Councillor will push for election ballot referendum on Hamilton LRT
Ward 5 councillor and LRT opponent Chad Collins says he'll try to get a referendum on the $1 billion project put onto the 2018 municipal ballot.
Collins has previously raised the idea of a referendum and now says he will bring forward a motion and have council debate having the referendum held as part of the general city elections.
We were elected this term, really, without a mandate to move ahead with LRT.- Chad Collins, city councillor
It's a move some are applauding and others are criticizing as political point scoring.
Collins said he often hears from residents who don't want the project.
"I still don't believe there's majority support from one end of the city to the other," he said.
Voters elected municipal councillors in 2014, months before the province's June 2015 announcement to build a $1 billion system here.
"We were elected this term, really, without a mandate to move ahead with LRT."
Those against LRT tend to be vocal supporters of a referendum, while those who want the system say it's years too late.
Cheryl St. James, a member of a group called No LRT, likes the idea of a referendum.
The community deserves to be involved in the decision-making process.- Cheryl St. James, LRT opponent
"With an issue as large as a $1 billion controversial public transit system that will transform the city of Hamilton, the public, the community deserves to be involved in the decision-making process," she said.
Coun. Sam Merulla, meanwhile, is an LRT advocate and said it's too late.
"If anything, when we started the process in 2006, we should have gone into the 2010 election saying 'maybe we should have a referendum on this,'" he said.
"We've already spent millions of dollars of taxpayers money to get where we are. We are at a point, really, of no return. It might score political points, but it would cost us a great deal of money to delay."
Ryan McGreal, editor of the pro-LRT site Raise the Hammer, echoed that. LRT was also a major issue in the 2014 provincial and municipal elections, he said. And pro-LRT candidates tended to prevail.
"It's clear that the last-minute push from some corners for a referendum on LRT is nothing more than a political ploy to stall and undermine the project after council has been been consistently exercising its duty to oversee it since 2008," he said.
It's clear that the last-minute push from some corners for a referendum on LRT is nothing more than a political ploy.- Ryan McGreal, LRT advocate
But Collins said the more he hears about the project, the more questions it raises.
Among the latest: the 43 letters Metrolinx and the city sent to landowners saying some or all of their properties will be required for LRT. That raises questions of which properties, and what it will cost to acquire them, and what will be removed from Hamilton's landscape as a result.
Collins is also skeptical that the $1 billion — part of an allocation for rapid transit in the Greater Hamilton-Toronto Area — can only be used for that purpose. He believes it could eventually be reallocated elsewhere for other infrastructure — although the province says that is not the case, the money is only available for rapid transit funding.
Merulla originally planned to bring back a motion on Oct. 25 to reaffirm the city's commitment to LRT. Now he's not sure he needs to bring it forward at all.
"We are moving forward," he said. "Work is being done as we speak."
That work includes updating a 2011 environment assessment, which is due in March. Steer Davies Gleave has done a preliminary design of the project. Metrolinx and the city are also in the midst of public information sessions.
Future meetings
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 20
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: Battlefield House Museum, Jackson House Cellar, 77 King St. W., Stoney Creek
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 21
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: Sackville Hill Senior's Recreation Centre, Fireside Lounge, 780 Upper Wentworth St.
Date: Thursday, Sept. 22
Time: 5 to 8 p.m.
Location: Dundas Town Hall, second floor auditorium, 60 Main St., Dundas