Former MP seeking Hamilton city council seat he once held

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Published June 13, 2022 at 7:36 pm

Scott Duvall wants his old job back.

The former New Democratic Party of Canada member of Parliament has registered to run against incumbent Coun. Esther Pauls in Ward 7 in the Hamilton municipal elections in October. Duvall was on city council from 2006 till early ’15, when he vacated his seat after being nominated to run federally in Hamilton Mountain for the NDP. He served two terms in Ottawa before opting not to run in the 2021 federal election, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.

Duvall, who turns 66 years old on Canada Day, was a second-generation steelworker in Hamilton who became a union president before going into elected politics. Over his six years in Ottawa, he frequently pressed the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau-led Liberals on pay equity and pension perform.

The last two elections in the Ward 7, the Central Mountain area, have been a study in contrasts. In 2018, Pauls, who is involved with Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s campaign to lead the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), won with the smallest percentage of any elected councillor. Pauls got exactly 25 per cent of the votes cast in a race where six candidates earned at least 10 per cent.

Pauls is one of five councillors who have already filed nomination papers well in advance of the Aug. 19 deadline. Couns. John-Paul Danko (Ward 8), Nrinder Nann (3) Maria Pearson (10) and Maureen Wilson (1) have also made their intentions officials.

In his last council campaign in 2014, Duvall was re-elected easily with 79 per cent support. After he vacated in early ’15 to try his luck federally, Donna Skelly won the ensuing Ward 7 byelection. Skelly was then elected an Ontario PC Party MPP for Flamborough—Glanbrook.

Federal and provincial voting results do not necessarily predict outcomes in a city council race, and Ward 7 is within a riding that is historically competitive.

Earlier this month, Hamilton Mountain voters elected New Democrat Monique Taylor to her fourth term at Queen’s Park. But the Ontario NDP did not won the seat in four tries from 1995 to 2011.

In the federal election last September, Hamilton Mountain was one of the last races to be called, with the Liberals’ Lisa Hepfner prevailing by fewer than two percentage points over the NDP’s Malcolm Allen. The CPC has also earned 24 to 26 per cent support in the riding over the last three elections.

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