Comment 65713

By Simon (registered) - website | Posted July 07, 2011 at 11:21:54

This is not about LRT, or really any actual planning or policy - it is purely further proof of two fairly obvious facts about City Council in Hamilton:

  • Hamilton City Council is structurally impotent. Councillors care about one thing - getting re-elected. Right now, getting re-elected means take whatever position the squeaky wheels in your individual ward want.

Compounding council's my ward first at any cost attitude, is the fact that the mix of council is too evenly balanced between urban and suburban interests - with not enough individual Councillors to actually allow for some fluidity in voting patterns.

Effectively, one or two Councillors can derail (excuse the pun) pretty much any issue at any time - leading to civic impotence. I would rather council decided to develop nothing but single family residential, big roads and Costcos - and have the power to force the plan through - than the endless impotence we are left with from Councillors with zero interest in taking a stand on anything.

  • Individual Councillors are fundamentally unqualified.

Chad Collins has zero real world experience outside of council. Brad Clark has a diploma in broadcasting. Bob Bratina is a career radio announcer. Tom Jackson has an undergrad degree in political science. How many Councillors have an MBA. How many are professional engineers? How many even have an undergrad degree or diploma in something remotely relevant to running a city - business, accounting, planning, science?

Would you hire people with next to no relevant education or career experience to run your company? Because I sure as hell wouldn't!!!

I don't necessarily support his politics, but just about the only Councillor who is actually qualified to be there is Lloyd Ferguson (and he's the only one who actually has a detailed CV on his website.....). He has an education in construction management from Mohawk, Mac & McGill, he ran a multimillion dollar heavy construction company for years, and he is currently running the Canadian operations a $900 million dollar construction project in Niagara Falls - while serving on council.

Compare that to Terry Whitehead - who has "operated his own business".

Comment edited by Simon on 2011-07-07 11:26:07

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