Hamilton Centre

Hamilton Centre entered the 2025 election amid an unusual set of circumstances. The riding had been an NDP stronghold since its creation in 2007, but its most recent representative, Sarah Jama, was sitting as an independent after the NDP expelled her from caucus in October 2023 over a statement she made regarding the conflict in Gaza. Jama, who had won a March 2023 by-election for the NDP following Andrea Horwath's departure to run for Hamilton mayor, applied to rejoin the party ahead of the 2025 election but was blocked from seeking the nomination. She chose to run as an independent, while the NDP nominated family physician Robin Lennox, setting up a contest that tested party loyalty in one of Ontario's most progressive urban ridings.

Candidates

Robin Lennox (NDP) — A family physician who graduated from McMaster University's DeGroote School of Medicine in 2015 and completed her residency in family medicine in 2017, Lennox specialized in addiction medicine. She practised as a frontline doctor before entering politics and won the local NDP nomination in a contested vote against registered nurse Aisha Jahangir.

Eileen Walker (Liberal) — A retired Justice of the Peace with nearly 40 years of public service, Walker had previously worked as a social worker for 21 years. In her judicial role, she presided over bail hearings, provincial offences trials, and cases involving domestic violence and mental health crises across courts in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

Sarah Bokhari (Progressive Conservative) — A political scientist and academic who had taught at various Canadian universities, Bokhari previously ran as the federal Conservative candidate in London North Centre in the 2019 election. She also ran as the PC candidate in Hamilton Centre in 2022.

Sarah Jama (Independent) — A disability and anti-racism advocate, Jama won the Hamilton Centre by-election in March 2023 for the NDP. She was expelled from the NDP caucus in October 2023 and spent the remainder of the term as an independent MPP. After the party rejected her application to seek its 2025 nomination, she ran as an independent.

Minor candidates included Lucia Iannantuono (Green Party), Mitch Novosad (New Blue Party), and Nathalie Xian Yi Yan (Independent).

Local Issues

Homelessness and encampments remained the most visible crisis in Hamilton Centre throughout the 2022–2025 term. The riding's downtown core continued to see tent encampments in parks and along thoroughfares, and Hamilton's affordable housing waitlist remained in the thousands. The question of how to manage encampments — whether through enforcement, supportive housing, or a combination of approaches — divided candidates and residents. All major candidates at local debates voiced support for doubling Ontario Disability Support Program payments to address the poverty underlying the crisis.

The opioid and mental health emergency persisted, with Hamilton continuing to record high numbers of opioid-related deaths and overdose calls. Access to addiction treatment, supervised consumption services, and community mental health resources remained inadequate relative to demand. Lennox's background in addiction medicine gave the issue particular prominence during the campaign, as she highlighted the gap between frontline needs and provincial funding.

The Hamilton Light Rail Transit project continued to loom over the city's political landscape. After the Ford government's cancellation in 2019 and reinstatement in 2021, the LRT moved slowly through procurement and early enabling works during the term, but construction of the main line had not yet begun. Candidates debated the province's commitment to the project and its potential to transform the city's transit infrastructure and economic development along the King Street corridor.