Mayor Andrea Horwath spoke with the two journalists who attended and covered Wednesday’s Council ratification meeting. The post-meeting scrum was 25 minutes long, with the Mayor responding to questions from myself (Joey Coleman) and Teviah Moro.
The following is a summary of her answers, organized by topic.
Quotes are edited for brevity and clarity.
On The Big City Mayor Caucus Call for Involuntary Treatment Expansion, Changes to the Law, and More Funding to Respond to Homelessness, Mental Health, and Addiction
The first ten minutes of question and answer were on these topics.
Ontario Big City Mayors are calling for changes to Ontario’s laws to review ‘expanding the scope’ of “mandatory community-based and residential mental health and addictions care and treatment,” strengthen the Trespass to Property Act, and that provincial and federal lawmakers “introduce legislation prohibiting open and public use of illicit drugs and public intoxication, whether that be by consumption of alcohol or illicit drugs, with clear enforcement provisions.”
For ease of reading, I’m sub-dividing below.
Involuntary Treatment for Addiction, and Mental Health
(Adopting the involuntary treatment policy implemented by B.C. Premier David Eby, for example.)
“There’s no doubt there’s very strong opinions on either side of that particular debate,” Mayor Horwath stated.
“The Ontario Big City Mayors Caucus, like any other group of people, has differing opinions on it. You will know that there was a resolution that was leaked to the media that was prepared by a particular mayor, or a couple of mayors.
“What the Big City Mayors did was we had our meeting to hammer out the things that we want to see from the government.”
“And while some wanted to go straight to here are the solutions, the more important thing to do is to say, again, in keeping with some of the processes, these are matters that belong with the provincial government with resources from the federal government. They need to be doing the homework, getting the expert opinions, doing the consultations, having the conversation, having the discussion.”
Mayor Horwath was asked about her position on involuntary treatment.
She responded:
“I don’t think that’s something that could be talked about without engaging the experts. I don’t think we have had those conversations yet, and we need to do that.”
“I don’t feel comfortable saying it should be this, it should be that, it shouldn’t be that.”
“What I do know is the crisis continues to grow. It’s not getting any better. And so we need to have a serious look at what the solutions are.”
On the Need for Services as Part of the Solution
“There continues to be a great deal of pain and suffering in our community, whether it’s mental health that’s going untreated, mental health concerns or issues that are going untreated, whether it’s lack of access to mental health services right from the youngest ages.”
“When children are waiting 18 months to two years to get trauma counselling. That’s the kind of thing that ends up coming back later in life to cause problems for folks.”
“We need the mental health services early. We need them available, accessible, and we need them in volumes that we don’t have them now. So that’s part of that conversation as well.”
Mayor Horwath said, “when somebody decides that they’re ready to start a journey, when it comes to their addiction, then there has to be something there quickly … Because the more time that goes by, the less likely, that commitment is going to be maintained.”
“Coming out with this solution without having the things in place that make that solution successful, is also problematic.”
SolveTheCrisis.ca
During the Council meeting, Mayor Horwath and nearly all council members wore t-shirts promoting the Big City Mayor’s caucus campaign to mobilize public pressure on the provincial and federal governments to provide funding to municipalities to respond to homelessness, mental health, and addictions.
Mayor Horwath on the campaign:
“Solve the Crisis speaks to the number of issues that we are all dealing with as a municipal government: mental health, addictions, housing crisis, homelessness, and we don’t have the capacity as individual municipalities to address all these needs.”
“It’s up to the other orders of government to do that. And so we’re asking them to solve the crisis.”
[Municipalities] “don’t have the tools, or the financial capacity nor should we be charged with solving that crisis.”
Mayor Horwath is calling on Hamiltonians to visit the website and join the campaign by sending a message to their provincial and federal elected representatives.
“We hear from people all the time that they’re equally concerned. Whether it’s service providers, people with lived experience, people who are unhoused, people who have been evicted, or people who are concerned about impacts on neighbourhoods, Everybody’s talking about this crisis.”
“If all of those voices, came into this website [and used the form to send a comment] over to the government, perhaps that would make a difference in terms of making a difference. ”
Mayor Horwath on the need for the provincial to fulfil its responsibilities:
“I’m going to quote Hazel McCallion, who said the federal government has all the money, that provincial governments have all the power, and the municipalities have all the problems.”
Mayor Horwath says part of the SolvetheCrisis.ca campaign is to educate the public “about the fact that we don’t have the financial resources and nor should we be using municipal property tax dollars and fees and other revenue sources to, to solve problems that should be solved by the provincial government.”
On the Police Board’s Decision to Debate the 2025 Budget in Closed Session
I repeatedly asked Mayor Horwath for her position on the decision of the Hamilton Police Services Board to decide the 2025 police budget behind closed doors.
I asked: “So the police board has declared that it will discuss its budget in closed session, claiming every exception available to it. You are a police board member, what is your position on this?”
“I can’t speak on behalf of the board. That’s the responsibility of the board chair,” Mayor Horwath stated. “those conversations, come through that process. That’s the decision of the board.”
I moved on.
At the Midpoint of this Council Term: Achievements
I asked Mayor Horwath for two achievements she is proud of at the halfway point of this 2022-26 municipal council term.
Mayor Horwath stated that overhauling Hamilton’s civic arena as part of the City of Hamilton – Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group agreement is a significant achievement thus far in the term.
She says she is proud of her work to make the City organization more innovative, saying she is working with the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Institute to improve city processes, staff training, and that a report is forthcoming to Council.
Organizational Changes Forthcoming
Mayor Horwath stated, “there are still organizational pieces that we need to work on.”
“This is a conversation I have had with the City Manager, and she is well aware that there are organizational issues that need to be addressed. I would say some of that, some of that may have already begun. And we would probably be further along had we not had the cyber attack.
On Pending Code of Conduct Changes to Ontario’s Municipal Act
Global News reports that Ontario’s provincial Integrity Commissioner has made nine recommendations to change the integrity commissioner provisions in the Municipal Act.
The recommendations mirror many of the practices in place for provincial politicians, plus standardization and support for municipalities.
The Association of Ontario Municipalities has called for the ability to have severely misbehaving council members.
Mayor Horwath:
“This has been an issue on the docket in the Legislature for a very long time,” Horwath said. “There seemed to be some resistance to actually coming up with solutions or recommendations for change.”
“I’m pleased that we’re getting there. And when you see some of the behaviours that have been displayed over those years, when it comes to harassment, sexual harassment, physical, the damage to property, I mean, the list is long.”
She says she supports changes, and Hamilton will review its code of conduct.
Jamesville
Mayor Horwath was asked about the status of settlement talks at the Ontario Land Tribunal.
She stated she remains “frustrated” with CN’s appeal preventing the building of housing on the site.
CN has been “adamant that it’s their way or the highway,” she said.
Production Details v. 1.0.0 Published: November 5, 2024 Last updated: November 5, 2024 Author: Joey Coleman Update Record v. 1.0.0 original version