Councillors Brian McHattie and Jason Farr disagree. But they're splitting hairs.

Both have clearly gone rogue on city's council's position on light rail transit.

How you feel about that may depend on whether you support the proposed $811-million project or not.

But there's no escaping the fact that, according to city records, the two councillors were appointed to the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce LRT task force to "represent the City of Hamilton."

By supporting the task force motion okaying the use of "alternative funding strategies," McHattie and Farr have deviated from council's official position requesting 100 per cent capital funding from the province for the 14-kilometre McMaster to Eastgate line.

Farr argues he's not "directly" in contravention. His reasoning?

Farr says the chamber motion reconfirms council's position and only contemplates alternative funding "should the province require some financial contribution from Hamilton."

Councillor Brad Clark, who, like McHattie, is running for mayor, dismisses that as semantics. He says the councillors don't have the authority to support such suggestions.

"It opened the door to something council has not considered. It shows a crack in the veneer. It's unacceptable."

Councillor Sam Merulla agrees the two have crossed a line.

"If they voted to support another option, that's not consistent with council's position; therefore they have two positions."

Mayor Bob Bratina and Lloyd Ferguson, the two other council reps on the task force, don't support the motion, which further isolates McHattie and Farr.

What were they thinking?

First off, McHattie doesn't buy the idea he's gone rogue.

"Absolutely not. I'm listening to what I'm hearing and, from other experiences, I'm not one to put my head in the sand and say it's 100 per cent . and there's zero options."

His nitpicking distinction is finer than Farr's.

McHattie says council's position is based on no capital contributions, but alternative funding could entail options such as tax incremental financing, which basically would see the province pay for the project upfront and recoup some of the money from future property taxes generated by LRT-related growth.

McHattie also sees his role on the committee as representing both council and the community.

And he's terrified that Hamilton might be excluded from an announcement on transit funding in the upcoming provincial budget because it hasn't responded to "hints' from Transportation Minister Glen Murray about options such as tax incremental financing.

He says the chamber motion responds "directly to the guy who's holding the money."

If there are other funding sources available other than from the city's "stressed" capital budget, McHattie says he's open to exploring them.

This isn't the first time McHattie has gone off trail on this file. In February, the Ward 1 councillor was accused of electioneering when he went over Bratina's head and wrote directly to Premier Kathleen Wynne to stress the city's support for LRT.

It can be argued his latest attempt to push the LRT envelope undermines council's position by signalling to the province that the request for 100 per cent funding is not written in stone.

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On the other hand, this clearly positions McHattie as LRT's champion par excellence, in much the same way he broke ranks and stepped into the breach to save the Lister from demolition. As then, so now, principle is probably the guiding force.

Truth be told, McHattie must be acting solely out of a passionate belief in the transformative nature of the project because, as one councillor dryly notes, nobody is going to win a mayoral race on the back of LRT.

You might lose, but you won't win it.

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