Know your riding — Canada Votes 2025: Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas
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Read all of CBC Hamilton's coverage of the federal election here.
This west Hamilton riding will be represented by a new member of parliament no matter who wins.
Former MP Filomena Tassi announced she would not run for re-election in the fall, citing a "deeply personal" reason. Now, major party candidates running to replace her include Hamilton city councillor John-Paul Danko and Erika Alexander, granddaughter of Lincoln Alexander, Canada's first Black member of the House of Commons and first Black lieutenant governor of Ontario.
As of a 2023 riding boundary redistribution, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas spans about 100 square kilometres from Highway 403 in the east to Highway 52 in the west. It also includes part of the west Mountain neighbourhood. The riding's southern boundary is an exurban transmission line and its northern boundary is a Canadian National Railway track north of Governor's Road.
When she was elected in 2015, Tassi was the first federal Liberal to win in Hamilton since 2004. Prior to that, voters in the riding area supported the NDP. In the 2021 general election, Tassi won about 44 per cent of the vote.
Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas contains dense, mixed-income neighbourhoods in the old city of Hamilton as well as wealthier suburban and exurban neighbourhoods in the former townships of Ancaster and Dundas. It also includes McMaster University, Mohawk College and Redeemer University. About 120,000 people live in the area.
The median total household income in the riding was $101,000 in 2020, per the 2021 census. About 27 per cent of residents identify themselves as visible minorities.
CBC Hamilton sent a survey to major party candidates, or their party representatives, asking why people should vote for them. Here's some of what they said, organized alphabetically by candidates' last names.
Erika Alexander, Conservative
Alexander did not respond to CBC Hamilton's survey before publication.
On Facebook, she wrote that it's clear "Canadians want real change," as well as "a lower cost of living and to feel safe and secure in their communities," — a change she says Conservatives will bring about.
Georgia Beauchemin, Green Party
Georgia Beauchemin, 29, is a full-time student in her fourth year studying disabilities studies and political science at Toronto Metropolitan University. She studied recreation therapy and educational support at Mohawk College and worked as an educational assistant.
"Voters should be choosing someone who cares about them. My student and work life have all been focused on the needs of other people," Beauchemin said. "The Green Party is the natural home for me and is the natural party to be voting for if you are concerned about climate, affordable housing, taxation fairness, the rights of marginalized people and moving toward proportional representation in Parliament."
John-Paul Danko, Liberal
Danko, 47, is the Ward 8 city councillor and a licensed professional engineer.
"I am very proud of the work I have done at the City of Hamilton. On Council, I leveraged on my 20 years of private sector experience as a structural engineer and worked collaboratively with my colleagues to improve our Ambitious City," Danko said. "I made a point of working across party lines with our provincial and federal representatives. I believe in the Team Hamilton approach to politics and look forward to continuing to take a collaborative approach to ensuring our city's prosperity."
Roberto Henriquez, NDP
Roberto Henriquez, 37, is a labour and human rights lawyer.
"I fight for my clients, working-class Canadians, every single day. During this election where working families are taking a back seat to tariffs, Trump, and trade, I commit to keeping the focus on Canadians as a whole," he said. "I commit to advocating for all Canadians and advancing opportunities for all families, both in our riding and across Canada."
Ava Sharavi, People's Party of Canada
Ava Sharavi did not respond to CBC Hamilton's survey before publication.
On her campaign website, Sharavi describes herself as a "member of the younger generation," who understands challenges like the rising cost of living. She said she is concerned about "uncontrolled immigration," and that Canadian society has been weakened by government overreach, foreign influence and "social engineering in education and media."
Also Running:
Jim Enos, Christian Heritage Party of Canada: Enos's party bills itself as Canada's only "100 per cent pro-life" political party. His website says he has spent 30 years "participating at public tables influencing public policy," and is a "vocal and public figure with a long record of promoting and defending family, life and freedom." Enos has served as a spokesperson and Ontario branch president for his party, including for a recent case in which the City of Hamilton declined to run an ad for the party, deeming it harmful to transgender people.
