Strong Mayors Act powers: municipal decision tracker

Strong mayor powers give heads of council the power to set budgets, veto bylaws, and pass bylaws with just one-third of their council’s support, only if these bylaws deal with provincial priorities outlined in O. Reg. 580/22, including the province’s goal to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Powers are only awarded to mayors of municipalities who submitted a pledge to help the provincial government meet its target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

This is a significant shift in how municipalities are governed in Ontario. The “Weak Mayor System” has traditionally been used in Ontario and is used in all local governments across Canada. It is characterized by compromise and concession amongst an elected council and a one representative/one vote standard.

• Weak Mayor: Head of council is the “leader among equals”, has only a single vote on council, and limited unilateral executive authority
• Strong Mayor: Centralized executive power emanating directly from the office of the mayor

Strong Mayor decision tracker

Data last updated: March 7, 2024

Enter your municipality below to see what decisions, if any, your mayor has made using the powers and how the decisions are being reported to the public. If you think they could do better, or you think they’re doing great – contact them, and your local council members and let them know.

The Mayor is required to exercise these powers in writing and make them available to the public, subject to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).

Notable decisions timeline

March 27, 2024 – Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath vetos city council decision that would have prevented converting 2 surface parking lots in downtown Stoney Creek into affordable housing

Horwath invoked strong mayor powers to clear the way for the development of 67 units of affordable housing that would replace two municipal parking lots which have been zoned for development since the early 1990s and are considered under-utilized (a most 80% full). 5 Lake Ave S could become a 3-storey building with 24 affordable units and 13 Lake Avenue South a 5-storey building with 43 units, providing affordable housing to some of the 6,100 people on waitlists. Here is her letter:

8 councillors had opposed the proposal: Matt Francis (Ward 5), Tom Jackson (Ward 6), Esther Pauls (Ward 7), Brad Clark (Ward 9), Jeff Beattie (Ward 10), Mike Spadafora (Ward 14) and Ted McMeekin (Ward 15). Coun. Matt Francis and Coun. Jeff Beattie asked staff to also look at the feasibility of building affordable housing above the Dominic Agostino Riverdale Community Centre. Beattie said he’s also reviewing other sites in his east Stoney Creek ward.

• Ward 10 Councillor Jeff Beattie: The 13 Lake Ave. S. property was the site of the original Stoney Creek fire hall and has historical significance to the community.
• Ward 5 Councillor Matt Francis: asked for more time to consult with the community on the two properties on Lake Avenue South. Beattie said he was elected on transparency and he wants time to tell the residents. “I know for a fact my residents don’t know about this,”

Strong Mayor municipalities, number of decisions

Data last updated: March 7, 2024

As of March 7, 2024, the 46 municipalities in Ontario that have Strong Mayor powers have issued 637 decisions using their powers.

O. Reg. 530/22 lists the municipalities that currently have Strong Mayors powers.

Mayoral Special Powers and Duties under the Municipal Act, 2001

The Mayor has special powers and duties under Part VI.1 of the Municipal Act, 2001. These include powers to:

Powers that can be delegated

• Determine the organizational structure
• Appoint and dismiss the municipality’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)/City Manager, as well as various senior managers
• Hire and dismiss municipal department heads and establish and reorganize departments, except for:
  • Clerk or deputy clerk
  • Treasurer or deputy treasurer
  • Integrity Commissioner
  • Ombudsman
  • Auditor General
  • Registrar
  • Chief building official
  • Chief of police
  • Fire chief
  • Medical officer of health
  • Other officers or heads of divisions required to be appointed under this or any other Act.
  • Any other prescribed persons
• Create committees of council, assign their functions and appoint the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council

Powers that cannot be delegated

• Directing municipal staff in writing.
• Bring to Council matters that advance the prescribed provincial priorities
• Bring to Council, and require Council to consider and vote on, Municipal Act, Development Charges, and Planning Act bylaws that advance the prescribed provincial priorities and pass if more than one-third of Members vote in favour; power does not apply to the Procedural By-law
• Veto (within two days of passing) Municipal Act, Development Charges, and Planning Act by-laws that interfere with prescribed
  provincial priorities (Council can override by two-thirds vote)

Duties

• Duty to prepare the budget and present it to Council before February 1, subject to Council amendments and a Mayoral veto and Council override process
• Duty reverts to Council if the Mayor fails to present a budget by February 1
• Power to veto amendments made by Council (subject to Council override by a two-thirds vote)
• Budget is “deemed to be adopted” based on time frames, not “approved by Council”
• Duty to present in-year budget amendments only if a supplementary levy is required

Municipal councillors have no say in the acceptance of the powers, as all that is required to acquire them on behalf of a municipality is the Mayor’s signature on a letter of acceptance.

