Hamilton City Council continues to struggle with attendance as councillors fail to attend meetings on time, and often fail to show at all.
Ontario’s Municipal Act requires municipal committees to have a majority of members present to conduct public business.
In Hamilton, 9 of 16 council members must be present for Council meetings. The Ward 8 council seat is currently vacant, which temporarily drops the quorum requirement to 8 of 15 members.
Today’s Council meeting began five minutes late due to a lack of quorum at 9:30 a.m.
Only seven council members were on time today: Maureen Wilson, Kroetsch, Francis, Pauls, Clark, Beattie, and Alex Wilson.
Council Decreased Meetings, Increased Vacation Time in 2025: Yet Councillors Still Absent During Work Weeks
Beginning in January this year, City Council decreased their meeting schedule by nearly 25 percent. Under the new calendar, there are no council meetings during 18 weeks this year. This includes a 32-day vacation block in August with a later return in September.
The City of Hamilton is a remote-first organization. Non-frontline municipal staff and managers are only required to visit Hamilton two days a week to work in an office.
All city meetings are conducted by video conference, city councillors can join meetings using their laptops or other devices.
2025 Quorum Issues Thus Far
Even with the flexibility of opening a laptop to attend meetings, City Council has struggled with quorum issues throughout 2025.
City Council failed to make quorum to begin the January 20 public budget delegations meeting on time, and struggled with quorum for the entire meeting.
The January 21 CityHousing Hamilton Board meeting failed to make quorum and was cancelled.
Only one councillor attended the February 18 Waste Sub-Committee meeting. The meeting was cancelled.
On March 3, Council began late. They made minimum quorum to approve the 2023 CityHousing financial statements.
Yesterday, May 20, the Public Health Sub-Committee failed to reach quorum. The meeting was cancelled.
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: May 21, 2025
Last updated: May 21, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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v. 1.0.0 original version