What did Strong Mayor Powers do for Burlington?

By Pepper Parr

May 31^st, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

Just what did Burlington gain with the strong Mayor Powers that Premier Ford handed out several years ago?

It certainly divided city Council.

The Toronto Star recently published a feature showing what different municipalities across the province did with the power they were given.

The data they collected on Burlington’s use of that power is set out below.

The biggest thing the Mayor did was use the power to approve bylaws Council debated and agreed upon.

The rules in place required the Mayor to produce a budget that Council, with one exception – Lisa Kearns, approved.

Last week Council spent far too much time discussing how the powers will be used going forward.  The one power Mayor Meed Ward kept, she used to three times, was the ability to hire and fire the City Manager – now called the Chief Administrative Officer.

Should there be a change in the leadership of Council after the October municipal election, expect to see this come up again.

Strong Mayor Powers were handed out by Premier Ford, who expected City Council’s to use them to build more housing. That didn’t work out.

The data shown below shows just what the city has underway in terms of local development as of March 18th, 2026.