By Lynn Crosby
May 14th. 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
The strong mayor powers legislation in Ontario continues to draw the ire of many who value democracy, and as it becomes clearer with time that in some municipalities, the powers are being used by mayors in ways far beyond anything which purports to be about building more housing (as was the supposed intent of the legislation in the first place, though from the beginning this was disputed by many academics, past and current politicians, and Ontarians).
Recently, as reported in the Bay Observer, Hamilton’s city council voted 13-0 to ask the province to drop strong mayor powers for Hamilton. Read the full article here: https://bayobserver.ca/spadafora-got-more-than-he-asked-for-as-council-nixes-strong-mayor-powers-13-0/
Advocate for change Lynn Crosby
Here in Burlington, a majority of our council members previously introduced a motion asking Mayor Meed Ward to return the powers to council. Several delegations spoke in favour of their motion. The mayor did not return all powers as requested, and I question how any mayor can claim to believe in democratic principles while keeping these powers.
On April 9, the Ontario government announced they would be expanding the powers to more municipalities. This has prompted a new petition which is quickly gaining traction on change.org. The petition states:
“The Government of Ontario has announced on April 9th, 2025, an expansion of strong mayor powers to an additional 169 municipalities, effective May 1, 2025.
These powers allow mayors to unilaterally override council decisions, appoint senior municipal staff, and set budgets without the majority of council approval, undermining the principles of democratic governance; and whereas municipal governance functions best through a collaborative decision-making process where elected councils, representing the collective voice of their communities, work alongside experienced municipal staff.
There is no evidence to suggest that strong mayor powers have increased housing starts, contrary to the provincial government’s stated justification for their implementation. The Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks, and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO) has raised concerns that strong mayor powers blur the lines between political leadership and administrative expertise, threatening the neutrality of municipal public service.
The City of Orillia recently experienced a situation where its mayor unilaterally overturned a council decision regarding the hiring of a Chief Administrative Officer, demonstrating the potential for these powers to be misused; and
Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward did limit her use of Strong Mayor Powers, but she refused to give them up completely.
The Township of Rideau Lakes has also experienced governance challenges resulting from mayoral overreach, further highlighting the risks posed by concentrating authority in a single elected official. Democratic principles require that municipal governance remain a system of “one person, one vote,” rather than granting disproportionate power to a single individual.
We call on the Government of Ontario to reverse this decision and uphold the traditional balance of municipal governance.
Please share: this will affect the vast majority of taxpayers in Ontario and is an affront to democracy. We only have to look south of our border to see how far these overreaches of power can go.
To sign the petition or follow its progress, see link:
Preserve your right to have an elected official with a vote that counts.
Time to hit the streets with signs. I applaud the effort but dont believe delegations, town halls or petitions get the attention it deserve. Why is that?
I have a question.
Is it possible for the designation of Strong Mayor Powers to be eliminated if a different mayor is elected in the next Municipal Election?
Is it possible for our current mayor along with council decide to step away from this designation?
Or is this impossible until we reach the number of housing that was attached to having this designation or ever?
As they say “the devils in the details”.
Yes, some mayors have rejected the powers, others have later returned them to council — as was requested here in Burlington by a majority of council a year ago to no avail.
In Hamilton, as the Bay Observer points out: “Once council was assured that the strong mayor powers would not affect housing bonus money the city stands to receive for meeting its housing targets, (an increasingly unlikely prospect given market conditions), it quickly became clear the Strong Mayor powers had no support around the table, not even from councillors who normally vote with the Mayor.” They voted unanimously to ask the province to remove the powers entirely for Hamilton.
This group which began the petition is pointing out the gist of the problem: the powers are undemocratic and should never have been enacted, and they are asking the province to remove them Ontario-wide. The petition is only one step in their plans. Ontarians should be very alarmed as they watch democracy slipping away in the US and elsewhere and should be asking that in the 2026 municipal election: do we want to vote for councillors with no power to represent us? The strong mayor powers need to go.
Fantastic news that a group has started! I am in Orillia where the mayor used powers given to him early (due to an ice storm) to fire a new CAO before he even started! It has proven to have been embarrassing for our city.
It was never about affordable housing; it’s been all about drawing attention away from ford’s incompetence.