Latest news with #CameronKroetsch
Hamilton Spectator
02-08-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
Top Hamilton headlines this week: She was married to an alleged serial abuser + ‘City that time forgot' was using outdated network security
T he weekend is here, but plenty happened in the Hamilton area this week. Don't miss these top stories from Spectator reporters. The midsummer holiday weekend means festivals, friends and fun. Check out Lucky Lion Night Market, Festival of Friends and more . Here's what's open and closed Civic Holiday Monday . The pleasant summer weather continues. Expect mostly sunny weather Saturday through Monday and daytime high temperatures in the mid to high 20s. Coun. Cameron Kroetsch offered an alternative take on the downtown arena revitalization last week, comparing the $280-million project to mineral extraction. When the arena is generating revenue, he said, 'some of that's got to go back to the community.' Comments labelled as 'troubling' by a supporter of the project. Taxpayers will foot the full $18.3-million bill for last year's devastating cyberattack because the City of Hamilton had not instituted the layers of IT system security required by its insurance policy. Bryan Hayward is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting women, recording the assaults and in some cases sharing those videos with others. His ex-wife shares her story and her gratitude for survivors. Golf is great. But being on the fairway isn't the most important thing in life, even if you're a PGA Tour pro. Here's why Mackenzie Hughes took a pass as the tour stopped near his North Carolina home. Hamilton police arrested a naked man on a Nikola Tesla Boulevard ramp Sunday afternoon after he allegedly assaulted someone and then stole a bicycle. Subscribe to our newsletters for the latest local content . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Hamilton Spectator
29-07-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Downtown councillor calls $280-million arena revitalization a ‘mining operation'
Developers behind the $280-million revitalization of Hamilton's downtown arena have long touted the project as a spark for an ailing core in desperate need of investment and attention. At a police board meeting last week, Coun. Cameron Kroetsch offered a different take. 'I look at this, to be honest and very frank, like a mining operation,' the downtown councillor said July 24 of the recently rebranded TD Coliseum . 'There's a central site where activities are going to be happening and that's going to generate revenue or profit. That's extractive in a way. When that happens and that profit is being realized, some of that's got to go back to the community.' Those comments were later labelled 'troubling' by Lou Frapporti, a leading advisor to Hamilton's arena redevelopment partner, who argued the elected representative for the core should be the project's 'biggest cheerleader.' Frapporti delegated to the police board last week on behalf of the Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group (HUPEG) about safety in the downtown ahead of the arena's reopening later this year. In 2021, HUPEG reached a long-term lease arrangement with the city to refurbish and operate Hamilton Arena, FirstOntario Concert Hall and the Hamilton Convention Centre in a deal officials said would save taxpayers $155 million over three decades. 'You will not be surprised to hear that the central preoccupation of the overwhelming majority of relevant stakeholders … has been safety and security,' Frapporti told the board, echoing long-expressed concerns from businesses about theft, vandalism, loitering and crime in the area. Frapporti said the downtown is changing — and the revamped arena is seen as a regional attraction that could bring more than one million unique visitors to the city per year. Many of them are coming soon, Frapporti added. General admission tickets for Paul McCartney on Nov. 21 — Hamilton is one of just two Canadian stops on the former Beatle's Got Back tour — sold out in about 15 minutes. 'There is a need for all of us to bring greater urgency to community conversations on strategies and adequate resourcing for the preservation of safety and security in the core on a long-term basis,' he said. Frapporti had already ended his delegation when Kroetsch likened the core redevelopment to a mining expedition. In an interview, Frapporti, a partner at a downtown law firm, called the comments 'bizarre' — especially as the city develops a 10-year strategy to address office vacancies, empty storefronts and diminished foot traffic downtown. Private investment from HUPEG and Oak View Group (OVG) — a global arena specialist leading the stadium redevelopment — add to those efforts, he said. 'The whole purpose of a city and an economy is to recruit people to make investments there and risk their capital to build businesses and hire people,' Frapporti said. 'It was troubling that our downtown councillor — who should be with us, desperately trying to get companies to come downtown and set up restaurants, retail stores and attractions of this type; our biggest cheerleader — is our biggest cynic,' he added. Kroestch told The Spectator he's not a cheerleader. 'I'm an elected official,' he said in an interview, 'and it's my job to look at the pros and cons of every project in the downtown and discuss both openly. Not simply run around and say, 'Here are all the positives and we can't look at the negative stuff.'' Asked if the community would be better off without the arena investments, Kroetsch said he isn't suggesting such. 'There's ticket sales, we have some big names coming to the city. People will of course benefit from the entertainment value — if they can afford to go. But what about everybody else?' he said. Kroetsch argued HUPEG and OVG aren't investing 'out of the kindness of their heart,' but 'to make a profit.' 'People have a right to do that in this world,' the councillor said. 'But we have to look after the community who lives here. … There are lots of upsides, but there are potential negative effects if we don't make sure we take care of the community. That's my main point.' Kroetsch pointed to Hamilton's light rail transit project as an example of another major project that requires special consideration for existing residents, such as tenants forced to leave their homes to make way for the rail development. 'We've seen gentrification before in Hamilton. (Developers) come into an area, make it more desirable, increase its value and push people out.' Of the ongoing downtown projects, like the arena, Kroetsch said: 'How does this shift from not just being about monetary wealth but also community wealth, so everybody benefits from the uplift? How do we uplift everybody downtown through projects like this?' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CBC
