"How is Hamilton?" I asked my brother, who's been living there for the past couple of years and where there has been a lot of "development." The last time I was there it looked lovely with a newly renovated waterfront just by the downtown. There had been some talk of industries and companies (with Hamilton as part of the Silicon Valley North in Ontario) coming in to fill in jobs lost to the disappearance of the steel mills, and the economy was looking good.
Hamilton is several miles south of Toronto, and is also becoming something of a "bedroom" city for Toronto workers.
"It's nice. There's not much of a mixture though. It's mostly whites."
There you have it.
"Whites not allowed" is going to be the new 21st century sign.
Below are photos of the waterfront I took about a year ago as the marina was being developed and part of the the steel mills' infrastructure was still in the background.
Information on the steel mills departure impact
But the steel industry hasn't disappeared. In fact there is a resurgence that is occurring. Read about the North America Free Trade negotiations here.
And about the downtown redevelopment project here.
In the guise of "whites not allowed here" what this really means is leaving room for others to elbow their way in.
That is what the Chinese are doing by dumping cheap steel into the Canadian market. Various Canadian officials have stated that Canada needs to impose trade barriers to protect Canadian steel.
And with the continued collapse of the Chinese global strategy, I think Hamilton will have a resurgence, a revival, and as I told my brother, a renaissance.