Hamilton

Hamilton exists because Lake Ontario provides cheap transportation for heavy cargo. Pennsylvania coal could arrive by water; Quebec iron ore could arrive by water; finished steel could ship out by water. When Stelco formed in 1910 and Dofasco in 1912, they were exploiting the same geographic logic that makes all steel cities cluster near waterways. Today, Hamilton produces 60% of all steel made in Canada.

The Steel City's identity runs deep. Over 10,000 workers labor directly in steel production; thousands more work in shipping and equipment fabrication. The Hamilton Port Authority handles over 12 million metric tonnes annually—28% of all St. Lawrence Seaway traffic. The smoke from the mills became so iconic that Hamilton's identity and its pollution became inseparable. For a century, this was the deal: good union jobs in exchange for accepting that the escarpment would glow orange at night.

But the city is now mid-metamorphosis. In November 2024, Cleveland-Cliffs acquired Stelco for $2.5 billion—American ownership for a Canadian industrial icon. ArcelorMittal Dofasco is investing $1.8 billion to transition to electric arc furnaces by 2028, with $500 million from the Ontario government. The goal: green steel production. Meanwhile, McMaster University has become the city's second economic engine. Fusion Pharmaceuticals, spun out of McMaster, sold to AstraZeneca for $2.4 billion. OmniaBio, a $580 million cell and gene therapy facility at McMaster Innovation Park, represents the future. The Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub secured $115 million in funding.

By 2026, Hamilton faces the question of whether it can run two economies simultaneously: the legacy steel industry transforming into green steel, and the McMaster-anchored life sciences cluster growing into pharmaceutical manufacturing. The city that built itself on metallurgy is now betting on both metals and molecules.