PUT UP, OR SHUT UP

What if Hamilton held a mayor's election and nobody cared?

It is hard to believe with all the issues confronting Hamilton, plus the constant chant from a loud minority of the community demanding "change," that the city's high-profile mayoral election is becoming a low-simmering dud.

One would think with popular former Hamilton NDP MPP and party leader Andrea Horwath, outspoken former mayor Bob Bratina and Keanin Loomis, the former president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce — who carries with him the hope and dreams of a significant number of progressives in the city — that the mayoral race would be filled with ideas and excitement, bellicosity and belligerence, hope and fury.

Yet, the campaign has been moribund, stuck in mud, with the public giving a big yawn to the political drama that is consuming only the political pundits.

With about month left in the election, in the heartland of campaigning and debates, the ideas presented have been mostly uninspiring, any excitement muted and the vision for the city presented more status quo than revolutionary.

In some respects, the platforms for all three main mayoral candidates are similar — with few deviations — (there are nine candidates seeking to replace outgoing mayor Fred Eisenberger). There's the typical emphasis on transit, affordable housing, infrastructure, road improvements and pedestrian safety. They poignantly avoid the controversial issues, such as the increasing cost of policing; how to reduce taxes; should Hamilton support hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games; crime, especially gun crimes; even the homeless crisis, which was top of mind two years ago; and how to regain the trust of residents and avoid any future scandals.

To be sure, all the candidates are facing an electorate that has already endured a federal and provincial election campaign. And the interest in municipal governance over the years has been uninspiring. Hamilton, like most communities, have a problem with an apathetic electorate, content to let the status quo rule, with taxpayers believing — sometimes rightly — that they are "all the same."

Municipal government, contrary to popular belief, has an inordinate control over taxpayers' day-to-day lives, from repairing roads, to operating public transit, providing waste collection, cracking down on noise and parking, offering needed public health programs, building affordable homes, funding the police, removing snow, building libraries and making sure the water you drink is available and healthy. No one is immune from the decisions made around the council table.

With council expected to have a different look a day after the Oct. 24 election, voters should start paying attention to what is being said and not said, and demand action from their candidates so they can shape the future direction of a city they purport to love. It is time for Hamiltonians to put up or shut up about the future of this community.