Province extends strong mayor powers
Clearview Township Mayor Doug Measures said he doesn’t expect any big changes when the province extends “strong mayor powers” next month.
He said he believes the current council has a track record of governing by consensus, and he doesn’t anticipate that will change much.
“The role of the mayor is to work collaboratively with council,” said Measures. “I support council and they support me.”
Prior to 2022, Ontario mayors had little to no direct unilateral power, with the role largely limited to chairing council meetings and performing ceremonial duties. All decisions had to be approved by a majority vote of council and while mayors may wieldconsiderable influence over council, they could still be overruled.
That changed when the province passed the Better Municipal Governance Act and the Strong Mayors, Building
Homes Act. Originally affecting only the cities of Toronto and Ottawa, it was intended to streamline the workings of local governments to support provincial priorities. Since then the powers have been extended to 45 additional municipalities and, effectiveMay 1, will apply to all councils with six members or more – another 169 municipalities.
Simcoe-Grey’s Progressive Conservative MPP Brian Saunderson, who once served as mayor of Collingwood, said the Strong Mayors Building Homes Act does not give mayors unfettered power, but rather functions as more of a weighted vote on certain issues.
“If a mayor chooses to exercise the powers, the mayor’s vote plus one- third of council can carry a vote,” he said. “This is intended to help planning applications proceed in an expedited manner.”
Asked whether the legislation has had the desired effect in the 47 municipalities where it is already in effect, Saunderson said, “Unfortunately, cause and effect in the housing file isn’t a straight line. For example, we’ve been working hard at increasing rental housing stock. Last year we had a record number of rental housing starts. We also decreased development charges by 25 per cent so it’s hard to say exactly what caused the improvement.”
To date, Clearview Township has not committed to specific housing targets and Saunderson says that is not a requirement under the legislation.
The township may still apply for funding from the Building Homes Faster Fund. He points to recent large infrastructure funding announcements as a way the province is helping pave the way for construction of more homes in Clearview.
Saunderson notes that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Clearview Township Mayor Doug Measures said he doesn’t expect any big changes when the province extends “strong mayor powers” next month.
He said he believes the current council has a track record of governing by consensus, and he doesn’t anticipate that will change much.
“The role of the mayor is to work collaboratively with council,” said Measures. “I support council and they support me.”
Prior to 2022, Ontario mayors had little to no direct unilateral power, with the role largely limited to chairing council meetings and performing ceremonial duties. All decisions had to be approved by a majority vote of council and while mayors may wieldconsiderable influence over council, they could still be overruled.
That changed when the province passed the Better Municipal Governance Act and the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act. Originally affecting only the cities of Toronto and Ottawa, it was intended to streamline the workings of local governments to support provincial priorities. Since then the powers have been extended to 45 additional municipalities and, effectiveMay 1, will apply to all councils with six members or more – another 169 municipalities.
Simcoe-Grey’s Progressive Conservative MPP Brian Saunderson, who once served as mayor of Collingwood, said the Strong Mayors Building Homes Act does not give mayors unfettered power, but rather functions as more of a weighted vote on certain issues.
“If a mayor chooses to exercise the powers, the mayor’s vote plus one- third of council can carry a vote,” he said. “This is intended to help planning applications proceed in an expedited manner.”
Asked whether the legislation has had the desired effect in the 47 municipalities where it is already in effect, Saunderson said, “Unfortunately, cause and effect in the housing file isn’t a straight line. For example, we’ve been working hard at increasing rental housing stock. Last year we had a record number of rental housing starts. We also decreased development charges by 25 per cent so it’s hard to say exactly what caused the improvement.”
To date, Clearview Township has not committed to specific housing targets and Saunderson says that is not a requirement under the legislation.
The township may still apply for funding from the Building Homes Faster Fund. He points to recent large infrastructure funding announcements as a way the province is helping pave the way for construction of more homes in Clearview.
Saunderson notes that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation processes,” he said. “Sadly, it takes a lot of time to get a new housing project off the ground. If everything is done but the project is waiting on having a property properly zoned, the strong mayor powers could be used to speed up approvals. I have spoken to two other mayors, and they agree that every decision is going to be unique. If it looks logical to cut red tape to streamline the process, we’ll do it.”
Measures said it is possible that some future council might be less effective at achieving consensus, and that is where the strong mayor powers might help clear deadlocks and speed progress. He cites the example of the speed reduction debate faced by the previous council saying, “If there was a problem coming to agreement, the mayoral veto could have come into effect and made the whole process much quicker.”
Measures said the clerk’s department will offer a workshop for council and senior management to develop an understanding of the act.
Councillor Rob McArthur said, “At this point we are all in a learning phase trying to figure out how this will work. If you have a good staff and a good council, the strong mayor powers may never come into play.”
Strong mayor powers and duties include:
- Choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer.
- Hiring certain municipal department heads and establishing and re-organizing departments.
- Creating committees of council, assigning their functions and appointing the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council.
- Proposing the municipal budget, which would be subject to council amendments and a separate head of council veto and council override process.
- Proposing certain municipal bylaws if the mayor is of the opinion that the proposed bylaw could potentially advance a provincial priority identified in regulation. Council can pass these bylaws if more than one-third of all council members vote in favour.
- Vetoing certain bylaws if the head of council is of the opinion that all or part of the bylaw could potentially interfere with a provincial priority.
- Bringing forward matters for council consideration if the head of council is of the opinion that considering the matter could potentially advance a provincial priority.
File photo: Mayor Doug Measures at the inauguration ceremony for the current term of council held in December 2022.
