Councillor Paul Carr authored the motion to oppose the strong mayor powers, said he understands why Ellis is accepting, but feels that the province is trying to shut local councils out:
What it’s saying essentially, or how I looked at it, is that council is an obstacle to development, and we need council out of the way, and we’ll just deal directly with the mayors. Then the mayors will become an agent of the province, and they’ll implement those priorities.
Basically we don’t have a voice, and so the intent of the motion was simply to express council’s view on the strong mayor powers that the province has
But it’s important that we at least express our displeasure with legislation that flies in the face of democracy.
Councillor Paul Carr
I would like to support the motion but by supporting the motion and then taking the powers because we do need the money – and I do think we’re going to meet the targets – I think it makes me hypocritical. So, I cannot support the motion due to that fact.
Mayor Neil Ellis
Since the decision of whether or not to is solely the mayor’s, the vote was symbolic.
Mayor Ellis says he will use the powers to build more homes and bring provincial funds to the city
If we make our targets, it’s about $2.4 million. If we make 80 per cent of our targets, then it does decline.
If we make our targets, and exceed that, then there will be more money. It’s possible that over $3 million could come to the community.
Very low vacancy rate, the same as eastern Ontario, affordable housing, rental properties and housing in general.
Our population has expanded since the last census by about 7,000 people, and it’s growing. People want to be here, which is great, but we haven’t got the housing stock.
Mayor Neil Ellis
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