Andrea Horwath Incumbent
Running for Mayor of Hamilton · in office since 2022
Hamilton's first woman mayor, running a city the research says she was injected into rather than broke.
Where they stand
Each position pairs what they say with what they did.
Environment
Backed the data centre pause
What they did:
Council voted 15-1 for a one-year moratorium on AI data centre construction after the Committee of Adjustment refused Slate AI's land severance. Council holds an NDA with Slate AI, revealed by the single councillor who then voted against the pause.
Housing
47,000 units by 2031
What they did:
Committed Hamilton to 47,000 new units by 2031 and 150 single-dwelling low-income homes, while publicly opposing Greenbelt development as an unnecessary, ineffective and misguided measure that would not meet Hamilton's housing needs. The city invested $40M in 2025 toward more than 2,000 affordable and supportive homes, and housed 479 people directly through city-funded programs.
Public funds
Shelter overrun by $5M
What they did:
Used emergency mayoral powers to push through the 2025 outdoor shelter system. Budgeted at $2.8M, it came in around $5M over, used made-in-China units at about $35,000 each, and was built on contaminated land with no public consultation. It houses up to 80 people and connects them to permanent housing services.
Transit
LRT restarted
What they did:
The LRT contract went to Aecon for early construction in 2026, seven years after the project was cancelled, with $1.7B federal and $1.7B provincial funding. Around 5,000 construction jobs and about 1,000 permanent ones are projected.
OAC flags
OAC opinion · evidence-based, not neutral
- Emergency powers, no consultation. The 2025 outdoor shelter was pushed through with emergent mayoral powers, came in around $5M over its $2.8M budget, used made-in-China units at about $35,000 each, and was built on contaminated land with no public consultation.
- Support Local, signed abroad. A 49-year airport partnership was signed with TradePort, owned through Investcorp Corsair Infrastructure Partners with American and Bahraini ownership, while the city ran a Support Local campaign. Residents have called that contradiction disingenuous.
- Deaths not counted. The city does not record deaths in the shelter system. They are added to the number of people counted as outflow.
Sources
- City of Hamilton, get to know your mayor https://www.hamilton.ca/city-council/council-committee/city-council-members/mayor-andrea-horwath/get-know-your-mayor
- CBC, data centre moratorium https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/data-centre-moratorium-9.7247233
- Global News, Hamilton home pledge https://globalnews.ca/news/9505847/hamilton-new-home-pledge/
- Statement on the Auditor General's Greenbelt report https://www.hamilton.ca/city-council/news-notices/news-releases/statement-mayor-horwath-auditor-general-report-greenbelt
