A technical report that was written ten years ago became missing and from this millions of dollars have been spent trying to explain how this happened. Such is the reality for the citizens of the City of Hamilton who will pay all the expenses.
The latest news posted on the website of the Red Hill Valley Judicial Inquiry is that a final report, to be delivered by Justice Herman Wilton-Siegal, will be available on November 29, 2023. The report should provide a summary of the vast testimony that was complied over the years with respect to how a technical report, the Tradewind Report, became lost, or purposely hidden. The Tradewind Report provided the results of testing on the surface of the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton, Ontario. Those results showed that the road surface was substandard, although much argument has been made during the inquiry about whether any standards exist, or which standards are applicable.
What should stand out from all this is the time and expense involved. in May, 2019 Justice Wilton-Siegal was appointed to lead the Inquiry. By the end of April, 2020, it was reported that the Inquiry already spent close to $2 million dollars. No further accounting has been made available as to what the current expenses have been. It was noted by news media that the City of Hamilton reserved a total of $7 million for total potential Inquiry expenses. That money will be coming from City of Hamilton taxpayer pockets. The Inquiry has been operating for about 3 1/2 years now and undoubtedly, participating lawyers representing the participants in the Inquiry have been submitting their invoices. We will see shortly what has become of all this time and expense.
However the end of the Inquiry is not the end of the matter. A class action lawsuit may be pending in the amount of $250 million. Again, whatever is resolved from that will be paid again by City of Hamilton taxpayers.
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