On April 9th, the Ontario Government put out the notice that the province will be adding 169 municipalities to the already existing 47 municipalities to give the Mayors more POWER. This is to take effect May 1st, 2025. The Province allowed the Public to submit comments to this proposal giving them the deadline until April 16th ……. 7 days! It pretty much sounds just like how the provincial election went, doesn’t it……no time to allow new candidates to participate in campaigning. In this situation, there is no time to allow the Public to even learn about this proposal, let alone have time to make their comments regarding it.
In Renfrew County, those municipalities who were granted these powers include: Town of Arnprior, Renfrew Petawawa, Deep River, Pembroke, Townships of Whitewater Region, Killaloe Hagarty Richards, Laurentian Valley and South Algonquin, plus Bancroft.
As stated in the proposal Strong mayor powers and duties include: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1005752/ontario-proposing-to-expand-strong-mayor-powers-to-169-additional-municipalities but keep in mind, this is only stating a few of the powers they shall have. All of their powers are identified in the Municipal Act of Ontario.
- Choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer.
- Hiring certain municipal department heads and establishing and re-organizing departments. (Only statutory positions would be protected)
- 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. (This would be the Mayor’s budget – not the council’s budget, which affects our entire taxation.)
- Proposing certain municipal by-laws if the mayor is of the opinion that the proposed by-law could potentially advance a provincial priority identified in regulation. Council can pass these by-laws if more than one-third of all council members vote in favour.
- 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.
The Strong Mayor Powers Act has been in effect since 2022 wherein 47 municipalities out of the 444 municipalities in Ontario were granted this authority. With these 169 additional municipalities, that almost half of all the municipalities in the province. When will this government then add the remaining HALF to ensure they (the Province) have the Mayors to insert provincial interference on private property. The powers they have ARE written in the Municipal Act, Part VI.1. Most municipal council members have been trained to become dependent on whatever they are told by the staff; and therefore, have never read the Municipal Act. It is part of their job to familiarize themselves with it. They NEED to refer to this section of the Municipal Act that actually shows ALL the powers those Mayors who have been “appointed” by the Province shall have. I’m sure there are many councillors who would be very surprised once they read this section and LEARN how little power the remaining council members shall have:
Under Part VI.1 of the Municipal Act, it explains the “POWERS” the mayor shall have:
- With the exception of the “statutory” employess or “prescribed employees named under the Act” (the Clerk, Treasurer, Chief Building Official, Integrity Commissioner), the Mayor has the power to remove or hire all other members of staff – not the Council
- It is the Mayor who shall give direction to the employees – not the Council
- The powers granted to the CAO, shall be assigned by the Mayor – not the Council
- The powers assigned to the staff (with the exception of the statutory employees) shall be granted by the Mayor, which includes the hiring and firing of these staff members – not the Council. The Mayor has the power to create or determine the organizational structure for the municipality – not the Council
- The Mayor shall appoint the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of local boards – not the Council
- The Mayor shall create or absolve committees, shall appoint chairs and vice-chairs of committees and assign the functions of the committees – not the Council
- With respect to procedural bylaws, the Mayor (if he/she chooses) could consider advancing a matter of provincial priority for the council to consider at a meeting
- The Mayor can veto (overrule) any bylaws that the Council may wish to approve under the Municipal Act, the Planning Act or any other Act
- Any bylaw vetoed by the Mayor cannot be quashed or reviewed in a Court of law. (Currently, any new bylaw approved by Council that the public object to can be quashed in a court of law within 1 year after the bylaw was created.) But as of May 1st, the Strong Mayor Powers Act gives the Mayor more power over the Courts.)
- The Mayor shall prepare the Budget for the municipality. The Council can approve it. The Council can also make an amendment to it. However, if the Mayor does not approve the amendment, he has the power to overrule (veto) it. In this circumstance only, the Council can override the Veto … BUT they have 2/3 of the Council to vote on it.
In my opinion, this Strong Mayor Powers Act, allows the Province to use the Mayors to do indirectly what the Province cannot do directly because they are bound by the Constitution …. the Mayors, are not! This Act and its intent removes our democracy and is unconstitutional.
We, the people, need to express our OBJECTION to this proposal and should be sending in our “objections” by letters or emails to our local municipal council members as soon as possible or even send them in to the Clerk, so that she/he can inform the Council members .
We need to encourage our local municipal councils to hold an EMERGENCY or SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING and put forward a Resolution to have their municipality REMOVED from the list of 169 Municipalities for Strong Mayors Powers. All you need is 3 councillors to call a “Special Council Meeting”. Attached is a very good Resolution from the Town of Amherstberg that should be used as a template from each municipality and get it submitted to the Premier no later than APRIL 30TH. Right now, it is the will of the Council to get this done ….. after May 1st, it is the will of the Mayor, alone. Time is of the essence.
Donna Burns is the Co Vice-President ONTARIO LANDOWNER ASSOCIATION and President – RENFREW PEMBROKE NIPISSING County Chapter