Elections

Should Hamilton be trying to attract more young people to live, work and start businesses here, including the 60,000 students studying at Mohawk College, McMaster University and Redeemer University? If so, what should we be doing? If not, why not?

Responses to the question: "Should Hamilton be trying to attract more young people to live, work and start businesses here, including the 60,000 students studying at Mohawk College, McMaster University and Redeemer University? If so, what should we be doing? If not, why not?"

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6 Candidate Responses (top)

Ward 03
CandidateBrief ResponseFull Response
Bureau, Alain Yes
Farr, Laura Yes We absolutely should be attracting more young people to live work and start businesses here, and continue the work done on the Blue Ribbon Task Force (https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=123600) in connecting the companies looking for good employees with the education sector and job seekers, while seeking out skills gaps in our workforce. The City has several small business programs (Starter Company, Access to Professionals), but given the interconnectedness of Hamilton we can make this much a much more robust network.
Kuruc, Ned Yes Yes, I believe Hamilton should be actively attracting more students to stay in the city. Hamilton will naturally attract these students through continuing community development. This includes taking further measures to ensure community safety, making housing accessible and to make key infrastructure investments that will increase everyone's quality of life.
Nann, Nrinder Yes Yes! We absolutely should be doing as much as possible to keep our young people - born or visiting - here in Hamilton.

Keeping and attracting more young people to Hamilton will take a number of initiatives on a number of fronts, but includes:

* Improving our transit system - young people by and large don't own cars or homes and need to be able to criss cross the city efficiently.

* Improving our pathy system of bike lanes so they allow for safe cycling across the city.

* Improving our availability of affordable housing options, which can include looking at loans or grants for homeowners to create 2nd units.

* I've already proposed that we look at creating an industrial campus in our north end that can bring together entrepreneurs, artists, light manufacturing and community organizations together under one roof.

* Improving our availability of affordable office / studio / incubator spaces - The Forge and Kitchen Collective are two great examples and we need more.
Smith, Dan Yes Definitely. I am a graduate of McMaster and have chosen to stay in the city. I would like to work at mentoring young graduates and help create opportunities for them in Hamilton.
Sprague, Kristeen Yes I think Hamilton should continue to attract young people, but we need to make sure that we have the resources in place for young people to thrive here. We need to put an emphasis on decent, good quality affordable housing so that current residents and young people (like those attending one of our postsecondary institutions) can live and thrive in our community. We need to make sure that that the city is on board with the $15 minimum wage and improvements to labour standards that are being threatened by Ford to set an example of our City's progressive and people-centered approach. Finally, we need to make sure that there are adequate mental health and recreational supports for any young people that may make their homes here.

Response Summary (top)

Brief ResponseCount% of Total
Yes6100.0%
No00.0%
Maybe00.0%

7 Candidates Have Not Responded (top)

Ward 03
Balta, Milena
Beck, Keith
Denault, Steven Paul
Kavanaugh, Brendan
Lemma, Tony
Rowe, Stephen
Salonen, Amanda