Flamborough—Glanbrook

Flamborough—Glanbrook is a largely suburban and rural riding on the southern and western edges of the City of Hamilton. It includes the communities of Flamborough, Waterdown, Dundas, Ancaster, and Glanbrook, and was created ahead of the 2018 election. The riding is Hamilton’s only seat held by the Progressive Conservatives, as the NDP holds the city’s remaining ridings. Donna Skelly won the inaugural 2018 contest and entered the 2022 race as the incumbent.

Candidates

Donna Skelly (Progressive Conservative) — Born in Capreol, Ontario, Skelly had a 30-year career in broadcast journalism, working at CHCH-TV in Hamilton as a reporter, news anchor, and host of the current affairs program Square Off. She served on Hamilton City Council after winning a by-election in March 2016 by 92 votes before entering provincial politics the following year.

Allison Cillis (NDP) — Cillis is a Hamilton high school teacher who works at an alternative school educating young parents and pregnant teens. She serves as the District 21 Human Rights Committee chair within the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. She previously ran as the federal NDP candidate in Flamborough—Glanbrook in the 2019 election.

Melisse Willems (Liberal) — Willems is a lawyer and former executive director of the College of Dietitians of Ontario. She started her legal career in 2003 and worked in increasingly senior roles within Ontario’s health profession regulators.

Mario Portak (Green Party), Paul Simoes (New Blue Party), Walt Juchniewicz (Ontario Party), and Nikita Mahood (People’s Political Party) also contested the riding.

Local Issues

The question of urban boundary expansion was the most contentious local issue heading into the 2022 election. In November 2021, Hamilton City Council voted to freeze the city’s urban boundary and reject a proposed 3,240-acre expansion into Glanbrook farmland, including the Elfrida area. Council made the decision after roughly 90% of more than 18,000 survey respondents supported keeping the boundary frozen. During the campaign, candidates debated whether the provincial government would honour the city’s decision or override it to allow development on agricultural land.

Highway construction and transit investment also divided candidates. Skelly and the PCs promoted highway-building and transit initiatives to reduce gridlock, while opposition candidates expressed concern that new highways would cut through farmland and protected natural areas. Residents in the rapidly growing Waterdown area in particular sought better transportation connections to Hamilton’s lower city and the Greater Toronto Area.

Education funding was another issue, with Cillis citing the impact of provincial education cuts on Hamilton-area teachers. She noted that 99 teachers in the Hamilton board had lost their positions due to changes introduced by the Ford government, which had motivated her own entry into politics.