vice president (Education) and Stephanie Bertolo, associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), who voiced the concern that “the proposal unfairly targets students who are still learning bylaws.”
Chukky Ibe, McMaster Students Union president, expressed frustration over the fact that Johnson had not spoken in front of the SRA in three years. He also noted Johnson’s failure to sufficiently answer Wilson’s second question and alleged that Johnson characterized students as “low intelligence.” Ibe asked Johnson if he “regards himself as an honest man.”
“I have never been so impressed with an MSU President,” Wilson tweeted. “Chukky Ibe’s questioning of Aidan Johnson and defense of McMaster students was phenomenal.”
Johnson reiterated that he would never reduce humans to garbage. He also stated that he would never work for a “stupid” population in the first place.
In addition, SRA members addressed the proposed change in ward boundaries, asking Johnson whether or not Ainslie Wood actually belongs in Dundas. Johnson stated that he favours the status quo.
After the discussion shifted back to the bylaw officer motion, Johnson stated that he “urges student tenants to learn bylaws.”
Bertolo noted that Johnson, in stating that students should learn bylaws, implies that bylaws are intuitive and free of legal jargon, putting the burden on them.
Johnson said students should seek out a lawyer first. “The notion that students can just 'hire a lawyer' is fallacious. We are in unsafe student housing because that's what we can afford,” Wilson tweeted in response.
The next SRA meeting will be held on Nov. 12 in Gilmour Hall.
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By: Daniel Aruz
Brian Lewis sees himself as a businessman with a lifelong commitment and passion for Hamilton and the Westdale community, but without aspirations for multiple terms as a career politician.
Lewis is an independent business owner who works with other small business and non-profit agencies in the city, curating communications, sales, and marketing as well representing clients in municipal government matters. He has worked with McMaster’s Athletics and Recreation Department, the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame, and has been an executive board and committee member for many local organizations.
Lewis emphasizes the need for the local community to work with McMaster to maximize the positive aspects of their relationship and solve issues.
“I’d like to build programs so that were retaining students within the community,” said Lewis. “Hamilton is just such a vibrant and wonderful place to live […] I’d be able to ensure that we are showing them how great a city this is by creating jobs and working together on building a healthier community.”
Economic development for both business growth and retention is the focal point of Lewis’ platform, and he believes his marketing and business background will help him achieve these goals. Lewis is hoping to implement an effective network between students and local business owners, who expressed their interest in hiring more students.
“Healthier employment rate creates healthier communities,” said Lewis.
An important theme in Lewis’ platform is communication with the public. This theme is evident in multiple areas, including in relationships with the University, when creating a transportation plan, and in providing opportunities for community feedback. As a Ward 1 Councillor, Lewis’ goal is to improve communication to the public in multiple areas.
In terms of student housing issues, Lewis sees a resolution through collaboration between the university, business leaders, city leaders, community association leaders, and student leaders. This will address absentee landlord issues and by-law enforcement, while also building upon the positive relationship McMaster has with the community. Lewis believes that McMaster should play a greater role outside of the university grounds, and acknowledges some of the benefits to increased student presence in certain areas for local business owners.
For more information on Mr. Lewis and his campaign visit his website.
Brian Lewis is one of six candidates running for Ward 1 Councillor in Hamilton.
