Burlington Council Unanimously Approves Addition of Mayor's Signature to Letter of Support for Hamilton 2030 Commonwealth Games Bid
At our Burlington City Council meeting on Jan. 24, we unanimously approved a motion to add the Mayor's signature to a letter of support for Hamilton's bid towards hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games.MY TAKE:I want to thank Councillors Angelo Bentivegna and Kelvin Galbraith for participating in this process in their roles as Deputy Mayor for Recreation and Community Services, and Deputy Mayor for Business and Red Tape Reduction, respectively. This request for signing on to letter of support came out of that process.I’m also grateful to Council for being agile, in light of not being able to choose our timing of when requests of support come to us. I thought it was really important to have all of Council’s support behind having the Mayor's signature added to this letter.There is no request or commitment of financial support on behalf of the City of Burlington — it’s simply support for Hamilton’s ask for upper level government funding.This is a brand new model -- it’s private-sector driven and the only potential request from Hamilton may be to use our existing infrastructure to host an event(s), if they win the bid. There are a number of steps that still need to happen before this becomes a reality. This motion is a way for us to indicate our support for the Games to come to Hamilton.BACKGROUND:The Hamilton 2030 Commonwealth Games Bid Corporation have drafted a letter of support to the Premier of Ontario outlining why the 2030 Commonwealth Games should be held in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region.The Bid Corporation has consulted with numerous First Nations leaders and municipalities throughout the GTA on this bid and the benefits that would come from hosting the Games in the Region. They have outlined, in the joint letter of support, the proposed investment required from the Ontario Government of $440 million, along with federal and private sector funding.There is no financial request from the city for the games bid, nor does adding the City of Burlington’s name to a request for provincial funding entail any financial commitment on the part of the City of Burlington for these games.The 2030 games have adopted a new model of private sector investment, which we endorse, along with upper level government supports.As outlined in the letter, hosting the Games in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region will bring significant benefits for local tourism, businesses, and sports organizations. The games are also expected to bring 16,000 new jobs to the Region and more than $400 million in Games contracts for local businesses.The Bid Corporation has invited City of Burlington representatives to be part of discussions and update meetings for the bid to keep the city aware of their progress on this item.Please see below links to the motion memo from Councillors Bentivegna and Galbraith, and myself, as well as related materials:
- Motion Memo from Mayor and Councillors Bentivegna and Galbraith: ADM-02-23 Hamilton Commonwealth Games Bid motion
- Appendices: