The Ontario government has announced that it is expanding strong mayor powers to the mayors of 26 large and fast-growing municipalities that have committed to a housing pledge as part of the province’s work to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.The announcement was made by Steve Clark, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, during today’s meeting of the Ontario Big City Mayors. Strong mayor powers for Toronto and Ottawa took effect in the Fall of 2022 and will be expanded to mayors in the 26 additional municipalities on July 1. That list includes St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, along with Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Brampton and Mississauga. The government says strong mayor powers offer tools to help heads of council cut red tape and speed up the delivery of key shared municipal-provincial priorities such as housing, transit and infrastructure in their municipalities. These enhanced powers will also bring increased accountability for local leaders, while checks and balances maintain the important oversight role of councillors. For example, council may override the mayor’s veto of by-laws or budget amendments with a two-thirds majority vote.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
-Vetoing certain by-laws if the head of council is of the opinion that all or part of the by-law 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
