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November
1, 2003
WHY ARE THE PRO-EXPRESSWAY FORCES AFRAID?
You
can feel the fear oozing out of the pages of the Hamilton
Spectator and other pro-expressway media.
What if the anti-expressway vote has a “disproportionate
impact” at the polls? What if the voters reject their
pet project? The Spectator’s editorial mirrors its
front page*, and both mirror their lead letter by
an anti-valley former politician. The editorial headine
worries “Will tree-cutting swing any votes?” but
the content is even more partisan. It baldly states “we’re
hoping those who favour [the expressway] will get out and
vote for pro-expressway candidates”. Do they also want
the other side to vote? Apparently not! So much for democracy.
The
front page of the Spectator and the newscasts of the TV
and radio stations are dominated by the “results”
of a poll done by the Chamber of Commerce and the build-the-expressway
commit that says 59.3% of the people support the expressway
and only 20.8% oppose it. That looks like a pretty comfortable
margin for the pro-expressway folks. Why the worry? What
do they know that the rest of us don’t? That their
“poll” isn’t nearly as accurate as they claim
(5% margin of error)? That the vast majority of the people
they called refused to answer a Chamber of Commerce poll
on this issue? In 1999 the Chamber and the build-the-expressway
committee used the same pollsters for another expressway
survey. More than two-thirds of the people contacted refused
to participate (perhaps because the poll questions began
with an introduction saying that the Chamber of Commerce
was doing the poll).
The
results of that earlier poll are interesting. It claimed
that 69% of the public supported the expressway. One done
by the same company in 1997 said that 80% supported the
expressway (although a second question revealed that half
of those people didn’t want it in Red Hill Valley).
One would expect an objective media would point out the
rather clear trend — 80% in 1997, 69% in 1999, 59%
in 2003. Instead the results are presented as proof that
the expressway is a great idea, alongside open fear that
pro-expressway candidates will be defeated by anti-expressway
voters. One wonders if Mr. DiIanni is unwilling to release
a list of his campaign contributors because he would have
to include the in-kind support of printing the Hamilton
Spectator.
While
one side of the pro-expressway mouth has been swearing for
years that “it’s a done deal”, the other
side is now publicly worrying that it may get voted down.
What will it take to build this expressway? The media loves
it. The City Council loves it. Premier McGuinty loves it.
Bob Wade,Terry Cooke, Jack MacDonald and Bob Morrow are
all endorsing Larry DiIanni. The developers and others are
pouring money into the campaign coffers. Together they’ve
spent decades bamboozling the public with fantasies about
the expressway getting rid of trucks, reviving the economy,
providing thousands of jobs, cleaning the air (in some magical
way). So after 25 years of this, they’ve gotten to
a point where they’re worried sick that too many voters
have seen through them.
Bulldozing
through the most destructive and stupid project in Hamilton’s
history is obviously not an easy task. Our task is clear:
make their worst nightmares come true. The following candidates
can explain how.
Mayor
– David Christopherson www.Christopherson4Mayor.ca
Ward
1 – Brian McHattie www.brianmchattie.ca
Ward
2 – Andrea Horwarth (incumbent) www.andreahorwath.com
Ward
4 – Lynda Lukasik www.lyndalukasik.ca
Ward
5 – Andrew Schroeder www.andrewschroeder4ward5.ca
Ward
6 – Peter O’Hagan www3.sympatico.ca/pohagan
Ward
7 – Bill Cottrell www.mountaincable.net/~billcottrell
Ward
8 – Roman Sarachman romantrc@sympatico.ca
Ward
10 – Robert Barlow www.communityfirst.ca
Ward
12 – Bryan Kerman bkerman@lara.on.ca
Ward
13 – Russ Powers (incumbent) www.vote4powers.com
Ward
14 – Dave Braden (incumbent) davembraden@aol.com
Ward
15 – Margaret McCarthy (incumbent) (905) 689-6714 www.infoflam.on.ca/ward15/
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