5 wild moments in Hamilton politics in 2015
From Alex Johnstone's Auschwitz comment to the return of Bob Bratina, Hamilton politics had plenty to watch
The return of Bob Bratina. The heated bus lane debate. That infamous Auschwitz comment. In 2015, Hamilton politics was anything but dull.
Here are the five biggest moments of the year:
1. Alex Johnstone and the Auschwitz factor
The NDP considered her a bright young candidate in a race that seemed to be anyone's for the taking. Then Alex Johnstone made international news for a single word — Auschwitz.
Johnstone, a 32-year-old social worker and Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board trustee, ran in the new riding of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas. Early polls showed a tight race. Even Johnstone called it a bellwether riding.
The red wave of Justin Trudeau's Liberals had already started when a satirical website, the True North Times, unearthed a 2008 Facebook comment. In it, Johnstone seemed to joke about the phallic nature of an electric fence at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.
She apologized. The story seemed destined to fade. Then a Hamilton Spectator columnist approached her. "Well, I didn't know what Auschwitz was," Johnstone reportedly said, "or I didn't up until today."
- NDP candidate Alex Johnstone 'didn't know what Auschwitz was'
- Alex Johnstone, NDP candidate, travels to Auschwitz
The story exploded. Comments ranged from the skeptical (was she lying? Was this face saving gone horribly wrong?) to the indignant (how could someone with Johnstone's education and social justice background not have heard of Auschwitz?) to the sexist (internet commenters used words like "bimbo"). American TV host John Oliver even included it in a segment. "This kind of makes you wonder who is running the schools up in Canada," he joked.
Johnstone tried to save face, but the tide had turned. In the last week of the election, quietly, she traveled to the concentration camp with the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies.
"This has been an extremely educational and humbling experience for me," she wrote on Facebook. She meant the trip, but it could have described the entire ordeal.
The riding went to Liberal candidate Filomena Tassi. A bellwether, just as Johnstone had predicted.
2. The return of the Liberals – and Bob Bratina
In the federal election in October, Justin Trudeau's Liberals swept the vote. And the party, once locked out of Steeltown on a federal level, now has two MPs in Hamilton.
The sweep ate into the NDP's Hamilton territory. Former mayor Bob Bratina — a controversial figure at city hall — unseated Wayne Marston in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek. Filomena Tassi became an MP in the new riding of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.
- Liberals pick up two Hamilton ridings, Marston defeated
- Bob Bratina was confident of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek victory
- Tassi wins Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas for Liberals
The election also saw Scott Duvall, a former city councillor, become an NDP MP on Hamilton Mountain. He plans to share an office with Hamilton Mountain NDP MPP Monique Taylor, who was once his administrative assistant at city hall.
David Christopherson held on to the Hamilton Centre seat for the NDP, but on election night, even he was worried. "I began to get a little more concerned and realized this could be a night when anyone could go down."
3. One billion dollars! – for Hamilton LRT
After years of intense speculation, Premier Kathleen Wynne came to Hamilton in May and announced $1 billion for light-rail transit (LRT) in Hamilton. That's the anticipated full capital cost of a King Street line from McMaster University to the Queenston traffic circle, and a so-called spur line down James North to the new West Harbour GO station. Budget permitting, it will go to the waterfront.
Her speech solved years of debate at city hall. Would the province pony up the money? Was Hamilton left out? Were negative comments from city councillors dampening the province's appetite to hand over the money? Did the city even need this thing?
LRT is coming now, with construction due to start in 2019. Wynne also announced $200 million for a new Centennial GO station.
4. Hamilton's police chief leaves for good this time
Glenn De Caire, chief of Hamilton Police Services, retired once. It was 2013, when he publicly announced that he wouldn't seek an extension to his contract. The board had already spent about $20,000 to look for a new chief. Then the following June, he rescinded his retirement.
Then this month, he resigned his post for real.
De Caire announced his surprise departure on Dec. 18, saying he was leaving to be the new director of security and parking at McMaster University. The police services board had just voted to renew his contract for two years. Its members found out less than two hours before the press conference.
"I don't think anyone is not puzzled," said Terry Whitehead, a city councillor who sits on the board. "Anyone who says they aren't must have a crystal ball."
De Caire had a diverse time as chief. Crime decreased during his six-year tenure. But he also drew criticism over the practice of street checks, or "carding," which the Ontario Human Rights Commission once called a "textbook description of racial profiling."
5. The great bus lane debate
It was only a single two-kilometre stretch from Mary to Dundurn streets, but the bus lane was one of the most dramatic city hall debates of the year.
City council narrowly voted in 2013 to install the lane as a one-year pilot project, considered by many to be a precursor to LRT. There was a learning curve, including when rain washed the paint off the street. Suburban councillors said they fielded complaints about congestion through the downtown. Lower-city councillors countered that it should only be modified, not removed.
But Chad Collins, Ward 5 councillor, said his constituents wanted it gone. The October 2014 municipal election delayed its one-year scrutiny, and Collins moved a motion to stop enforcing it without even seeing the staff report on how the pilot project had gone.
It came to a head on Jan. 21. Bus lane advocates wore yellow shirts and packed the gallery. After hours of heated debate, councillors voted 9-7 to get rid of the lane. It disappeared the next day.