Brad Clark Report

Councillor Brad Clark is asking residents to take a moment and draft an email with your position on the proposed budget and the tax increases. I will share the number of emails received and summarize residents feedback for Council deliberations.

Brad Clark Budget Town Hall

December 3, 2025

Salvation Army Church

300 Winterberry Drive

6:00 – 8:00pm

Please be advised of an upcoming temporary lane occupancy on Rymal Road East between Trinity Church and Fletcher Rd for sidewalk replacement work.

Where: Rymal Road East between Trinity Church Road and Fletcher Road (North Side Curb Lane). (map)

When: Monday, September 15th to Friday October 3rd from 9 AM to 3 PM.

Expect delays through this area during construction.

Lane Occupancies and Road Closures can be found at http://hamilton.ca/roadclosures

There has been a recent development with the GFL appeal of the three MECP environmental penalties totaling $15,000. On my motion, City Council unanimously directed legal staff to seek participant/party status to the GFL appeal at the Ontario Lands Tribunal. GFL has now withdrawn their appeal. MECP lawyers have advised that there is no settlement and that GFL will be paying the fines.

Environmental penalties are a relatively new instrument that can be used under Ontario Regulation 222/07 under the Environmental Protection Act. Think of it as ticket or fine for an odours. In fact, the MECP issued just three environmental penalties for three incidents in 2023. Yet the MECP local district office advised me on July 29^th, 2025 that the annual odour complaint numbers were as follows:

• 2021: 1 complaint 
• 2022: 0 complaints 
• 2023: 1,109 complaints 
• 2024: 939 complaints 
• 2025: 884 complaints (as of July 29, 2025) 

MECP fined GFL for just three odour events that occurred in 2023. Yet, the actual odour complaints received by the MECP in 2023 were 1,109.

From January 1, 2023, to July 29, 2025, there have been 2,932 odour complaints received by the MECP. The odour complaints pinpointed the GFL landfill. Yet, there has only been 3 environmental penalties issued to date, totaling $15,000.

Notwithstanding, GFL’s decision to withdraw their appeal for these three fines. I still find it hard to accept. Three fines totaling $15,000 for a landfill whose landfill prompted 1,109 odour complaints to the MECP in 2023.

Given the current dry weather conditions, continued forecast of extreme temperatures, and the absence of appreciable rainfall in the near future, the Hamilton Fire Department has issued an immediate ban on all open air burning within the City of Hamilton. This ban suspends all approved Open Air Burning Permits.

Effective immediately and until further notice, the ban includes:

• Recreational fires, including campfires and backyard firepits
• Burning of clean wood and brush
• Controlled grass burns
• Use of all outdoor wood-burning appliances, such as chimineas.

Click here for more information and updates