Larry's Corner

The Red Hill Parkway

So much has been written these past 50 years to describe the tortuous route this multi million dollar project has taken that I’m not sure anything new can be added. Let me offer a few personal observations.

I attended yesterday’s somewhat muted celebration of the Parkway’s opening. It was a glorious fall day. The sun was shining; the air was crisp. Humble, ordinary Hamiltonians by the hundreds were there along with city officials, Parkway staff, private-sector contractors, former and current politicians from every order of government, representatives of the Six Nations community, the media and even three lonely protestors with signs opposing the roadway.

As someone who has been involved for the past 25 years of public life supporting this project; and as one who was in leadership positions these past six years, the first three as Chair of the Parkway Implementation Committee and the latter three as Mayor of the City of Hamilton, I have a pretty unique perspective on the merits and politics of this project. I have also spoken hundreds of times about it in the past and have given countless interviews on all aspects of the work. I have also had my share of battles/debates/e-mail correspondence/public relations issues with the Parkway’s most ardent opponents. I have enjoyed it all, especially battling wits and strategies with those who lurked in the darkness of cyberspace and secret meetings, who for years pretended to represent the majority of Hamiltonians in their opposition to this endeavour. Never in the past 25 years, even as funding was pulled from the project, as senior levels of government ran interference, as opponents threw up road blocks, as protesters protested, sometimes illegally, never did I for one moment think that the project was in peril. Why? Because I believed in the rightness and necessity of this direction, but more importantly, I believed that the vast majority of Hamiltonians’ intention to see the road constructed could not be denied. I got a personal sense of this support when I ran for Mayor and made the building of the Parkway a centerpiece of my election hopes. My opponent foolishly went the other way. Hamilton spoke loudly and clearly. Citizens brushed aside opposition and chose progress over protest. They chose the way ahead over obstructionism and posturing. It was this strong and unbending support that really saw yesterday’s official opening be only a question of time.

I have so many memories that there is probably a book to be written about this 54 year saga in the city of Hamilton. Chapters could be devoted to the role of governments in obstructing or helping the city, or the evil genius behind the Friends of the Red Hill Valley strategies, or the duping of the Region into accepting the Federal government’s ‘limited’ review of the project, or the role of the courts in helping the city of Hamilton define its democratic will, or the Federal legislation vs. the City of Hamilton, or the truth behind the hiring of Christine Silverberg during Mayor Wade’s term, or the handling of the tree sitter issue and the native protest in the Valley, or the real reason why Mayor Fred is bent on dropping the $75M lawsuit against the federal government and why Council may not let him, or why the road should be called the “Chris Murray Parkway”, and so many other topics. However, the opening of this road isn’t so much about history, it is about the future. And that is where I choose to dwell.

So, what impressed me about this historic occasion? The simple things did, as well as the magnificent magnitude of the achievement. The most impressive simple thing was the eloquent speech given by Chief Sky of the Six Nations Confederacy who, before exchanging Wampum with the city, spoke of the spirit of co-operation, friendship and good working relationship he and the Six Nations have had with the City of Hamilton. He was ‘honoured’, he said, to be part of such an important and needed project. These may have been simple words to some, but meant the world to me. I recall when we initiated the discussions with the Six Nations Confederacy. The mood was tense and filled with suspicion. One of Hamilton’s Councillors, an opponent of the road and not any longer on Council, went to the Six Nations and according to the local Turtle News edition of the day, he reportedly told the meeting that Hamilton would not live up to its word. This Councillor apparently painted the most unflattering picture of the reasons for the road, as well as the lack of integrity and honesty of the citizens’ representatives in their relationship with Six Nations. Chief Sky proved yesterday just how big of a lie they had been told. This Councillor is gone. Hamilton and his constituents are better off to be rid of him. Contrary to what the Six Nations were told, our Council was determined to show respect to the Aboriginal community; and this respect was recognized by the treaties signed between the two groups, and yesterday’s kind words by Chief Sky.

The magnificent complexity of the project is in the environmental work which has been done. The City has already won national awards for this; Universities, other communities, and even the American Army Corps of Engineers have taken an interest in the project with a view of learning from it for their own jurisdictions. Hamilton, you must have done something right!

And finally, what impressed me at the opening was the willingness by some to continue the debate on the merits of this project. The local paper carried this theme in Saturday’s edition. A local reporter, a former Mayor and I briefly discussed this approach after yesterday’s ceremony. A local MP who had opposed the project before his election, tried to re-write the history of his opposition to the project by stating that he was just representing the views of a third-party opponent, not his own. And even the three lonely protesters with their pathetic little signs indicated a willingness to continue the debate.

As for me? It’s done. Move on Hamilton! There are more important things to do than to debate a reality whose time has finally come!

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