Environment Hamilton’s Lynda Lukasik in the running to rep Ward 5 on city council

Another local activist who’s pushing for change on city council is joining the municipal election race in Hamilton.

Lynda Lukasik, executive director of Environment Hamilton, has announced she’s running for council in Ward 5 after former councillor Chad Collins was elected as Liberal MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.

“There’s a really exciting opportunity right now with enough change on council to be able to make even more progressive change on the inside,” Lukasik told media and supporters outside city hall Thursday morning. She had just filed her papers and explained why she chose now to put her name forward in the October election.

“It feels like time is of the essence. We can’t waste any more time in terms of addressing some of these serious issues and preparing ourselves for the future.”

Lukasik, who has lived in Ward 5 for more than two decades, was joined at her announcement by a number of other candidates running in other wards in Hamilton, including Kojo Damptey (who’s running in Ward 14), Cameron Kroetsch (a candidate in Ward 2), and Craig Cassar (running in Ward 12).

There are five wards without incumbent councillors for this fall’s election, including Ward 5.

Former Dundas councillor Russ Powers has been serving as interim councillor for the ward until a new representative is elected.

Ward 5 is the home of the eastern terminus for Hamilton’s light-rail transit line and Lukasik said the redevelopment of the Eastgate Square site will involve a lot of commercial and residential change.

0:45 Memorandum of understanding for Hamilton’s LRT signed at City Hall

“I’m excited about it because it’s transit-oriented development. So I think what we’re going to see is lots of choices for young people, hopefully some affordable – and deeply affordable – choices, but also change in the ward that’s going to facilitate the ability of seniors … who are still in large single family homes. They want to stay in the neighborhood, but they don’t have a lot of options for downsizing.”

Lukasik is planning to release her platform this weekend and unsurprisingly, it will focus on the environment, but also how the environment connects to other pressing issues like housing affordability, climate resilience, public transportation and infrastructure like making city streets safer.

She said Environment Hamilton was a big part of the city declaring a climate emergency in 2019 but is frustrated at how little progress has happened to address the crisis since then, despite the pandemic.

“We’ve told them repeatedly, you have to pandemic-proof your response to the climate emergency,” said Lukasik.

“I mean, just watch what’s happening in the world and what we’ve been dealing with here. I’m in a house in Ward 5. My entire neighborhood flooded in an extreme weather event. So we know it’s real. We have no time to lose.”

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Environment Hamilton has also been a vocal proponent of not expanding the urban boundary and delegated frequently to city council about the issue.

Councillors eventually rejected the idea of expansion, a decision that the provincial government has criticized.

Lukasik previously ran for city council in 2003 in Ward 4 but lost to Sam Merulla, who is among the Hamilton councillors not running for re-election this year.

Other candidates registered in Ward 5 include Matt Francis, Bob Hurst, Kevin Geenen and Sebastian Aldea.

Francis was the first candidate to register to run in the ward for this year’s municipal election and told Global News that he’s knocked on thousands of doors since then.

He’s behind the “Save Our Piers” petition, which gathered more than 2,000 signatures in support of keeping the Burlington Canal piers open to the public – a successful initiative that has seen the federal government hand the keys to the piers over to the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority.

Francis also successfully petitioned to have the city reinstate the Battle of Stoney Creek Re-enactment for 2023.

He says his next petition, which urges the city to reject implementing paid parking in downtown Stoney Creek, has gathered hundreds of signatures so far.

“Currently continuing with a ward-wide density survey and a survey regarding the concerning Eastgate Square re-development,” said Francis in an email.

“These are major issues which will drastically impact how our community functions. Our community deserves their say with these major proposals and I am working on providing constituents with that platform and voice.”

According to Hurst’s website, he was born and raised in Ward 5 and has worked for the Canada Revenue Agency and volunteered on school councils.

Hurst is calling for a “multi-faceted approach” to improve road safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as more investments in infrastructure, affordable housing, and moving forward on the LRT project.

Geenen, who was born and raised in Hamilton, is known as the “Ontario Journalist” on social media – especially TikTok, where he has garnered 2.2 million likes.

His platform, posted on his website, shows that his focus in Ward 5 will include expanding transit through the Confederation GO station and potentially HSR (if the community is supportive), talking to residents about their feelings on new large residential developments and bringing back more in-person community events.