Terry Whitehead

Terry Whitehead has long made a home with his wife and four children in Ward 8 and is committed to making the City of Hamilton a better place to live, work, play and raise one’s family.

A very visible and vocal full-time councillor, he is now in his second term of office and participates in numerous agencies, boards and committees on behalf of West Mountain constituents. Click here for a complete list of Terry’s involvement.

Terry’s work in the private sector and at all levels of government have given him a wealth of knowledge. He has operated his own business and has many years of experience working in executive positions for municipal, provincial and federal governments.

From 1990 to 1995, Terry served as Special Assistant to the Honourable David Christopherson, then Minister of Correctional Services and Solicitor General of Ontario; from 1995 to 2000, he was Chief of Staff to Robert Morrow, a former mayor for the City of Hamilton, and from 2001 to 2003, as Special Advisor to the Honourable Sheila Copps, then Minister of Canadian Heritage.

Terry has been instrumental in resolving issues for the City of Hamilton and its organizations, businesses and residents. He was directly involved in negotiations with the Red Cross, Canadian Blood Services, Health Canada and the Hamilton Branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society which preserved two hundred jobs within our community.

In the Mayor’s Office, Terry initiated discussions on expanding the film industry (a multimillion-dollar business) in Hamilton. He invited representatives from the Ontario Media Development Corporation to develop a plan which, upon implementation, resulted in increased activity for Hamilton and, in fact, one year we boasted more filming in our city than any one state in the USA.

Terry was also directly involved in the negotiations between the City of Hamilton and its Port Authority resulting in the settlement of a one hundred million-dollar lawsuit and the return of the city’s west harbour to the people of Hamilton.

With the help of Community Council, he introduced “Movie Night in the Park”, bringing neighbours together as a community to enjoy fun for the whole family. The grass roots project has met with such success that it is anticipated to be an annual event.

Over the last number of years, Terry was the only one to speak out about the creation of the Southern Ontario Economic Development Agency . Due in part to these efforts, the Federal Government has established the Regional Development Agency for Ontario to help with the province’s recovery, particularly as Southern Ontario was one of the areas hardest hit by the economic downturn. It was recently announced that $1 billion in funding over the next few years would be available to primarily help the area’s manufacturing industry.

He also championed the Business Ambassador Program, a network of local leaders with a passion for promoting growth and investment in Hamilton.

Economic development directly influences the sustainability and prosperity of communities. To that end, Terry pushed for the implementation of a Business Ambassador Program and through the evolution of this program a flash disk to showcase the benefits of living and working in the Hamilton area was created. Our municipality is the only one to use this technology for which we won a national award. A sign we are on the right track in encouraging businesses and families to move to the Golden Horseshoe.