Regulations

The special powers and duties were implemented by:

• Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022 – Bill 3 and associated regulations O. Reg. 530/22 and O. Reg. 580/22 received Royal Assent on September 8, 2022, and came into force on November 23, 2022. It gives the mayor:
  • Ability to veto certain by-laws approved by Council if the Mayor “is of the opinion that all or part of the by-law could potentially interfere with a prescribed provincial priority.” The Mayor is required to provide written notice of intent to consider vetoing the by-law within a prescribed period of time. Council may override the Mayor’s veto if two-thirds of Members vote in favour of such an override.
  • Powers related to proposing the annual budget and initiating in-year budget amendments. The Mayor is required to propose the budget by February 1. After the Mayor proposes the budget, Council can pass resolutions to amend the budget within 30 days. The Mayor may veto a Council budget resolution and Council may then override a mayoral veto with a two-thirds majority vote. At the end of this process, the resulting budget is “deemed” to be adopted by the municipality. 
• Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022 – Bill 39 received Royal Assent on December 8, 2022. It amends the Municipal Act, 2001, to allow the Mayor to propose, and require Council to consider and vote on, certain by-laws related to prescribed Provincial Priorities (e.g. O. Reg. 580/22: Provincial Priorities). The by-law is considered passed if more than one third of Members of Council vote in favour of the by-law.

Strong Mayor powers history

In 2022, many municipalities passed resolutions opposing the proposed Strong Mayors legislation.

Bill 3, Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act took effect on November 23, 2022, giving strong mayor powers to Toronto and Ottawa.

On July 1, 2023, the Ontario government extended the offer to 26 of the largest and fastest-growing cities and assigned each a 2031 housing target. The municipalities must commit to their assigned target and develop a “Municipal Housing Pledge” – essentially a blueprint or strategy on how to get there – in order to receive strong mayors powers.

Example pledge: Growing Mississauga: An Action Plan for New Housing

On August 21, 2023, the Ontario government extended the offer to 21 additional municipalities with populations projected to exceed 50,000 by 2031. These municipalities must set their own 2031 homebuilding target and develop a housing pledge to get strong mayors powers.

Municipalities that have rejected Strong Mayor powers

Several cities with strong mayor powers have said they won’t use them, but 4 municipalities have declined strong mayors powers:

• Haldimand County – Mayor of Haldimand County, says her municipality says councillors are elected to represent the people in their wards, and strong mayor powers sound more like a dictatorship.
• Norfolk County – Mayor Amy Martin says she turned the powers down in part due to concerns about local democracy, but also because her county won’t be able to hit the province’s housing target. She and many other mayors have asked the province to count permits, which municipalities control, instead of shovels in the ground because the way financing, supply chain issues and labour shortages can negatively affect developments are out of a municipality’s control.
• Newmarket – Mayor John Taylor has told the province his town can’t build 12,000 homes in 10 years because the municipality doesn’t currently have anywhere near that sewage capacity.
• Tecumseth

Strong Mayors in the US

In the US, two-thirds of cities with population above 500,000 have Strong Mayors, where the mayor is not actually considered a member of council, but instead, an executive branch separate from other elected officials. However, cities seem to be slowly moving away from this structure: 56% of American municipalities had a strong mayor in 1984, compared with just 44% in 2008.

The second bill “further expand mayoral powers [in Ontario] in ways that are without precedent in western democracies” according to Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) at the University of Toronto.

According to IMFG, the “Weak Mayor System”:

• It reduces corporate influence. In strong mayor cities, developers and wealthy property owners have been shown to have more influence on land-use policy.
• The quality of public service is higher. In a council-manager system, department heads use their autonomy from political interference to focus on implementation rather than symbolic actions and have the freedom to innovate.
• Citizens are more engaged. When ward councillors have more autonomy from the mayor, they spend more time on representing and servicing constituents.
• It reduces conflict among elected officials. As councillors are accountable to each other rather than to the mayor, they have a strong incentive to collaborate and constructively negotiate.

Sources

• Strong(er) Mayors in Ontario – What Difference Will They Make? – Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance (2022)
• Strong Mayor Powers Overview – City of Toronto
• Strong mayor powers and duties – Government of Ontario
• Strong Mayor Powers – Aird Berlis – City of Welland