Raise the Hammer

We don't speak French or whine nearly enough I guess... Maybe we should threaten to separate from the rest of Canada and charge HUGE tariffs at the harbour? j/k

Sadly, I think the real problem is that Hamilton is always seen as more of an NDP area rather than the Libs or the Cons. As such no one this city votes for, has a position of enough power within a provincial or federal cabinet to pork-barrel for the area. If we were to have someone like Tony Clement representing us you better believe we'd have all the funding we wanted.

Comment edited by UrbanRenaissance on 2010-09-09 08:06:14

Exactly... stop voting for the NDP then. Buying-off QC is nothing new, every Federal government Lib or Con is guilty of doing it.

Urban Renaissance,

Check the historical data. Hamilton has been equaly represented by all 3 party's. No one party has dominated the political scene in this city. Just look at the representation right now, it is indicative of our historical representation. All 3 mainline party's are represented.

Stop perpetuating the myth that this is an NDP city. It is no more an NDP city than it is a Liberal or Conservative city and the historical electoral results bear that out.

It doesn't matter who represents us we always get less from upper levels of government than other cities.

What I'd like to know is why do we get less compared with other cities if that is in fact true, comparing other cities with similar demographics to Hamilton. ?

Hamilton has been an NDP stronghold for years, especially the lower city. We don't always elect NDP politicians, but they do far better here than most parts of Canada.

And I totally agree that both the Conservatives and Liberals avoid spending here because of it. I just don't think that's a reason to ever vote for them.

Undustrial,

The NDP does much better in most other areas of Canada than it does here. In most of Western Canada they are either number 1 or number 2 in every election, since the Liberals are virtually non existant. In urban areas they do very well. The NDP only has 1 member on Hamilton city council, Sam Murella. Look at Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and even Ottawa. All of those cities have councils dominated by the NDP.

The city of Hamilton more often than not has representation that reflects the way the country votes. Federally, what we have now with 3 New Democrats is an anomaly. It has never happened before. If anything the politics in this city have been dominated by the Liberals.

Party allegiances aren't common in Hamilton in municipal politics. Federally, and especially provincially, the NDP have a very solid support base in the west part of the city. It'd be higher right now if Westdale hadn't been amalgamated with Flamborough as a riding.

Even when the NDP numbers dropped below the limit for party status, they still held out here.

One way or the other, we've long been a labour town.

UrbanRenaissence wrote:"Sadly, I think the real problem is that Hamilton is always seen as more of an NDP area rather than the Libs or the Cons. As such no one this city votes for, has a position of enough power within a provincial or federal cabinet to pork-barrel for the area. If we were to have someone like Tony Clement representing us you better believe we'd have all the funding we wanted."

Yes, but unfortunately you'd have Tony Clement for your representative. ; )

During G20, Clement's riding got a ton of goodies. New brick sidewalks that nearly covered the fire hydrants, a truly Ug-lY lighthouse sculpture that looked like it was made of scrap lumber. (Wow, like anybody anywhere needed That!) Repairs & paving for areas not near the meeting also got the nod.

There is only so much money to go around. The rest of us are going to suffer from a lot less $$ thanks to this wasteful spending, fake lakes & all.

I'm glad that I don't live in Clement's riding, cuz I'd feel like the Sheriff of Nottingham's toady.