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There will be another first on Hamilton city council when everyone is officially sworn in next week.  Of the four rookie members Matthew Green will be the first visible minority to join council.

At 34, Matthew Green is the youngest member of Hamilton city council. He is also the first black person ever elected to that post.

Born in Hamilton and raised by a single mother, Green played football before attending Acadia University where he received a BA in political science and legal studies. Today, he owns and operates a fitness studio on Ottawa Street.

Green: “I would consider myself fiscally responsible, having said that we’re going to have to have an honest conversation around our taxes. We can’t continue to have zero increase tax raises when inflation is higher than that. What I realized when I was canvasing is that people want value for money. They want to make sure where the money is spent is being spent responsibly and has the most return on investment.”

On LRT, Green shares the council’s position, saying he supports it as long as it is fully funded.

He wants to make improved accessibility and community safety a priority when he is sworn in next week.

And he finds significance in being the first member of a visible minority to be elected to Hamilton city council: “Well, I think that any time you have somebody from the community that might have been under represented in other aspects much like when women are elected it shows other people in the community that it’s possible so the hope is that more people might participate in the process that might not have before.”

Matthew Green will fill the seat left vacant by long time councillor Bernie Morelli who died last January.