Dear Friends,
Because the election is today, we are publishing our survey of municipal candidates, and results. The survey has already been published on our Facebook page.
[The results can be found below the survey].
Survey
Our municipal candidates’ questionnaire:
SURVEY: “Make Hamilton a Zone of Peace”
Dear Candidate:
Thank you for putting your name forward as a candidate in our municipal elections!
We are asking you to take about 10 minutes to respond to this 2-point questionnaire which might help Hamilton voters make the important decision for whom to vote.
Question 1:
Are you in favour of making Hamilton a Zone of Peace? Yes or No
Background:
Hamilton has a long history of peace-building. For example, at the height of the Cold War in 1983, City Council voted for Hamilton to become a nuclear weapons-free city and, in 1985, to join Mayors For Peace, which was led by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities upon which the USA unleashed a nuclear weapon in 1945, killing about 200,000 civilians by the end of 1945.
Our antiwar coalition feels the need to build upon our status as a nuclear weapons-free city and membership in Mayors For Peace, by declaring Hamilton a Zone of Peace, a jurisdiction where no military weapons at all are made.
Question 2:
Are you in favour of opening a formal public consultation on PM Carney’s plan to situate a Sentinel R&D lethal drone-making facility in Hamilton? Yes or No
Background:
On May 28th of this year, in the context of the annual CANSEC arms bazaar in Ottawa, the Canadian government signed a deal with its Ukrainian counterpart to bring together Ukrainian drone-maker, Airlogix, with a Canadian counterpart, Sentinel R&D, to manufacture, at a secret facility in our city, lethal military drones absolutely free of charge for the Zelensky government. The deal did NOT include any provision for a public consultation with the citizens of Hamilton whose health and safety is impacted by the decision.
Sentinel R&D will place a target squarely upon Hamilton as the Russian government has taken a very dim view of Carney’s deal. Oleg Stepanov, Russian ambassador to Canada, issued the comment: “… Ottawa is moving to a new level of involvement in the Ukrainian crisis — from supplying weapons and financial aid to direct cooperation with the illegitimate Kiev regime in the sphere of military-industrial production. Russia will take this shift into account in its military and political planning.” Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, pledged to publish the coordinates of the secret facility in a press conference in Moscow on June 10, 2026.
Please email your “yes” or “no” answers to hcsw@cogeco.ca by Friday, October 23rd at noon. Please include the position for which you are standing.
The Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War will publish the results of this survey shortly before the municipal election on our website [www.hamiltoncoalitiontostopthewar.ca], FB page, and X account. Thank you for your time!
Results
REVISED results of our municipal candidates’ survey:
8 municipal candidates responded (three of them a bit late): Scarlett Gillespie, Ejaz Butt, and Nathalie Xian Yi Yan for mayor; Nathan Savelli and Mark Powell (Ward 1); Jemma Lambert (Ward 4); Melissa Debicki (Ward 6); Pat Piro (Ward Eight). One candidate responded with comments rather than answers to our two questions.
Results
Scarlett Gillespie – yes to both questions
Ejaz Butt – yes to both questions
Nathalie Xian Yi Yan – comment not related to questions
Nathan Savelli – yes to both questions
Mark Powell – yes to both questions
Jemma Lambert – yes to both questions
Melissa Debicki – yes to both questions
Pat Piro – comment below
In addition, mayoral candidate Scarlett Gillespie published two posts opposing the situating of the Sentinel plant in Hamilton and supporting Making Hamilton a Zone of Peace. Therefore, based on candidates’ responses and comments (and what we saw during the municipal election campaign), WE RECOMMEND Pat Piro, and Ejaz Butt. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND Scarlett Gillespie, Mark Powell, Nathan Savelli, Jemma Lambert, and Melissa Debicki to our followers.
We wish to thank the candidates who took the time to respond and wish them well in Monday’s municipal election.
Here is Pat Piro’s comment, which is a bold statement for an aspiring Canadian politician:
“I support open talks with both parties in this war. Simply declaring Hamilton a city of peace means nothing in the grand scheme. Neither country is really our enemy. We simply chose to shut out Russia, while opening out banks to Ukraine every time Zelenski stops by. This is simply a proxy war which should’ve and could’ve been resolved long ago. Instead, too many people are getting rich from it while many are being killed, and not one country has offered to mediate talks. So, in my humble opinion, declaring Hamilton a peace city is like putting a band aid on a critical wound. It may seem noble on paper, but it means nothing. Let’s push our higher ups to invite both leaders to a conference.”
NOTE: The Coalition recognizes that we were late in the campaign in sending out the questionnaire, which tardiness likely affected the response rate. On the other hand, all of the municipal candidates for mayor and city council now know of our campaign to make Hamilton a Zone of Peace.
The survey and results were previously published on our Facebook page.