Waterdown is a town in Canada which since 2001 has been a community of Hamilton, Ontario. On January 1, 2001 the new city of Hamilton was formed from the amalgamation of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth and its six municipalities: Hamilton, Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Glanbrook, and Stoney Creek. Before amalgamation, the "old" City of Hamilton had 331,121 Hamiltonians divided into 100 neighbourhoods. The new amalgamated city has 490,268 people in over 200 neighbourhoods.

Waterdown was created from that part of East Flamborough Township on the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, just east of the junction of King's Highways Nos. 5 and 6.

History

In 1974, it was amalgamated with East Flamborough, West Flamborough and Beverly townships to form the Town of Flamborough in the newly minted Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth. In 2001, Hamilton-Wentworth and all its former municipal federation members were abolished and replaced by an amalgamated City of Hamilton.
Waterdown is expanding greatly, with the recent addition of a YMCA and several commercial establishments.

Because of the approval of new homes in Waterdown - at least 6,500 more houses in the near future - there are ongoing discussions regarding the planned $50 million 'Waterdown By-Pass', which would allow for easier access across the city. Waterdown population growth was approximately 28.9% over the years 1996 and 2001.

Waterdown District High School (WDHS) has faced an enrollment crisis and has recently voted to expand its facilities to neighbouring Allan A. Greenleaf Public school. The transition is expected to be finalized once a new public school is constructed for the displaced Greenleaf students.


Amalgamation

Months before Waterdown's amalgamation into Hamilton, the residents of the town were heavily contesting Premier Mike Harris' push to include Waterdown into Hamilton. Due to Waterdown's location as a sandwich town, resting between Burlington and Hamilton, residents argued that Hamilton would not extend the services the city residents get out to Waterdown, such as bus routes. Along with this, Burlington had expressed some interest in amalgamating the town into its city - this idea was favoured by the Waterdown residents. However, despite the residents' attempts to sway the Conservative Ontario government otherwise, Waterdown was amalgamated into Hamilton.

This prompted the elected MPP at the time, Conservative Toni Skarica, to resign from his position - which shocked many, mostly because he ran (and won) on the platform of keeping the town unamalgamated, and vowed to resign if the Conservatives amalgamated with Hamilton. He gained a brief local celebrity status during that time because of his surprising honesty. As of 2006, Toni is employed as an Assistant Crown Attorney serving Hamilton.