Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas Member of Parliament John-Paul Danko is looking to spend $6.1-million before giving up his Ward 8 City Council seat.
In a series of walk-on urgent motions, Danko is asking City Council to waive all rules to permit him to allocate $6,087,886 in Ward 8 infrastructure and discretionary funds to projects and causes of his choosing.
If approved by the rest of Council, the spending will significantly constrain the next Ward 8 councillor, leaving them unable to respond to urgent infrastructure needs.
Danko has been a vocal critic of similar non-infrastructure spending by other council members.
Danko’s spending plan is:
$2,490,000 for asphalt roadway restoration and complete streets roadway upgrades in the Rolston neighbourhood in 2025;
$1,013,000 for asphalt roadway restoration and complete streets roadway upgrades in the Rolston and Southam neighbourhoods in 2026;
$1,000,000 to the implementation of the Sam Lawrence Park Master Plan and the
Southam Park Master Plan;
$580,000 to the review and construction of accessibility pathway improvements and a
new artificial turf upgrade for the Westmount Secondary School football field;
$500,000 to the capital restoration of the Auchmar manor and grounds;
$100,000 to City escarpment stabilization efforts at 4, 6 and 10 Belvidere Avenue and 9 Harbourview Lane;
$100,000 to the Trieste Bocce Club for accessiblity and facility improvements;
$150,000 to reduce user fees to be split among the Westmount Recreation Centre Youth, Senior and Family Programming, Trieste Bocce Club, Hamilton Football Association, Gourley Park Association, Hamilton Skating Club, Mount Hamilton Hockey Club, Mount Hamilton Soccer Club, Hamilton Sparta Soccer Club;
$7,500 to the Excel In Style – Textured Futures – Crowned in Confidence Summer Series;
$6,000 to Parkview Church for a “HVAC equipment pad necessary to replace stolen HVAC equipment”; and
$2,500 to the Parkview Church foodbank to replace stolen HVAC equipment.
The motions were posted by the City Clerk shortly before 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening. They will be voted on during Wednesday’s Council meeting.
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: May 6, 2025
Last updated: May 6, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
Many of these are infrastructure though, no?
Although as Joey mentions the word ‘urgent’ and some of these obviously are not urgent so these, if all approved, would be taking away from the urgent infrastructure needs, if I’m understanding Joey is mentioning.