Ontario Construction News staff writer

The City of Hamilton will assume full management of the city’s waterfront on April 1, as the Hamilton Waterfront Trust (HWT) dissolves on March 31.

The HWT, established in 2000, has supported projects and programming that expanded public access to the waterfront and contributed to the vibrancy of the city. Over 25 years, the trust coordinated roughly $6.3 million in investments to improve public enjoyment of the waterfront.

Officials say access to waterfront programming and amenities will not be impacted.

“Hamilton’s waterfront is one of our city’s greatest shared assets, a place where residents gather, families spend time together, and visitors experience the best of our community,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath. “Bringing waterfront operations fully under city management strengthens the long-term stewardship of this important public space.

“My focus remains on ensuring Hamiltonians continue to enjoy the waterfront experiences they value today while we protect and enhance this asset for future generations.”

A comprehensive business model review initiated by council in 2022 concluded that municipal management would strengthen governance, improve financial oversight, and allow waterfront services to be better integrated into city operations.

“This transition brings consistency in governance, reporting and financial controls,” said City Manager Marnie Cluckie. “Our focus now is ensuring a smooth operational transition so residents and visitors continue to enjoy the waterfront programming and experiences they value.”

The phased transition began in 2023 when the city assumed management of lands at 57 Discovery Drive.

“All of the programming that Hamiltonians have come to expect will continue but will be managed by the city, which already operates parks and other waterfront amenities,” said HWT Chair Cameron Kroetsch. “The city will now be in a position to deliver programming and services across the entire waterfront more efficiently and cost-effectively.”

For more information, visit hamilton.ca/Hamilton-Waterfront-Trust-Transition.

Rap superstar Cardi B has taken a page out of boxers trash talking— often used to boost pay-per-view events — to goose slow ticket sales for an upcoming Little Miss Drama tour stop in Hamilton, Ontario.

“And I’m letting you Canadians know, if you break my sold-out streak, I don’t know what I’m going to do… But y’all better go buy them tickets,” the Grammy-winning artist said in an X post. She estimated a March 31 date at the TD Coliseum in Hamilton was around 80 percent sold out, and a look at the Ticketmaster site indicates lots of seats are still up for grabs.

“I swear to God, if you break my streak – y’all better go buy tickets. Y’all not breaking my perfectly sold out streak,” Cardi B repeated.

Some locals took to social media to complain about high tickets sales for the Hamilton concert, priced from $91.15 to $461.97 on Ticketmaster. Others cited the rapper having a concert the previous night on March 30 in Toronto, just an hour up the road from Hamilton.

The Toronto date is nearly sold out, according to Ticketmaster’s website, and ticket prices range from $126 to $792. The Grammy-winning pop star recently sold out two consecutive nights at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles and looking to keep her streak going across North America as her headline tour runs through to April.

On Feb. 20, the rapper took to X to warn Vancouver fans to fill the Rogers Arena on Feb. 21. “Five sold out shows back to back… packed to the brim!! Vancouver y’all better not break my streak. See y’all tomorrow!!! For now… where the Tim Horton’s at???,” she wrote at the time.

The Little Miss Drama tour is supporting Cardi B’s second studio album, Am I the Drama? and kicked off in Palm Desert, California, before a wrap in Atlanta.

Ontario’s public transit agencies can refuse to run political advertisements if they determine, following careful deliberation, that running those ads could result in discrimination or harassment against vulnerable community members.

In a precedent-setting ruling released today, the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the City of Hamilton’s earlier determination to reject an advertising purchase by the Christian Heritage Party (CHP) on gender issues. This marks the first time Ontario’s top court has addressed bus advertising since the landmark 2009 Supreme Court ruling in Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority v. Canadian Federation of Students — British Columbia Component.

The CHP had sought to purchase advertising space on Hamilton’s public transit system for an ad depicting a woman with the captions “Woman:” above and “An Adult Female” below. The ad included the CHP’s website address, which states the party’s platform that there are only two biological sexes and that children “must be protected from the LGBTQ ‘gender agenda.'”

Between the initial advertising purchase request in January 2023 and the final rejection on July 6, 2023, the City repeatedly communicated its concerns to the CHP. The City cited incidents of violence against transgender persons, including an assault on a Hamilton Street Railway bus in the preceding year, and provided academic studies linking negative transgender-related media messages to adverse mental health outcomes.

Ultimately, the City concluded the CHP ad could potentially cause serious psychological harm to transgender HSR passengers and rejected it.

February 3, 2026: Liveposts Replay: Ontario Court of Appeal Hearing – City of Hamilton v. Christian Heritage Party

February 3, 2025: Ontario Court of Appeal Case Could Set Precedent for Political Ads on Public Transit: Arguments Today

Writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, Justice Lorne Sossin ruled the City’s determination was reasonable because it carefully weighed the CHP’s advertisement against the City’s statutory objective of providing a safe and welcoming transit system while honouring the CHP’s Charter right to free expression.

The City acknowledged that it was required to “honour and carefully consider” s. 2(b) of the Charter in its decision. It noted that s. 2(b) was not meant to protect only “banal or widely accepted” speech and that residents have to put up with some controversy on City buses. It also noted that while the Advertisement conflicted with its own policies, this was not a sufficient reason to reject it. Instead, it had to balance CHP’s interest in freedom of expression against its statutory objective of “providing a safe and welcoming transit system.” – para 11, Christian Heritage Party of Canada v. Hamilton (City) 2026 ONCA 195

In its 74-paragraph ruling, the Court of Appeal confirmed the Divisional Court’s findings that the City met all legal requirements and constitutional standards in rejecting the advertisement.

“The City’s decision is reasoned, fair and balanced with respect to the CHP’s rights and the City’s statutory obligations and policies. It falls within a range of reasonable, acceptable outcomes,” the Divisional Court ruled in November 2024.

Today’s ruling provides greater clarity for government administrative decision makers when weighing Charter free expression rights against the permissibility of political advertising messages on government-provided spaces such as transit buses. It confirms that free expression rights are not absolute and that governments can deny advertisements that undermine important statutory goals.

The Court of Appeal also confirmed that these decisions will be reviewed by courts following the standard, the 2019 Supreme Court of Canada decision that establishes the framework for determining whether a decision-maker’s reasons are sound and whether the decision was reasonably available to them.

The Christian Heritage Party issued a statement shortly after the ruling was released.

Claiming the Court ruled “against free speech,” CHP national leader Rod Taylor stated: “Today, free speech has been given a black eye by judges who neglected to recognize our constitutional rights.”

“We see today that political correctness and ‘woke’ ideology have infected not only our legislatures but also our courts.”

In a video post shortly after the ruling, John Sikkema, lawyer for the intervenor group Association for Reformed Political Action (a conservative advocacy organization), stated: “If there is a silver lining to this decision, it is that the court does not find that the message that women are female by definition is harmful or discriminatory per se.”

“Instead the court relies on what I think is shaky evidence that this advertisement, if allowed on public transit, would cause harm beyond mere offense to transit users who identify as transgender.” Sikkema was referring to the Court’s acceptance of academic literature cited by the City.

Egale, a 2SLGBTQI advocacy organization and intervenor in this case, has not yet issued a statement. The City of Hamilton has also not yet responded to the ruling.

Note: this article will be updated statements from Egale and the City, as well as links to the CanLII version of the ruling once available.

Production Detailsv. 1.0.0Published: March 18, 2026Last updated: March 18, 2026Author: Joey ColemanUpdate Recordv. 1.0.0 original version