As nominations open for the October municipal election, Mayor Andrea Horwath told Hamilton’s business leaders that her priority is maintaining momentum and preventing the city from sliding back into old patterns of inertia and defeatism.
Standing in front of an audience of over 400 public sector, non-profits, and business leaders during her annual Mayor’s Breakfast address to the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Horwath made her case for re-election.
“Let’s not let go. Let’s not let go of the progress that we’re seeing. Let’s not slide back into the quiet constraint of negativity and defeatism.”
“We’re closing the gap between what we say about Hamilton’s potential and what we are. And that didn’t happen by chance,” she said. “I made a decision on day one that we were going to do things differently. We had to do things differently. That meant modernization; it meant partnership; it meant collaboration across sectors and across governments. And it meant building a culture that says yes to progress and follows through.”
Horwath said when she took office in November 2022, she inherited “a City that time forgot,” a place characterized by slow progress and stalled projects.
“But there’s a shift underway,” she told the Chamber audience. “A shift in our collective confidence. We’re now a city on the move, a city with momentum.”
Downtown Revitalization and Economic Growth
The opening of TD Coliseum is “bringing hundreds of thousands of people downtown” and creating “bustling sidewalks, full restaurants” and bringing “real vibrancy.” Hosting the JUNO Awards brought Hamilton national recognition, and the return of professional AHL hockey to Hamilton will continue the momentum, Horwath told the audience.
Horwath pointed to $2.3 billion in construction value in 2025, the second strongest year in Hamilton’s history, as evidence that her development reforms are working.
Horwath credited the Bloomberg All for One pilot with streamlining the development process. “What once took months or years now happens in weeks,” she said, “because the City takes responsibility. All the right staff are at the table for one purpose: keeping the project moving forward.”
Port expansion is driving economic growth, Horwath said.
Parrish & Heimbecker has expanded, Sucro Can Sourcing is opening Canada’s biggest sugar refinery, and South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has signed partnerships with Ontario Shipyards and Mohawk College “laying the groundwork to bring shipbuilding back to Hamilton, with plans that include submarine construction and a new generation of skilled trades.” The federal commitment to bring Canada Border Services Agency to Hamilton’s port means Hamilton businesses will have “easier and less costly access to national and international markets.”
Barton – Tiffany Project: “Worth the Investment … Worth the Risk”
Hamilton is taking an innovative approach to homelessness, Horwath said, highlighting the Barton and Tiffany temporary outdoor emergency shelter as a model of “innovation at the municipal level.”
“When it comes to the Tiffany-Barton project, I’m asking you to look at it differently—to see the reality. This is a successful innovation,” she said.
However, the project’s construction was fraught.
The City bypassed competitive bidding to award a $2,039,027 non-competitive contract to purchase 40 modular metal containers to a company, Microshelters Inc., that incorporated only days prior to receiving the contract.
A City audit released in January 2026 stated that Microshelters ordered substandard containers from a manufacturer in China, and due to the contract award having no warranty provisions, the City of Hamilton was on the hook for costs incurred modifying the containers to meet North American standards for human habitation.
Site construction experienced delays and complications, including a Ministry of Labour stop-work order, more extensive environmental contamination than anticipated, and cost overruns due to the City agreeing to pay above-market rates to contractors in a rush to open the project following delays in the arrival of the metal containers.
The project ultimately cost $7.9 million against an initial $2.8 million budget, a $5.1 million overrun.
“Thirty-two people now have a future to look forward to.”
Mayor Andrea HOrwath on BArton-Tiffany Successes
Horwath told the Chamber audience that the outcomes justified the investment and risk.
Horwath acknowledged there were challenges opening the site. “But one year in, it is working. And you need to know that,” she said.
“Police and paramedics are hardly ever called,” she said. “Residents are accessing the care that they’ve gone years without, and 32 former long-term encampment residents are now permanently housed.”
“It’s a model responding to a very real and growing human crisis on our streets,” Horwath said. “Thirty-two people now have a future to look forward to.”
Horwath said the project “was worth the investment. It was worth the risk. Because without risk, without innovation, and without investment, there is no progress,” noting that “many communities are coming to learn what we’ve done.”
Hamilton is Addressing Housing Need
Beyond the emergency shelter model, Horwath emphasized that solving Hamilton’s housing crisis requires a multi-layered strategy spanning the entire housing spectrum.
“The City of Hamilton invested $40 million in 2025 to support more than 2,000 new affordable and supportive homes, now moving through the pipeline. Last year alone, 479 Hamiltonians were directly housed through City-funded programs,” Horwath said.
Working-Class Stoney Creek Roots
As the Chamber event wound down, Horwath participated in a rapid-fire question-and-answer, talking about her roots growing up in Stoney Creek.
She spoke of her father who worked at Ford, emphasizing her connection to Hamilton’s manufacturing heritage and working-class values. She described attending Cardinal Newman High School when it was located off Centennial Parkway and learning to drive in the parking lot of Eastgate Square.
As a final question, the moderator asked the mayor to describe Hamilton in one word. Horwath smiled and immediately answered. “Amazing,” before adding, “Hamilton is amazing, awesome. Because of all of you.”
Nominations in the municipal election open on Friday, May 1st.
The full audio of Horwath’s address:
A transcription is also available on TPR:
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: April 28, 2026
Last updated: April 28, 2026
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version