Jobs, transit and affordable housing dominated a unique session Monday where Hamilton mayoral candidates answered one-on-one questions during intimate "conversation circles" at the public library.
Six mayoral hopefuls fielded face-to-face questions in an event held by the Hamilton Legal Clinic and the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction.
About 65 audience members — many immigrants, or people with low incomes — divided into six groups, and the mayoral candidates rotated through the groups. They answered questions ranging from social housing issues, to LRT, to how each candidate proposed to bring more high-paying jobs to the city.
The three frontrunners in the race — former mayor Fred Eisenberger and current councillors Brad Clark and Brian McHattie — participated, as did Michael Baldasaro, Crystal Lavigne and Michael Pattison.
The other five candidates were invited but did not attend, said Tom Cooper, director of the roundtable.
Among the questions and answers:
Brian McHattie on social housing
McHattie sits on the CityHousing Hamilton board as well as the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, so he fielded numerous questions about social housing.
The city needs to demand from its landlords that subsidies are spent appropriately, which means ensuring a safe environment for tenants, he said.
In listening to a tenant who fought with her landlord talk about a building in disrepair, "there's no reason we can't do that in this case," he said of approaching the landlord. "That's our job. You shouldn't have to be doing it yourself."
McHattie also proposed a special phone line for people to call in housing problems, and better training for bylaw officers on how to deal with housing issues.
Brad Clark on LRT
Clark is on record as favouring bus rapid transit over a light rail transit line from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. Clark opposes LRT even if the province fully funds the more than $800 million in capital costs.
Clark told a small group of attendees that he fears the costs of repairing water and sewer pipes during the process.
"It doesn't matter what my opponents are saying. They're 100-per cent wrong if they think the city doesn't have to pay for repairing those sewers and pipes," he said.
Fred Eisenberger on what he'd do different this time
Eisenberger was mayor from 2006 to 2010. When asked what he'd do differently, he said "I would have made sure the stadium had gone in the west harbour," referring to the then-disputed location of the new Tim Hortons Field stadium.
Eisenberger said he'd be "a better listener this time around in terms of working with people." Also, "I was pretty darn collaborative in terms of how we worked with council. I would certainly improve upon that."
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