The ''Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act'' is a statute in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

that grants extra powers to the

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

and the Mayor of Ottawa within their

mayor–council government The mayor–council government system is a system of local government that has a mayor who is directly elected by the voters serve as chief executive, and a separately elected legislative city council. It is one of the two most common forms of loc ...

Powers granted

The Act grants the Mayors of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

direct control over: * Drafting of the city budgets * The appointments and dismissals of their

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a " Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief ex ...

s and department leaders (except police chiefs, fire chiefs, or auditors general) *

Veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

es over laws that may conflict with provincial priorities, which may be overturned if a

supermajority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...

of two-thirds of city councillors voted to do so * The creation and reorganisation of municipal administrative departments

Reactions

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...

, the mayor of Toronto at the time, expressed appreciation for the powers granted to him under the act. Outgoing Ottawa mayor Jim Watson deemed the powers unnecessary, also opining that "if they have to gather up two-thirds of their members to overturn a mayor's decision that's not really democratic at all." Mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney criticised the reforms as "undemocratic." Former Hamilton mayor Bob Bratina expressed support for the powers.

Andrea Horwath Andrea Horwath (; born October 24, 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the 58th mayor of Hamilton since 2022. Horwath previously served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton Centre from 2004 to 2022, as leader of th ...

, a mayoral candidate, opposed the powers. Bonnie Crombie, mayor of Mississauga has voiced opposition to the Act.

Further developments

Premier

Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Progressive Cons ...

has promised similar powers to the mayors of other cities in Ontario for 2023.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Bill 3''
2022 in Canadian law Ontario provincial legislation Local government in Ontario Local government legislation