Ontario Premier Doug Ford is continuing his concerted exercise in circumventing local democracy by extending strong mayor powers to 26 more municipalities, mainly in the Golden Horseshoe and Greater Toronto area.
As with the original scheme offered to the cities of Toronto and Ottawa last August, the new power allow mayors to, inter alia, effectively veto any matter considered a "provincial priority" (read, housing), and to force through motions with just one-third of council members, not a full majority.
The full list of municipalities being offered these strong mayor powers includes: Ajax, Barrie, Brampton, Brantford, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Clarington, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston,Kitchener, London, Markham, Milton, Mississauga, Niagara Falls, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, St. Catharines, Vaughan, Waterloo, Whitby and Windsor. This is a roll-call of most cities of any size in southern Ontario. Notable exceptions are Chatham-Kent, Newmarket, and northern Ontario cities like Sudbury and Thunder Bay.
It's not clear yet which mayors intend to avail themselves of the new powers, but conservative mayors like Bonnie Crombie of Mississauga and Patrick Brown of Brampton have found it impossible to hide their glee at the increased powers, while more progressive mayors like Andrea Horwath of Hamilton have expressed their opposition (although we'll see what happens in practice). Outgoing Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson made it clear he did not intend to make use of these anti-democratic provisions, as has his successor, Mark Sutcliffe. While Toronto ex-Mayor John Tory (a conservative) was very keen on the idea, his likely successor Olivia Chow (a progressive) has said that she has no intention of using them.
One thing is certain: the job of mayor in Ontario just got a lot harder, and the temptation to use these undemocratic powers is palpable. Doug Ford, however, does not care about these moral quondaries in the slightest, and will do anything he can to forward his own agenda.
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