Hamilton councillors butted heads over who will sit on the mayor’s economic recovery task force that is expected to help local businesses get back to work.

Some councillors want the entity to also fix nagging social issues within the city, such as social inequality, the lack of affordable housing and precarious employment.

Other councillors said the mandate of the task force is simply to oversee and create an “action plan” for “long-term, sustainable and equitable economic recovery” for local businesses hard hit by the pandemic.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger had proposed the idea of a task force last month that would see the city quarterback a recovery plan for local businesses, provide advice and if possible, assistance to implement any back-to-work strategy.

The task force includes representatives from the chambers of commerce, restaurant, film and music industries, agriculture, manufacturing, life sciences, building and development, BIAs, and education institutions.

Council would have the final say on approving any task force recommendations it produces.

“The objective is to restart businesses and help facilitate through that process,” said Eisenberger. “I’m not sure it’s bigger than that frankly.”

Since the pandemic, Hamilton has seen its unemployment rate jump to 7.8 per cent, a significant increase from last year’s 5.1 per cent.

A survey conducted by the city on how the pandemic has impacted local businesses found a loss of 13,000 jobs, representing a city-wide decrease of 35.8 per cent, with about 20 per cent of the businesses in the survey stating they have no employees. And over half of the businesses have seen a cut in their revenues greater than 50 per cent. There were 1,040 respondents to the survey.

Yet councillors Maureen Wilson and Nrinder Nann said the task force should address structural issues within the economy that has impacted immigrants, low-wage workers, and precarious employees.

Wilson said since the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated gender inequalities, the task force should help to “reveal those impediments.”

“There are structure issues: an inability to access capital,” said Wilson referring to female-led businesses, who have felt the brunt of the pandemic shutdown.

She also suggested the task force add a representative from the city’s immigration community because of the involvement newcomers have had in Hamilton. Wilson’s motion to include a representative from the Hamilton Immigration Centre was rejected 12-3.

Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann said the pandemic has provided the city with an opportunity to address long-standing structural issues in the community, including precarious work and affordable housing.

“This crisis is an opportunity to invite everyone to the table to create positive outcomes that will actually lead to long-lasting economic recovery and stability for our municipality,” she said. “It’s important we do everything in the power of this city government to ensure that this recovery is equitable, healthy and sustainable.”

Nann also requested a representative of the Hamilton and District Labour Council be on the task force. Councillors agreed to include a labour representative on the task force in an 8-6 vote.

Nann dismissed any suggestions from colleagues that allowing the task force to focus on particular issues is a political ploy.

“The premise here is not a political one,” said Nann. “It’s faithfully the mandate of the task force.”

Other councillors were opposed to changing the task force’s mandate or adding further people to the committee. The original compliment of members had been 24. But council added two additional representatives – including from sports entertainment – for a total number of 26.

“It’s pretty clear what the mandate is,” said Flamborough Coun. Judi Partridge. “We need to get these businesses back to hiring employees, back to work.”

 Stoney Creek Coun. Brad Clark, said any social issues that were revealed during the pandemic should be studied by council and not the task force.

“The mandate is to have an economic recovery as quickly as possible and I’m personally not on for anything else,” he said.

Councillors did approve a motion to create a sub-committee to address the pandemic impact on social issues.

Councillors then fought among themselves over whether to have three council representatives on the task force rather than two. Councillors agreed to appoint Partridge and Ancaster Coun. Lloyd Ferguson to the task force. But councillors rejected a motion in a 9-6 vote to add Nann to the task force.

Councillors eventually approved the task force’s terms of reference in a 15-0 vote.

The internal sniping among councillors drew a sharp rebuke from Clark who said he was concerned what had been a united council message during the pandemic had started to fray.

“I’m profoundly disappointed that we are having this discussion,” he said. “Historically we have always come together as a group. I’m nervous that this discussion seems to be indictive of some disconnect that is occurring across the council that we are going to have to get our heads around and start working together.”