Windsor city councillor calls province’s expansion of strong mayor powers 'atrocious'

The Ontario government is expanding strong mayor powers to the mayors of 26 municipalities, including Windsor.

The province says the cities have committed to a housing pledge as part of Ontario’s work to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Strong mayor powers for Toronto and Ottawa took effect in the Fall of 2022 and will be expanded to mayors in the 26 additional municipalities on July 1, 2023.

The announcement was made by Steve Clark, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, during Friday’s meeting of the Ontario Big City Mayors.

“Municipalities are critical partners for our government as we help communities get shovels in the ground faster and work to build more homes,” said Clark. “By adopting ambitious and absolutely necessary housing pledges, these 26 municipalities have demonstrated they understand the importance of that target, and we are ensuring they have the tools they need to succeed. We welcome housing pledges from other municipalities to help reach our goal of 1.5 million homes by 2031.”

The province says strong mayor powers offer tools to help heads of council cut red tape and speed up the delivery of key shared municipal-provincial priorities such as housing, transit and infrastructure in their municipalities.

“These enhanced powers will also bring increased accountability for local leaders, while checks and balances maintain the important oversight role of councillors. For example, council may override the mayor’s veto of by-laws or budget amendments with a two-thirds majority vote,” said the news relese from the province.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens released a statement on Twitter Friday. 

For Ward 9 city councillor Kieran McKenzie, the province's expansion of strong mayor powers is "atrocious." He said allowing changes to be made by fewer decision makers ultimately leads to worse decisions.

"Strongly consolidating power into one particular position is a massive mistake and runs counter to basic fundamental democratic principles," he said.

"We've made a lot of really good decisions on council that don't always land in a unanimous vote but the fact that different perspectives around the council table have the opportunity to potentially change the trajectory of a certain outcome is an important tool for the community."

McKenzie predicts, going forward, the move will result in Dilkens having to use his strong mayor powers during times when he "maybe doesn't want to use it."

"It gives the naysayers, perhaps, a little bit more ammunition to be able to criticize the decisions that come out of city hall as being undemocratic, unresponsive to the community and an inappropriate reflection of what the community would like to see," he said.

"Everything about this is just plain awful. I think the provincial government has made a very big mistake."

Tim Bryne, chief administrative officer for the Essex Region Conservation Authority, said he's most concerned about strong mayors having greater influence over the city's budget.

"There's always a concern when you concentrate any potential power in one spot," said Byrne, adding ERCA has had a positive relationship with the City of Windsor over the past five decades.

Strong mayor powers and duties include:

• Choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer
• Hiring certain municipal department heads, and establishing and re-organizing departments
• Creating committees of council, assigning their functions and appointing the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council
• Proposing the municipal budget, which would be subject to council amendments and a separate head of council veto and council override process
• Vetoing certain by-laws if the head of council is of the opinion that all or part of the by-law could potentially interfere with a provincial priority
• Bringing forward matters for council consideration if the head of council is of the opinion that considering the matter could potentially advance a provincial priority

In September, 2022, former councillor and mayoral candidate Chris Holt said he brought forward a motion asking Windsor City Council to “denounce” the idea of strong mayor status. Council instead deferred the idea to administration, asking for more details.

On Oct. 20, 2022, the mayors and deputy mayors who make up the County of Essex council voted unanimously to support Kingsville’s official stance of opposition to the Ford government’s Strong Mayors Act.

Kingsville saw its town council vote unanimously in August to oppose the act.