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
No online voting in Hamilton's municipal election, says council, despite staff's recommendation
After lively discussion from Hamilton city councillors on Wednesday about the pros and cons of online voting, they decided it won't be used in upcoming elections. At a meeting Wednesday, council voted 9-5 against staff's recommendation to offer online voting as an option in the upcoming Ward 8 byelection Sept. 22, and the municipal election on Oct. 26, 2026. Nominations for the byelection close Aug. 8. A staff report said online voting could save the city some money, "by reducing the need for as many staff and polling locations on election day." In order to be able to vote online, people must register to vote, set up an account with their email address, verify the account and set up two-factor authentication, complete a registration process that includes providing two pieces of ID, and more, City clerk Matthew Trennum said. That's more checks and balances than for in-person voting, which, for example, not require a voter's card or an ID. "Are there risks to online voting? Yes. The risks to in-person voting are greater than the risks for online voting," said Coun. Cameron Kroetsch of Ward 2. '"I think our choice is pretty clear." But the majority of councillors didn't agree. 'Are we serious?' Ward 6 Coun. Tom Jackson said he was "strongly" against exploring online voting, citing safety following last year's cybersecurity incident. "Are we serious? We want to risk online voting at a time we've just been through spending [millions of] dollars of taxpayer money due to a cyber attack?" he said. Ward 9 Coun. Brad Clark said he's concerned about public trust and how that could impact voter turnout if online voting is approved. The city previously tested online voting during 2024's Ward 4 school board trustee byelection. While voter turnout was very low, with less than 500 ballots cast, the report said it wasn't due to online voting. Nearly half of those votes were done online. Other councillors, who opposed online voting, said the current system works and that they should instead discuss how to make in-person polls more accessible. But Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann said online voting makes the election process more accessible. "It is unacceptable from the perspective of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility and the reality that we have an obligation as a corporation ... to ensure that our process for democracy at the City of Hamilton accommodates those with disabilities and if the website is something that enables that, then we need to stop fear-mongering," she said. How they voted: For: Kroetsch (Ward 2), Nann (Ward 3), Tammy Hwang (Ward 4), Mark Tadeson (Ward 11), and Alex Wilson (Ward 13).
Hamilton Spectator
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton police board defer Charter oversight motion, draft policy to governance committee
A Hamilton police board motion that called for greater oversight of officer-involved Charter rights violations has been pushed to a later date. The motion brought forward by civilian member Anjali Menezes was initially left undiscussed when no other board member seconded it at a meeting on May 29. On Thursday, it was back on the agenda after Coun. Cameron Kroetsch — who returned from a 15-month conduct suspension — pledged to second it. Coun. Cameron Kroetsch But also on the agenda was a draft policy, developed by the board, that aimed to clearly identify Hamilton police's responsibilities related to the reporting of Charter rights breaches. 'Rather than spending a long time here trying to go between these two documents and suggest amendments on the floor, it would be more appropriate for the governance committee to bring back one item,' Kroetsch said at the tail-end of an unusually long meeting that spanned over four hours. Members voted unanimously to defer both the motion and draft policy to the board's governance committee. Once reviewed, the committee will consolidate the two documents into one agenda item for the board to consider. A meeting date for the committee wasn't set. At the crux of Menezes's motion was heightened tracking and reporting of Charter rights violations . More specifically, it asked police to provide the board with a list of cases where charges were dropped or evidence excluded due to Charter breaches, an account of how police became aware of those violations and what discipline or training followed. There have been multiple court proceedings in recent years centred on Hamilton officers violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms while making arrests — including three since 2024. About a week after Menezes' motion went undiscussed, the board issued a news release touting its Charter oversight. In it, the board claimed Hamilton police 'already produce a comprehensive annual report' covering both substantiated and unsubstantiated Charter violations, communicate proactively about breaches and have increased overall training (including for Charter-related issues) more than 700 per cent since 2021. The release came up at Thursday's meeting as a consent item. Two people opposed it: Menezes and Kroetsch. Besides asking chair Don Robertson who wrote the release — he said it was board executive director Kirsten Stevenson — Menezes pointed to a 'disconnect' between the release and subsequent Charter draft policy recommendation. 'The release says the service already has a robust reporting policy and the recommendation report seems to (suggest) otherwise,' she said. Robertson clarified the release was intended to inform the public about how the service addresses and reports Charter violations. He said the ensuing draft policy wasn't a contradiction to that, but rather, 'we wanted to have a crystalized policy (over) something that is ongoing.' Among the key tenets in the draft policy was that the chief work with the Crown's office to identify Charter breaches that are 'believed to involve a police officer not acting in the good faith performance of their duties.' This point was contested in a delegation from Andrew Bell, a retired assistant Crown attorney with more than two decades experience in criminal litigation, including Charter violations. In his experience reviewing hundreds of Hamilton police investigations, he said he never found 'a single case of a Charter violation that I believed involved an officer not acting in the good faith of their duties.' Bell argued Charter breaches happen when police are trying to solve crimes or apprehend offenders. 