The 1994 Hamilton municipal election was a municipal election held on November 14, 1994, to elect municipal officials for the City of Hamilton. Hamiltonions selected one mayor, one regional chairman, and sixteen alderman to the Hamilton City Council (two from each Ward), as well as members of both English and French Public and Catholic School Boards. Voters in the municipality also had the opportunity to cast a ballot for the Regional Chairman of the Hamilton-Wentworth region.
Regional Chairman Election
Candidates
Terry Cooke, 35, ran his campaign on the central issues that were raised by voters in time for the election, namely reforming government, improving policing, and redeveloping the downtown core. Bill Sears was formerly the Mayor of Stoney Creek and served as the Regional Chairman prior to seeking the spot in a political comeback. Janice Wilson was a high-school teacher who ran a campaign that sought to curb hunting in the area and wanted to slow development to preserve the region's natural spaces.
Campaign
Following the retirement of Reg Whynott, three candidates entered the race to succeed him. Sitting Hamilton Alderman Terry Cooke faced off against former Stoney Creek mayor and regional chairman Bill Sears, and high school teacher Janice Wilson.
|-
!rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Candidate
!colspan="3"|Popular vote
|-
! Votes
! %
! ±%
|-
| style="background-color:#E4D00A;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Terry Cooke
| style="text-align:right;" |59,740
| style="text-align:right;" |50.02%
| style="text-align:right;" |n/a
|-
| style="background-color:#00BFFF;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Bill Sears
| style="text-align:right;" |48,143
| style="text-align:right;" |40.18%
| style="text-align:right;" |n/a
|-
| style="background-color:#4F7942;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Janice Wilson
| style="text-align:right;" |11,559
| style="text-align:right;" |9.8%
| style="text-align:right;" |n/a
|-
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |Total Votes
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |119,442
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |100%
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |
|-
| style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" colspan="2" |Registered Voters | style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |n/a | style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |n/a | style="text-align:right;background-color:#FFFFFF;" |n/a |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="6" |Note: All Hamilton Municipal Elections are officially non-partisan. Note: Candidate campaign colours are based on the prominent colour used in campaign items (signs, literature, etc.)and are used as a visual differentiation between candidates. |- | style="text-align:left;" colspan="13" |Sources: Poling, Jim. "Policing, reform are top priorities, Cooke vows; 'There's a lot of work ahead,' jubilant victor tells supporters," Hamilton Spectator, November 15, 1994, News, A1. |}