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'We, the (Stephen) Harper government, were putting a lot of money into this effort to reach two per cent. And the department literally couldn't spend it fast enough,' he said. 'They would take the money and we would get wrapped around the axle literally on these big (procurement) projects. And we would, at the end of the year, have to send money back to the Treasury.' Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Monday that Canada will spend an additional $9.3 billion on defence during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, for a total of more than $62 billion, or about two per cent of GDP. But this isn't the first time that a Canadian prime minister has promised that the country would hit the target. Here's a non-exhaustive list of when Canada has promised to hit its NATO target and where its defence spending was at over the years. 1970s: At this point, Canada was spending 2.8 per cent of its GDP on its defence budget . While the 1970s were technically a period of détente in the Cold War, there were a number of close calls in the 1960s and the 1970s were a deeply unstable period. Throughout the mid-1970s, Canada's military spending began to decline, averaging about 1.9 per cent of GDP, before growing slightly through the 1980s to 2.1 per cent. April 1989: In the 1989 budget, Canada planned to cut $2.7 billion from its defence budget and close 14 of its Cold War bases. An entire military program, nearly $700 million for an icebreaker, was scrapped. November 2006: NATO member countries commit to two per cent of GDP going towards the military. At the time, Canada's defence spending was around 1.2 per cent of GDP. January 2007: During the war in Afghanistan, Stephen Harper's government was spending just over one per cent of GDP. In January 2007, the Defence Department presented Harper's cabinet with three spending options to grow the defence budget. The middle option was to spend $35 billion by 2025. As of 2025, defence spending was a bit above $30 billion . September 2014: At the NATO summit in Wales, allies reaffirmed their commitment to spending two per cent of GDP on military spending. However, just days before the meeting, figures released by the Department of National Defence showed that the federal government intended to shrink defence spending by $2.7 billion. (The government was pushing to balance the budget in advance of the 2015 election. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau won a majority government in that election.) June 2017: Then defence minister Harjit Sajjan announced an increase of $13.9 billion in military spending over the next decade, and a plan that would put 5,000 more troops in uniform, but still leave Canada short of hitting the two per cent target. At the time, defence spending was at around 1.19 per cent of GDP. October 2020: Canada's defence spending jumped to 1.45 per cent of GDP. However, that was not because of any new spending increases, but because the economy contracted during the COVID-19 pandemic. May 2022: Then defence minister Anita Anand said that Canada is on an ' upward trajectory ' when it comes to meeting NATO targets. However, in a virtual discussion hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, she stopped short of committing to a timeline. June 2022: The Parliamentary Budget Office said that if Canada was to reach the two-per-cent target by 2027, the country would need to spend more than $75 billion more over five years . April 2023: A leaked Pentagon assessment obtained by the Washington Post revealed that Trudeau had privately told NATO officials that Canada would never reach the alliance's defence-spending target of two per cent of GDP. July 2023: NATO released a statement saying that all members have agreed to spend at least two per cent. Canada agreed to the target, but at the time had no plan to reach it. In recent years, officials have defended the government's failure to meet the two per cent target, saying that Canada has increased its military spending by 70 per cent since 2014. The Liberals announced $2.6 billion over three years on Canada's mission in Latvia, $40 billion on NORAD modernization and billions in spending on the new F-35 fighter jets (a contract that is now being reviewed.) April 2024: The Canadian government unveiled its updated military policy — Our North, Strong and Free — which included $8.1 billion in further spending. However, it was not a commitment to reach two per cent. It would get Canada to 1.76 per cent by 2029-30. June 2024: Then prime minister Justin Trudeau announced at the end of the 2024 NATO summit that Canada would reach two per cent of GDP on military spending by 2032. 'We continually step up and punch above our weight, something that isn't always reflected in the crass mathematical calculation that certain people turn to very quickly,' Trudeau said at the time. 'Which is why we've always questioned the two per cent as the be-all, end-all of evaluating contributions to NATO.' In July, Blair said: 'It was important to be realistic about how long it was going to take to make these investments, to do it the right way.' November 2024: Exclusive Postmedia-Leger polling showed that 45 per cent of Canadians don't believe that Canada will hit its commitments on military spending. In order to achieve that, Canada would need to nearly double defence spending. Just one-fifth of Canadians told pollsters they think it's possible. January 2025: Then minister of national defence Bill Blair said that Canada could accelerate its timeline of hitting the two per cent target. Instead of 2032, Blair said that Canada could hit that benchmark by 2027 by simply accelerating the timeline set out in June 2024. April 2025: During the federal election, both the Liberals and the Conservatives promised to meet the NATO spending targets. The Liberals said they would do so by boosting spending by $18 billion over four years, while the Conservatives pledged to spend $17 billion over four years. In March, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States wouldn't defend NATO allies that had not met their spending targets. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
