Mayor met with premier to advocate for a Commonwealth Games bid

Hamilton's mayor says he's met with Premier Doug Ford at least twice to encourage Ford to support Hamilton hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, despite city council still being unsure if it wants them.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger told councillors Wednesday morning that he met with Ford the night before, along with members of the Hamilton 2026 bid committee, to urge Ford to financially support the games. He also met with him about two weeks ago.

This comes despite an earlier council resolution to support looking into hosting the games four years later. The province has also said that any financial support for a 2026 bid is unlikely, and encouraged the committee to bid for 2027 instead. The province's support is key, given that a newly released estimate shows the provincial and federal governments would have to chip in $124 million for venue improvements.

Some councillors at a city council general issues committee meeting Wednesday were taken aback by Eisenberger's advocacy, especially in a conversation that includes any year other than 2030. Maureen Wilson (Ward 1, west end) said council hasn't even set its spending priorities for COVID-19 pandemic recovery.

"It's not clear to me that this council has formally set out that we are pursuing monies — recovery monies or any kind of monies — for a 2026 or 2027 bid," Wilson said. 

"The mayor is meeting with the premier to discuss an event which I don't know if this council has formally endorsed."

Eisenberger said no formal decision has been made on the games, and "I'm not negotiating with anyone in terms of dollars and cents. I'm advocating for the City of Hamilton in terms of a games bid as a whole."

As far as he's concerned, he said, council's position is still a 2030 bid.

That's at odds, though, with the focus of the bid committee, which pivoted to 2026 months ago. The international Commonwealth Games Federation asked the Hamilton bid team to consider that year instead, saying that bid wouldn't be challenged. Talk of 2027 came this week when the province said it was focused on the FIFA World Cup for 2026.

Donna Skelly, PC MPP for Flamborough-Glanbrook and parliamentary assistant to the minister of economic development, job creation and trade, said Tuesday that the province is highly unlikely to support a 2026 bid.

'I too was in the dark'

"If it's 2027, or 2030, fine," Skelly said. "But let's not mislead people or suggest there's an opportunity to move forward for 2026."

Some councillors were upset Wednesday that they weren't more in the loop. 

"I am finding out what's happening through Twitter and through the media, and not through the proper channels," said John-Paul Danko (Ward 8, west Mountain).

"I too was in the dark until I saw that email this morning," said Esther Pauls (Ward 7, central Mountain). 

"I'm disappointed that it wasn't 2030, it was 2026, now 2027. I am very disappointed."

$258M to ready local venues

Lou Frapporti, chair of the bid committee, said Wednesday that his group is surprised to be looking at 2027 too. It planned to present to the general issues committee Wednesday, but will instead present at a future meeting.

Frapporti said he doesn't see a conflict with the FIFA World Cup. The Commonwealth Games will be local and outside of Toronto, he said. As for money, the committee hasn't even given the province a dollar figure yet. 

The bid committee released a new document Wednesday saying local venues would need $257,894,857 worth of work to prepare for the games. Of that, $123,680,924 would come from senior levels of government. The private sector would contribute $75 million, educational institutions $15 million, and the city $13,200,000 from its 10-year capital budget and $22,250,000 through the Future Fund.

The committee envisions, for example, table tennis at the Hamilton Convention Centre and gymnastics and weight lifting at FirstOntario Centre. These venues, plus FirstOntario Concert Hall, have been pegged for $500 million in renovation and relocation work through a group called the Hamilton Urban Entertainment Precinct Group (HUPEG), which involves some of the same people as the Hamilton 2026 bid committee. The capital document recommends $75 million in work should be done to those venues.

One of the businesses involved in HUPEG and Hamilton 2026 is Carmen's Group, which also manages the Hamilton Convention Centre.

Frapporti said there is "a degree of serendipity" around the entertainment precinct being slated for that work. As for the personnel overlap, he said, "in a community as small as Hamilton, [there are] a variety of individuals committed to the city are involved in God knows how many projects."