The two-person race drew little attention from local media, with reporters and commentators noting that Church of the Universe minister Michael Baldasaro had little chance of defeating incumbent mayor Bob Morrow.
In the summer of 1988, Hamilton, Ontario City Council passed a bylaw aimed at reducing the prominence of student houses in the area by limiting the number of unrelated tenants in a single family home to five.
This decision angered the McMaster Students Union and prompted a concentrated effort on behalf of the undergraduate representative body to find a pro-student candidate to challenge incumbent aldermen Terry Cooke and Mary Kiss.
A two-term alderman at the time, Kiss faced considerable criticism from members of the community over her opposition to the construction of two three-storey apartment buildings on Broadway Avenue near McMaster University.
A small group of residents disapproved of the proposal to change the site's zoning from light industrial to residential and stormed a meeting of city council where the issue was to be discussed.
The former teacher had come under fire for his campaign against the city's executive committee and was widely critiqued in the area for his support of a high-density senior's building near a popular local landmark, the Thistle Club.
"[10] Agro was a prominent Hamilton-area Liberal, garnering the support of Culture and Communications Minister Lily Munro and CHCH-TV reporter Stan Keyes, who would represent Hamilton West in Parliament from 1988 until 2004.
[15] Ward Three was a hotly contested race, with incumbent alderman Pat Valeriano seeking the office of Regional Chairman over another term as East Hamilton-Stipley's representative.
[16] Incumbent alderman Brian Hinkley had considered seeking the office of Regional Chairman, but after unsuccessfully standing as a New Democratic candidate against Liberal Lily Munro in Hamilton Centre during the 1987 Ontario Provincial Election, he found his resources drained and threw his energies into retaining his Ward Three seat.
[18] Marketing consultant Doreen Johnson was a community activist, serving on the Status of Women subcommittee at the city level and volunteering with the Immigrant Action Committee and the Hamilton and District Multicultural Centre.
Road upgrades, improving sewers and the environmental impact of sewage treatment plants and the regional garbage incinerator were all cited as major concerns by the residents of the ward during the election.
The ward's political makeup was altered between the 1985 and 1988 elections, with incumbent alderman Shirley Collins stepping down in 1987 to successfully stand as Liberal candidate for MPP for Hamilton East.
During his short tenure on council, Agostino angered some of his colleagues who criticized him of opportunism, after he created a bingo task force to examine how the industry operated in Hamilton, became the chairman of it and subsequently disbanded it.
Neglect of sidewalks, parks and other municipal services were major issues, with challengers proposing to fix the problems and keep taxes low to appease the ward's diverse communities.
A Progressive Conservative who unsuccessfully sought his party's nomination to stand as MPP for Hamilton Mountain, Cowell was also threatened with a slander lawsuit in 1988 after making allegations about illegal dumping against a local waste management company.
During the 1988 campaign, he called for the city to curb its spending habits, referred to the pay increase approved by alderman as 'disgusting' and was quoted as saying "I sense a yearning for a return to politicians who have honour, integrity, decency and accessibility.
[36] Two-time candidate and high school gym teacher Vince Formosi sought election once more in 1988, fought for Escarpment beautification, opening City Hall on Saturdays and proposed a south-Mountain superpark with a wave pool, golf course, hotel and shopping mall.
[37] Peter O'Hagan was an opponent of the Red Hill Valley Expressway and ran on a conservative platform of reducing alderman's pay, dropping council's responsibilities to a part-time and cutting most civic spending.
[38] University of Waterloo urban planning student Allan McDiarmid ran a very low-key campaign, pushing for all-day GO Train service, a quick completion of the Red Hill Valley Expressway and one-tier local government.
Early in his term, Gallagher demanded a management review of HSR commissioner Heinz Schweinbenz and attacked administrative officer Mac Carson over allegedly understating a report that critiqued aldermen for interfering in the operations of the city's bus service.
[48] Sheet-metal apprentice Stephen Jones called for the renovation of the abandoned Inverness School into a seniors centre and day care, the only issue noted as a campaign plank in local media.