Editor’s note: Initially this post referred to a 2014 win election win by Coun. Farr over Cameron Kroetsch. That race was actually in 2018. This story has been updated to reflect that fact.
The latest Hamilton councillor moving out of city politics is characterizing his decision to move as a “personal” one.
Downtown councillor Jason Farr says the decision to make a run in provincial politics was one he had been contemplating for “a long, long time.”
Farr, now the Ontario Liberal candidate in Hamilton East–Stoney Creek, believes the polarization of left and right is what’s frustrating constituents in the city, making some “feel excluded.”
“Having only a short time ago … knocked on a few thousand doors for that hugely successful Chad Collins campaign in Hamilton East–Stoney Creek, residents are frustrated,” Farr told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.
“I know that, ’cause I spoke to them personally just a few months ago.”
On Monday, Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca introduced Farr as a candidate for the spring election in a small gathering at Battlefield House Museum in Stoney Creek.
“When Jason Farr becomes Hamilton East Stoney Creek’s MPP and champion at Queen’s Park, we’re going to build a recovery you can be proud of,” Del Duca boasted.
The 53-year-old former CHML and Y108 radio host, born and raised in Hamilton’s urban area, has been at his Ward 2 post for 12 years.
During the Monday presser he referred to his candidacy as a “homecoming,” having grown up in a single-parent household in the city’s east side.
The self-described “east-end kid” was first elected to the downtown in 2010 and returned in 2014 with 66 per cent of the vote.
He would retain his position again after the 2018 election with close to 47 per cent of the vote, beating out resident Cameron Kroetsch who had a second-place showing with just under 30 per cent.
“Three terms, 12 years on city council … you learn a lot and you have the honour of representing locally, the citizens,” Farr remarked.
“I think … unprecedented growth in everything from socioeconomics to arts and culture and all of those things. So the experience is there and the desire probably has been there since 1977.”
Housing affordability, health care and seniors care are conversations he’s looking to advance at Queen’s Park should he be given a seat.
“I certainly feel confident in my experience,” Farr said.
“The one thing about municipal politics is there’s that constant interaction with the provincial game.”
Competition for the riding includes Canadian Football Hall of Famer and Conservative Neil Lumsden as well as 28-year-old accountant Zaigham Butt, who became the Ontario NDP candidate on Tuesday.
Butt, son of the local NDP riding association president Zahid Butt, was the recipient of the 2021 Order of Hamilton. His community work includes helping the Pakistan Business Association’s partnership with Crescent Food Bank to help families during the pandemic and leading a team to clean Wagner Beach Park graffiti.
He takes over for ousted MPP Paul Miller who was allegedly involved with an anti-Islamophobic social media group. Miller is expected to run as an independent in the spring election.
Hamilton appears set for a significant change to the municipal landscape of local politics with Chad Collins now the federal MP for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, and councillors Brenda Johnson (Ward 11), Judi Partridge (Ward 15), and Sam Merulla (Ward 4) expected to not to run in the fall municipal election on October 24.
Longtime chamber of commerce head Keanin Loomis is in the race to become Hamilton’s next mayor.
Loomis, 47, resigned his chamber post after nine years as chief operating officer in January, saying his attraction to municipal governing is the fact it’s “most attuned” to people on the ground.
Current mayor Fred Eisenberger has yet to announce whether he will seek reelection.
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