Strong Mayor Powers Are A Double-Edged Sword

I would not want to be a mayor with Strong Mayor powers. It is an awesome responsibility bound to anger everyone. Currently in Ontario, municipal council mayors are “First Among Equals” having one vote in the tradition of Westminster democracy. They don’t possess American-style executive powers and should be wary of using these.

To be a mayor with a legislative, veto, and other powers undermines a simple element of city council – collegiality. Where once debating, agreeing, and disagreeing occurred on a level playing field, arbitrary executive authority hangs over every decision in future scenarios.

Strong Mayor powers give Ontario’s mayors an oddly framed “made in America” authority. In the USA, the President may veto a vote he believes is wrong-headed. That can be overturned by a 2/3 vote of Congress.

However, the President cannot make a law – only Congress might. 

In Ontario, a Strong Mayor can declare bylaws contrary to the majority vote principle paramount in the British Westminster tradition evolving from the Magna Carta and inspiring Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Ironically, Strong Mayor Powers instill in mayors a power even the President of the United States and Premier of Ontario do not possess – the right to unilaterally determine how a jurisdiction will grow, be sustained, be staffed, and funded. Instead of the American President vetoing Congress, a city council must veto a mayor. 

Will this lead to court appeals of arbitrary city bylaws? Will this lead to more cynicism about municipal democracy?  Will it lead to cronyism as mayors appoint preferred candidates to chair committees rather than rely upon the collective wisdom of the Council? Time will tell. 

I fear a mayor could become alienated from the council rather quickly. A mayor might lose the faith of the public. A mayor with these powers must weigh where loyalty is owed: to the electorate, to the council, to donors – both from inside and outside the city, to staff, and to the development industry. Even Machiavelli would grimace at this challenge. 

I would not want to have the power to hire and fire senior staff that Strong Mayor Authority conveys. Currently, a Chief Administrative Officer is the only employee a city council in Ontario hires. All other employees are hired and released at the discretion of the CAO. A city employee is loyal only to the city, not the council or the mayor. The civil service delivers advice that is neutral and even-handed. Will municipal managers become politicized? Will council briefings be objective or overtly political? 

I do know that Strong Mayor Powers will certainly not achieve what was intended. 

Strong Mayors will not deliver 1.5 million more promised homes by 2031. Those that are built won’t be affordable.

A couple of economic factors preclude building these. Housing is not an elastic supply and demand market. Housing costs are dependent upon rising external economic factors such as interest rates and other inflationary pressures which exert upward pressure on the sales and rental markets. 

Housing growth is further curtailed by shortages of skilled and unskilled workers. Presently, construction workers are attracted by significant wage increases. One infrastructure builder contracting throughout Southern Ontario said to me: “I am not able to do 50% of the work that I did pre-Covid. All the skilled trades I need build high rises in Toronto where they are getting higher wages than pre-COVID.”

He also told me to forget affordable housing: “Any builder will tell you: we are not in the affordable housing business; we are in the house building business to make a profit. Affordable Housing is the duty of the Federal and Provincial Governments – we need billions of dollars to build what is needed. Where are the other governments?”

I fear for our strong mayors. They will not be friends to many – if any. The only way to insulate themselves is to state categorically they will not use these powers.

To fall short of that exposes them to challenges from everywhere.

Phil Allt

Councillor, Ward 3

Guelph, Ontario

519 827 6579