[2] Prior to the 1985 vote, an advocacy group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Hamilton (CCH) formed to endorse candidates for office with a pro-business perspective.

[4] Though CCH solicited donations and campaigned on behalf of candidates, members denied they were a political party and lamented the fact they needed to organize.

[6] Morrow faced two challengers: former Board of Control member Jim Campbell and small business owner Marvin Sommer.

[7] Sommer, a 49-year old James Street merchant at the time of the election, also ran on a pro-business platform, though promoted few specific policies.

[10] The race for Ward One alderman was the third time in as many years that electors would go to the polls to select a new member of city council.

[2] This came after his loss to Peterson and Mary Kiss in 1982, after capturing the seat vacated after his wife and the area's alderman, Kay Drage, died in 1979.

Kiss, who refused to give her age to the Hamilton Spectator, opposed GO Transit expansion and promoted investment in local industry.

[2] Terry Cooke, a candidate in the by-election that occurred earlier in the year, promoted a rapid transit link to Toronto using existing heavy rail infrastructure and advocated reinstating the Board of Control.