'In other words, they happen when police act in the good faith performance of their duties,' he told the board, adding Charter violations arise not from an officer's good or bad faith, but 'because of negligence, mistakes, ignorance, stupidity, habit and police culture.' 'If you vote for this policy, you make the mistake of (assuming) that the only Charter violations that matter are violations made by officers not acting in the good faith performance of their duties,' Bell said. 'All Charter violations matter.' Mayor Andrea Horwath, who was present at board for the first time since injuring her wrist, asked Bell if removing that 'good faith' terminology would help improve the collection of Chater violation data. 'Yes,' he responded, 'because all Charter violations matter. Not those that to lead to discipline or not, and not those that are committed in good faith or not.' Horwath argued it's important the board is thoughtful of language in any potential Charter policy. She said if the goal of the policy is to gather Charter-related data to better inform training — and the removal of the 'good faith' terminology helps in that effort — 'then I would think that's something the board would be interested in.' That portion of the draft policy is one example of what the governance committee will look at. The board heard the committee will draft a document based on the draft recommendation and Menezes's motion before members vote on a single policy. No date has been set for that draft to return to the board for discussion. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Hamilton Spectator
07-06-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
Who makes decisions for public health is changing in Hamilton
Community members are now at Hamilton's public health decision-making table after long-awaited governance reform got the green light from the province. 'I think it's so vitally important to have those voices there,' Coun. Cameron Kroetsch said in an interview with The Spectator. 'I think, also, it just frankly gives the community more confidence that we have both councillors and health experts who can give a balanced perspective.' Public health policy will no longer be decided by the 16 members of Hamilton's city council after legislative changes passed third reading on June 3 and received royal assent on June 5 as part of Bill 11 , More Convenient Care Act. Instead, six appointed community members , with health expertise or lived experience, will work alongside six city councillors and one education representative to oversee public health. Coun. Cameron Kroetsch says it is 'vitally important' to have community voices on the board of health. The Progressive Conservative government made the required amendments to the City of Hamilton Act at council's request. 'The community pushed really hard for this,' Kroetsch said. 'It's been a long journey.' City council will provide one final approval at its meeting on June 18 but the vote is considered a formality. The new board is expected to meet for the first time on July 7 — over four years after calls for change started in March 2021 when COVID-19 brought inequities, related to social determinants of health, to the forefront as some groups fared better than others during the pandemic. Advocates — including doctors, social workers and academics — argued for a board of health that better reflects Hamilton's diversity, including racialized residents and those with disabilities. 'We didn't have that kind of community voice available to respond to issues of public health in our city and so I think this is going to be great,' Kroetsch said. 'Having these key people around the table, we learned during COVID, would have made things so much better … I just can't say enough about how important I think it is for community voices to be at the table.' The changes bring Hamilton more in line with about two-thirds of the province's public health units that are overseen by autonomous boards. Hamilton's board will be semi-autonomous as decisions related to the budget, the annual service plan and the appointment of medical officers of health will still be approved by city council. Toronto and Ottawa also have semi autonomous boards. However, policy decisions would no longer need any further approval so the board's vote would be binding. 'There's not really a way for council to override the board of health,' Kroetsch said. 'We've given over that autonomy.' The governance reform initially had the unanimous support of council in January 2024. While awaiting the legislative changes, a public health subcommittee was created that will now become the board of health. Up until now, its decisions needed to be approved by city councillors. But opposition to the changes flared up in May after a disagreement over how restrictive the city should be about drinking on municipal property revealed a divide between councillors and the subcommittee. The proposed changes to the municipal alcohol policy were passed with almost no discussion by the subcommittee. In stark contrast, councillors voted 13-1 against it after a charged debate and an in-camera session to get legal advice. It raised questions about what would happen in the future when the semi-autonomous board of health no longer needed councillors' approval for such policy decisions. The subsequent vote went from unanimous to passing 9-5 on the makeup of the future board of health. But Kroetsch, who has been chairing the subcommittee, expects the transition will now be smooth. 'It's just going to be a new day for Hamilton in terms of having that expert advice from the community on the board of health to be able to weigh in on matters that are important,' Kroetsch said. 'We're talking about something that has literally a life and death impact for people. Public health is one of those areas of municipal governance that can impact people's day to day lives.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
