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Statement by Kevin McNally

Good morning Mr Mayor and Councilors,

In light of the discussions regarding a referendum that have been going on in recent days and the upcoming meeting on October 25th, I feel compelled to write to you all again to re-iterate my support for the LRT project in Hamilton.

We have been debating the best type of transit upgrade for Hamilton for many years. Experts have weighed in and the Province has pledged funding.

There are certainly some unknowns, but as I suspect most of you are aware, unknowns are normal for large infrastructure projects like this and the unknowns in our case do not constitute a convincing argument to cancel the project.

Rather, I would expect that these unknowns would motivate a council (which has voted multiple times in favour of the project, as you all know) to step up, show leadership and work with the Project team to find answers and solutions which benefit Hamilton.

I find it counterproductive to fixate on unknowns (some of which are identified in the MOU with Metrolinx) and argue that because of the known unknowns, we should cancel the project. This does a disservice to Hamilton.

To return to the referendum, which admittedly looks increasingly less and less likely. A referendum at this point in the project will only serve to increase the misinformation and confusion in the public realm and will put the project on an unstable footing. When we are trying to execute a complicated and expensive project, we need clear messages from our council, not the specter of a referendum that would occur years into the implementation, be quite costly and likely not get enough voter turnout to actually drive a change. A referendum is a bad idea.

Lastly, regarding the changes that have occurred so that the line ends at the Queenston Circle. Again, rather then arguing that this constitutes a change that cannot be supported (which, incidentally implies that this change negates all of the other benefits from the LRT, an argument that current B-Line riders would no doubt disagree with) why not work with the Project team to find out where the budgets can be reduced and perhaps get the line back to Eastgate Square.

Thank you for your service and efforts to bring LRT to Hamilton. I am looking forward to the first ride!

Kevin McNally
Hamilton, Ontario
Ward 8

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