As reported in toronto.com

“Premier Doug Ford's Conservative government has granted strong-mayor powers to 46 municipalities since 2022, when the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa were first handed expanded powers.

This move marks a major change in how municipal governance is handled in Ontario, where councils historically operated on a one representative/one vote standard.

These new powers can only be used for specific matters detailed in the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, passed by the provincial government in September 2022.

Under the act, strong mayors have the ability to, among other things, veto certain bylaws, prepare budgets, appoint a chief administrative officer (CAO), and hire or fire most department and division heads.

It's notable these powers were only awarded to mayors of municipalities who pledged to help the government meet its target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.”

4 cities did not agree to housing mandates and so Mayoral powers were planned but not offered to them (Newmarket, New Tecumseth, Norfolk County and Haldimand County).  Most of these said they did not want the mayoral powers anyway. 

- 46 cities In Ontario have been given strong mayoral powers

- 31 of 46 are not using powers other than passing bylaws and/or advancing budget processes and council decisions (none of these sway decisions); Burlington is not one of them  

- 27 of 46 have gone so far as to reject the powers and delegate some or all powers back to Council;Burlington is not one of them

- only 15 of 46 are using the strong mayoral powers; Burlington is 1 of the 15 

- of those 15, only 4 have used it for housing decisions (not Burlington) and 13 have used it for appointment (hiring) decisions; Burlington is 1 of the 13

- Burlington is the only city to mention privacy reasons for not revealing one of the mayoral decisions.  

It matters not whether these Strong Mayor powers are benevolently applied or with Council consultation. The fact that they exist at all and under the sole control of a single individual is fundamentally wrong and contrary to the democratic principle of majority rule.

As such, The citizens of the City of Burlington respectfully request Her Worship, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, comply with the requests contained in Motion memo Improving Local Democracy by Strengthening City Decision-Making (ADM-05-24); specifically,

That the Mayor delegate to Council the powers and duties assigned to the head of council under Section 284.5 of the Municipal Act, with respect to the City Manager; and 

That the Mayor delegate to the City Manager the powers and duties assigned to the head of council under Section 284.6 of the Municipal Act, with respect to: 

1.   determining the organizational structure of the municipality; and 

2.   hiring, dismissing, or exercising any other prescribed employment powers with respect to any division or the head of any other part of the organizational structure; and

That the Mayor delegate to Council the powers and duties assigned to the head of council under Section 284.7 of the Municipal Act, with respect to prescribed local boards or local boards within a prescribed class of local boards; and 

That the Mayor delegate to Council the powers and duties assigned to the head of council under Section 284.8 of the Municipal Act, with respect to prescribed committees or committees within a prescribed class of committees.

The citizens of Burlington agree with the stated rationale for these requests for delegation; specifically,

Strong mayor powers introduced by the Province through amendments to the Municipal Act are dysfunctional and antidemocratic for several reasons: 

1.   They provide powers to mayors not elected in 2022 to enact those powers. 

2.   They create a scenario of minority rule for budgets and certain legislation (bylaws), which is antithetical to the democratic principle of majority rule with minority rights and for which there may not be any comparable power in western democracy. 

3.   The veto power erodes local decision-making authority by only allowing strong mayors to utilize a non-budgetary veto on provincial priorities; as a result, the legislative veto can only be used to enhance the province’s priorities but not those of the municipality unless they are the same as those of the province. 

4.   The budgetary veto concentrates power of the purse to the mayor, leading to widespread control over capital projects and staffing each year at budget time. The mayor can thus defund initiatives they do not support. 

5.   For further clarity, the powers noted in points 2-4 can be overruled by 2/3rds +1 of council, meaning the mayor can exercise this power with a minority of council members (two plus themselves in Burlington). 

6.   The power to hire and terminate the city manager, previously the jurisdiction of council, is now in the hands of only the mayor. As the chief administrative officer of the corporation, the city manager would be at risk of being influenced in their decision-making by the oversight of a single individual able to terminate them at any time without cause. 

7.   The rationale for point 6 above also applies to senior staff, previously the exclusive jurisdiction of the city manager. As a result, all senior staff are, generally, influenced to do what a mayor demands or fear the consequences. This significant latent power reduces democratic decision-making as decisions at the city or often binary and a majority of council may not agree with a strong mayor. 

8.   The ability to change the organizational structure of the municipality is another potential way to exercise power over staff. 

9.   The above rationale also applies to board and committee powers which are currently concentrated in the hands of the strong mayor. 

The Citizens of Burlington respectfully request that Mayor Marianne Meed Ward delegate these strong Mayor powers, as permitted under Subsection 284.13(1) of the Municipal Act, 2001 as soon as possible and no later than April 16, 2024.