Elections
In 2007, the Ontario Government promised two light rail lines in Hamilton. Will you fulfill that promise to build light rail in Hamilton? Why or why not?
Responses to the question: "In 2007, the Ontario Government promised two light rail lines in Hamilton. Will you fulfill that promise to build light rail in Hamilton? Why or why not?"
In This Page:
4 Candidate Responses (top)
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Brief Response | Full Response |
| Bob Green Innes | No | Asking Hamiltonians to directly shoulder the total financial burden would expose the fallacy of the LRT argument. I doubt the supposed beneficiaries would consider the enormous cost to be worthwhile. Ask yourself what the annual payments would be on that billion dollars (assuming no project inflation which is ludicrous in itself) would be if interest rates doubled or tripled as they are doing in Europe right now. 10% x a billion is $100 million per year. What impact would this have on city taxes? The IMF is already warning Canadians about over-indebtedness.
Portland at least had the decency to cut off further sprawl to make their system work. Plus they had huge foundations to draw on financially. Neither of these factors operate here - why should we limit development when your money would be 'free'? The problem with cross funding of such projects is that nobody gets the bill directly so everybody thinks it's ok to squander money like water. It's really a game of beggar thy neighbour or more accurately, corporations beggaring all. I believe that Hamilton will be hit hard (again) when the US crashes, sending the Loonie higher and discouraging Ontario exports even further. Mining is about the only bright spot these days so Hamilton is likely to spend much time in the doldrums until Canada tackles its gone-too-far unFair Trade policies. Further, could Hamiltonians even afford the future maintenance like we see going on in Toronto in recent years on our limited tax base? Of course one might protest that the LRT is intended to promote business but why should it when other communities in Ontario are also being offered the same deal? Especially when Hamilton seems to be so expert at driving out business with high (uncompetitive) taxes. Despite such taxes, we can't even afford the maintenance bill for what we have (est. $2bn). Burlington Street and still-existing wooden pipes are prime exhibits. Don't get me wrong, I'd love LRT, especially as a probable direct beneficiary, but putting the cart before the horse is never a good idea. This is proven by Waterloo where we see that Research in Motion came before LRT, not after. Because Waterloo did this right, they could possibly afford LRT on their own dime, though it is doubtful they actually would. Some day we might be able to say the same thing, but now is not the right time. We need to get our house in order first with more sustainable policies, financially, regulation wise and demographically. Only the Family Coalition Party has any sensible policies that cover such matters. |
| Mark Cripps | Maybe | The Ontario government is working with the city of Hamilton to investigate LRT. The government provided funds to conduct studies. I think LRT can be a great asset for this community. We need buy-in across the entire city to make this happen. It happened in the Region of Waterloo. It can happen here. In the short-term, I would like to see Go Services expanded to Centennial Parkway and Winona. |
| Paul Miller | Yes | Ontario’s NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has met with Metrolinx and encouraged them to recognize how important the LRT system would be for the City of Hamilton. New Democrats are absolutely in favour of light rail transit in Hamilton. |
| W. Peter Randall | Yes | I heartily endorse light rail and all forms of public transit to ease our congested roads, increase public safety, decrease future infrastructure costs and improvement our environment.
Many see rail as our past in this country and it indeed rail has a great legacy from coast to coast in this great nation. It was once the glue that united us. What many fail to realize is that rail, in all forms, is also our path to a willed, vibrant and sustainable future. We urgently need more GO Connections to Niagara from Hamilton and the light rail lines in Hamilton. Myself (W. Peter Randall) and my party (The Green Party) will definitely be catalysts for these endeavors from the word go. |
Response Summary (top)
| Brief Response | Count | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 2 | 50.0% |
| No | 1 | 25.0% |
| Maybe | 1 | 25.0% |
4 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ||
|---|---|---|
| Gregg Pattinson | ||
| Nancy Fiorentino | ||
| Philip Doucette | ||
| Silas Khokar | ||
