Dear Members, Please see below for an opinion piece from Hamilton Chamber President & CEO Greg Dunnett, published in today’s Hamilton Spectator, on the importance of embracing long-term economic growth and making the choices needed to support Hamilton’s future competitiveness.  —  Perhaps the time has come for Hamilton to retire the title of the Ambitious City. At least until we are prepared to live up to it. That is not an easy sentence to write. I believe deeply in this city, in its people, and in its potential. But ambition is not proven by slogans, history, or civic pride. It is proven by choices. It must show up when major opportunities arrive, when projects are complicated, when trade-offs are real, and when leadership requires more than saying what is easiest in the moment. And right now, our choices are sending a clear message well beyond Hamilton.  This is not a commentary on any single project. It is not, fundamentally, about data centres, transit, clean steel, housing, employment lands or redevelopment. It is about the pattern those debates reveal.  Too often, Hamilton has turned major infrastructure and investment opportunities into prolonged civic battles. Pan Am Games infrastructure became a fight. LRT became a generational struggle. Housing growth has become mired in process and mistrust. Clean industrial investment is too often met with hesitation before strategy. Now, AI and data-centre infrastructure have become the latest flashpoint. City building is hard. Major projects deserve scrutiny. Residents deserve transparency. Communities deserve protection. Environmental impacts must be understood. Public benefits must be clear. The question is not whether Hamilton should say yes to everything. The question is whether Hamilton has become too comfortable saying no first. That distinction matters because major decisions do not happen in isolation. They create ripple effects. They shape how other levels of government see us. They shape how investors assess us. They shape whether employers believe Hamilton is a city where things can get done. Partnerships are built on mutual benefit. People invest where they see alignment, confidence and a clear path forward. If every major opportunity becomes a prolonged battle, we risk becoming difficult to invest in, difficult to partner with, and easy to overlook. That should concern all of us, because the consequences extend well beyond any single project. They influence whether institutions choose to grow here, whether entrepreneurs choose to stay here, whether governments choose to prioritize us, and whether future opportunities come across our desk at all.  Reputation is economic infrastructure. Once damaged, it is difficult to rebuild. At the same time, Hamilton residents are asking legitimate questions about affordability. Property taxes have risen by more than 20 per cent over the past four municipal budgets. Families and businesses are feeling the pressure. But if we want to reduce the burden on residents, we need more than restraint. We need growth. We need new assessment. We need employment. We need investment that expands the tax base rather than asking the same households and businesses to carry more of the load year after year. You cannot build affordability on opposition alone. Canada is trying to reposition itself for a new economic era. The federal government is investing in sovereign AI capacity. Ontario is focused on energy, advanced manufacturing, housing, trade infrastructure and the future of industrial competitiveness. Hamilton should be central to that conversation. We have the assets, the location, the institutions and the industrial legacy to help shape the next Canadian economy. But we cannot ask to be part of the future while continually resisting the infrastructure that future requires. If Hamilton is not seen as a credible partner in that work, those investments will not disappear. They will simply go somewhere else.  The right answer is not blind approval. It is better leadership. Leadership is not measured by how quickly we respond to the loudest opposition of the moment. It is measured by whether we are prepared to make the right long-term decisions for the city, even when those decisions are difficult, misunderstood or politically uncomfortable. It means turning complicated opportunities into better projects, not turning them away before we understand what they could become.  Hamilton should be a city with high standards. But high standards are not the same as closed doors, and a moratorium is not a substitute for a strategy. We need to decide what kind of city we want to be known as. A city that fights investment until it leaves? A city that studies opportunity until it passes? Or a city mature enough to welcome ambition, shape it, challenge it and make it work for Hamilton? I believe deeply in this community. The Chamber exists because our members believe in this community, too. We believe Hamilton can be the best city in Canada to raise a child, build a business and age with dignity. But that future will not be delivered by slogans. It will be built through choices. If Hamilton wants to compete for the future, we must stop treating every opportunity as a threat before we understand how it can become an advantage.

Greg Dunnett President & CEO Hamilton Chamber of Commerce

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