A powerful year for Ontario mayors

Since council heads in some Ontario municipalities were given so-called “strong mayoral powers,” most mayors have rarely used them — if at all — though in some quarters there remains an uneasy feeling about such broad powers.

As of this month, nearly 30 mayors have had the power to propose ordinances and pass them with the support of a third of council members, veto ordinances, and hire and fire department heads for a year or more.

Since then, Premier Doug Ford’s government has delegated power to more mayors, even those reluctant to accept it, and Ontario now has 46 strong mayors.

Many of those mayors are in the province’s largest cities, and the president of Ontario’s Large Cities Mayors Group said that overall, mayors have “shown a great deal of restraint and responsibility” in exercising their powers.

“Some of the discretionary tools that they’re using are made with great thought and with the long-term best interest of the community in mind,” said Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward.

Some high-profile uses include Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath using the powers to advance affordable housing development on two municipal car parks, and then-Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie using them to develop a quadruplex.

In Caledon, Mayor Annette Groves recently reversed her decision to use her strong mayoral powers to push through 12 rezoning applications for 35,000 homes because of opposition in her community. She said she would handle the issue through regular council procedures, but she defended the approach.

“I didn’t abuse the very powerful power that I have as mayor,” she said in an interview. “I used that power only when I felt it was necessary to continue to advance … the housing priorities of the province.”

The provincial government uses these powers as a set of tools to reach its goal of building 1.5 million homes in Ontario by 2031. Groves said the clock is ticking and cities like Caledon need to meet current and future housing needs.

“If we don’t start planning, if we don’t start getting ahead of this growth, then the growth is going to outpace us,” she said.

The mayor’s strong powers are very broad, but only a few are legally directly related to housing. The power to propose and pass an ordinance with the support of one-third of the council and to veto an ordinance must be related to building housing or related infrastructure.

The law also allows mayors to direct staff to conduct studies and write reports, as well as appoint chief administrative officers, department heads, local board chairs and vice chairs, and establish and dissolve commissions, though they can delegate those powers to council.

Most of the uses of power listed on the municipality’s website show the mayor “approving” an ordinance — in other words, indicating they will not veto it.

Mayors are required by law to prepare and present budgets, but some mayors say they are still working with council in practice. Others have used their strong mayoral budget powers to cap property tax increases, create property tax deferrals for seniors, rewrite the paperwork, add millions of dollars in new spending to revitalize the downtown, and increase funding to label the neighborhood’s city hall “Aurora” in block letters, similar to what’s happening in Toronto.

Aurora City Councilwoman Rachel Gilliland said there are too many gray areas in how strong mayoral powers are used.

“I think too much mayoral power does harm democracy,” she said. “It really doesn’t seem to me that it’s working as well as it should, at least not in Aurora.”

Aurora City Council received a legal opinion saying the decisions were not reviewable or appealable, and the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing said it was up to municipalities to decide whether the use of the powers complied with the law.

“(This) really opens up Pandora’s box,” Gilliland said. “It doesn’t matter what the mayor vetoes or decides. The mayor has sole discretion and control to do whatever they want.”

Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier, who has wielded authority over more than 4,000 housing projects, said the accountability mechanism for strong mayoral power is the election cycle.

“People ask me, ‘Have you been consulted on something?'” he said. “We’re consulted every four years. It’s called an election. If you don’t like how we’re doing it, that’s your chance to change it.”

Collier said the powers have been “very helpful” in speeding up housing construction in Ajax. In one case, he used them to approve two residential towers up to 62 stories high near a GO Transit station, even though the town’s official plan capped the maximum building height at 25 stories. In another case, when a multi-residential development underwent design changes that resulted in the loss of some parking spaces, Collier used the powers to ensure the project didn’t have to be re-run through the Board of Adjustment.

St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe, who has used the powers several times, including directing staff to prioritize development applications, said while he understands some people’s hesitation, the response to the powers has been generally positive.

“When these powers came up, there was a lot of confusion about what they were,” he said.

“People in the development industry came forward and said to me, ‘Well, you know, I have this problem. I need you to use your great power as mayor to help me through this.’ They said, ‘No sir, your problem has to do with the building code, and you actually have to comply with the building code. I can’t waive that.’”

Guelph City Councillor Leanne Caron is among those who are uneasy about the process. Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie has used those powers several times, including directing staff to study creating a structured campground — which would involve small residential homes — and Caron said she supports the mayor’s approach to using those powers, but not his actual use of them.

“In my opinion, everything the mayor has done using his strong mayoral powers would not have happened with the full support of the council,” she said.

“We are all elected to make decisions about the direction of our community, and the Municipal Act is designed to give that power to the collective, not just the individual.”

Guthrie said that in the case of the encampment report, his directive does bypass the step of the council debating whether to write a report, but ultimately the council and the community will still debate the issue once the report is submitted.

“If we want to buy tiny homes, I think timing is a big issue,” he said. “We need to order and/or build them before winter sets in.”

Guthrie also noted that he has delegated personnel-related authority and said the division between the administrative and political sides of City Hall is important.

The Ontario Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers, which represents municipal professionals, said just over half of strong mayors retain the power to appoint chief administrative officers, and about 35 per cent retain the power to appoint department heads.

“From the beginning, we have been very concerned about the opportunity for politicization of municipal public services, and we remain concerned,” said Executive Director Dave Arbuckle.

“Let’s say the chief administrative officer is employed directly by the mayor. Staff members want to know to whom this person might be loyal. To the municipality as a whole? To the council? Or just to the mayor?”

Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin is one of those mayors who isn’t interested in taking on more power than she needs, such as overseeing the budget. She delegates everything she can to others.

“I’ve always believed that if you want to go fast, you have to go alone, and if you want to go far, you have to go together,” she said.

“I simply believe that you can only use those powers so far because you’re going to run into roadblocks. So I’m confident that if it’s a good idea, I’ll be able to convince five of my nine councillors that it’s a good idea.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 22, 2024.