Hamilton mayor Fred Esienberger stopped in Waterdown today, saying this visit was planned weeks ago and had nothing to do with Burlington mayor Rick Goldring’s request to annex Waterdown, an announcement he was blindsided by. Instead he wanted to use this stop at the Jitterbug café to talk about two big projects, a bypass to move traffic around Waterdown and an overpass/underpass at Highways 5 & 6.

Esienberger says he has now had the chance to speak to Goldring,

“He called me yesterday we had a brief conversation he was in my humble opinion a little sheepish in terms of what he put on the table with the province but he seems to be committed to his idea.”

The province has said it won’t look at this battle over Waterdown until both mayors come together and have at least one public meeting, but as far as Esienberger is concerned that won’t be happening.