Ontario government proposes expansion of strong mayor powers to 169 more municipalities, including St. Marys

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Government of Ontario is continuing to bolster the unilateral decision-making powers of mayors across the province with a proposal to expand strong mayor powers to 169 additional municipalities effective May 1, including St. Marys.

In 2022, through changes to the Municipal Act, strong mayor powers were first granted to the heads of councils in Toronto and Ottawa, and then to mayors in 48 additional municipalities in 2023. Though several municipalities declined the enhanced mayoral powers, a total of 47 mayors in Ontario now have these strong mayor powers.

“Heads of council are key partners in our efforts to build homes and infrastructure across the province,” said Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack in a press release announcing the latest proposed expansion. “By extending strong mayor powers to these additional municipalities, we are providing mayors every tool at our disposal to empower them to get homes and infrastructure built faster. Mayors know their municipalities best, and we support them in taking bold actions for their communities.”

Strong mayor powers include the ability to appoint a municipality’s chief administrative officer (CAO), hire certain municipal department heads and reorganize departments, create committees of council, propose the municipal budget, propose certain bylaws the mayor says advances a provincial priority, veto certain bylaws the mayor says could interfere with a provincial priority, and bring forward matters for discussion by council if the mayor says they could advance a provincial priority.

St. Marys Mayor Al Strathdee is one of the 169 mayors included in this proposed expansion. While he says he can’t see himself using these new powers to appoint a CAO or hire departments heads, he understands the push by the province to give mayors the power to advance initiatives and projects that could support the development of new housing in the community.

“A lot of the public already thinks we have the powers that are in this bill to begin with,” Strathdee told the Independent. “ … We’re in a crisis situation with housing and I think that the government has to try all that they can do to fix the housing problem. If they think this could drive housing, I’m willing to give it a shot. I’m a big believer in collaboration and I think ‘better together’ is a good slogan, but if we’re not all working together, then it’s going to create divisiveness. I mean, you read about some of the craziness with some of the councils and some of the stuff that’s going on. I can see where certain municipalities and certain mayors will really want to use it to their benefits.

“I don’t think everyone is on board or understands the seriousness of the housing crisis, and we run against it all the time. … I’m not a big fan of authoritarianism or being able to make decisions (unilaterally); I think there should be committees for when you hire a CAO (or department heads) because I’m not that smart. I need people to help me. … On the other hand, when you’re specifically talking about housing, we’re not moving quick enough. We’ve tried a number of initiatives … and we’re seeing limited success, but it’s not quick enough.”

While Strathdee acknowledges the potential for mayors to use these powers to advance their own agendas, he says heads of council who are responsible and accountable for their actions can use those powers for the good of their communities.

Yet instances like the recent use of strong mayor powers granted in the wake of the recent ice storm to reverse the hiring of a new CAO in favour of hiring from within by Orillia Mayor DonMcIsaac, as well as public backlash to the proposed use of strong mayor powers in municipalities like Burlington and Caledon, have some worrying these powers have not yet been adequately tested and they may be a step too far.

In response to the recent announcement of the expansion from the province, the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO), which has been tracking the use of strong mayor powers since they were first introduced in Toronto and Ottawa in 2022, said there is no evidence to suggest this legislation has any impact on the number of housing starts in municipalities that have been granted the powers.

Instead, AMCTO says its research suggests strong mayor powers have blurred the political-administrative authority between the roles of heads of council and chief administrative officers (CAOs), threatening the neutrality of the public service and politicizing local government leadership.

“Looking at Ontario’s Housing Supply Tracker, there is no evidence to suggest that the use of strong mayor powers is helping to build housing,” said AMCTO spokesperson Jacquelyn Folville. “For example, of the 11 municipalities where mayors used powers in relation to staff and organizational structure, only three were on track to meet or exceed their 10-year target. We have more so been hearing about instances where the powers have created confusion by blurring the distinction of mayor and CAO roles or responsibilities, and where there’s been operational issues – for example, affecting a recent council decision at the Town of Orillia.”

Zack Taylor, an associate professor of political science at Western University and a fellow at the Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance, has been among those sounding alarm bells about strong mayor powers since their introduction in Ontario in 2022.

“If we buy the argument that these powers can be used to expand housing in rapidly growing areas, it’s the larger municipalities in rapidly growing areas that already have these powers,” Taylor said. “So, bringing this to much smaller places, many of them slower-growth places, I’m not sure if it’s something that would move the needle.”

Taylor said the expansion of these powers is based on the premise that councils across Ontario are “gridlocked” when it comes to dealing with issues deemed as priorities by the province, something the associate professor doesn’t see a lot of evidence to support. He says the idea that giving “soft-dictatorial authority” to heads of council to move the needle on housing doesn’t really make a lot of sense.

“Ontario has a very elaborate planning system that has generally served the province well for decades going back to the Second World War,” he said. “As a result, we have fairly efficient housing production that’s fully serviced by water and sewer and that kind of thing. And if you look at other parts of North America, that isn’t necessarily a given. But I think there is a legitimate argument there is a housing shortage, it’s just is this the right way to address it and will this kind of thing make it happen? What we’ve seen so far is it’s really hard to find any kind of evidence that strong mayor powers have created any more housing than would have been created otherwise.

“ … I think a cynical perspective on it is this is a way for the province to transfer blame for the housing crisis onto mayors.”

Among the myriad issues he sees with strong mayor powers and this proposed expansion is the decision by the province to expand these powers to smaller municipalities with fewer staff.

“If we think this entire policy basically emerged out of Doug Ford’s special interest in Toronto, the City of Toronto’s administrative structure with 30,000-plus employees is enormous and multi-layered, so the idea of having the mayor being able to play a role in hiring and firing senior staff means that you’re only really looking at that top layer. When you go to smaller places, we know you can fit the entire staff of a municipality in one room. … So, what does it mean to give the mayor hiring and firing power over that kind of thing? I think what it really risks is arbitrary decisions getting made, people playing favourites – you hire uncle Joe or whatever,” Taylor said.

“ … The mayor can install anyone they want.”

Another red flag for Taylor, specifically among smaller councils with as little as six members, is the notion a strong mayor can introduce a bylaw that supposedly advances a provincial priority and see it passed with just one-third of council’s support. For a council with six members, one of whom is the mayor, that means it would require just one other councillor’s support to pass.

While Taylor said these powers could see some benefits when it comes to limiting council debate during budget deliberations to ensure annual budgets are passed in a timely manner, he sees this expansion of power as opening the door to mayoral candidates in future municipal elections running with the intention of using strong mayoral powers to advance their own agendas instead of what’s best for their communities. And, in many smaller and rural communities, Taylor said mayoral candidates often run unopposed.

“Next time around, they’ll run with the knowledge of having these powers,” Taylor said. “ … You could imagine in small places that don’t really have any local media – there isn’t a lot of scrutiny – that things could go off the rails pretty fast.”