Strong Mayor Powers Are Bad For Democracy

Like many municipalities in Ontario, Meaford’s council is grappling with the recent imposition of ‘strong mayor powers’. During Monday’s council meeting there was significant discussion about the strong mayor powers, and while it was clear that not one of the seven members of our council support the use of strong mayor powers, it was also clear that rejecting them will take some work.

Strong mayor powers were first granted to Toronto and Ottawa in 2022, and the provincial government has continued to grant more municipalities the powers, with 47 of the 444 Ontario municipalities previously granted strong mayor powers, prior to the provincial government’s May 1 expansion of the powers to 169 additional municipalities.

Under the legislation, strong mayor powers and duties include choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer, hiring municipal department heads, proposing the municipal budget, and creating committees of council, all without the need fo...