Doug Ford says Toronto and Ottawa ‘strong mayors’ could only be overruled by two-thirds of council

Premier Doug Ford says the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa will be given enhanced powers that could only be overruled by a two-thirds vote at city council.

Thestar.com
July 21, 2022
Robert Benzie

Premier Doug Ford says the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa will be given enhanced powers that could only be overruled by a two-thirds vote at city council.

As first disclosed by the Star, Ford wants a “strong-mayor” system for Ontario’s two largest cities to ensure more authority for the chief magistrates over financial matters and appointments.

“We’ll do a trial and we’ll look at (extending the powers to) the rest of the mayors of relatively large cities” after the Oct. 24 municipal elections, the premier said Wednesday at Queen’s Park.

Ford, long a proponent of a strong-mayor governance model, insisted it is not a scheme to wrest influence away from left-leaning city councils.

“The mayor of Toronto or Ottawa -- or any mayor -- they’re accountable for everything, but they have the same single vote as a single councillor,” he told reporters in an impromptu media scrum.

“And no matter if it’s a good decision or a tough decision that they make, they have to be accountable and (this) just allows them the ability -- not the power, because I always say you have a tremendous amount of responsibility and ability -- to make the appropriate changes.”

The reforms would, however, diminish the power of municipal councillors in Toronto and Ottawa.

“We’ll get into the details later but ... two-thirds of the council can overrule the mayor,” the premier said.

Listen to Robert Benzie explain the "strong-mayor" plan

If the “trial” is successful, similar changes could be in place in Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton and other large cities, he said.

Ford emphasized there was no formal or informal request from Toronto Mayor John Tory, who is seeking re-election, to amend the city’s governance model.

“No one really asked (for it, but) we’ve discussed it, to be very frank with you,” the premier said.

“Since all the responsibility falls on the mayor, he needs the ability and the responsibility to make decisions. But any mayor needs to be respectful.”

Ford added that he believes all Ontario mayors are “very respectful, because if they aren’t respectful, they won’t be in office in four years.”

The changes, which have not yet been discussed at cabinet, would require amendments to the City of Toronto Act, the City of Ottawa Act, and the Municipal Act after the legislature resumes Aug. 8.

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark said the looming reforms are one of the “bold solutions” the government is taking to address the province’s housing crisis.

“We need to make sure that, especially in major cities, those mayors and those councils have the tools that they need to get shovels in the ground,” Clark said outside cabinet.

“The idea around this concept gives the powers to the heads of council so that they can get those priority projects done.”

But because the Star revealed the plan weeks before it had been finalized to share with cabinet ministers and civic leaders, specifics are still being hammered out.

It is expected to be a cornerstone of the Aug. 9 throne speech outlining the recently re-elected Progressive Conservative government’s agenda for the next four years.

“We’re not finished yet with the conversation. We’re still consulting. We still want to sit down with our municipal partners. Obviously, we want to put a plan in place,” Clark said.

Municipal reform has long been a Ford preoccupation.

He first broached it in his 2016 book, “Ford Nation: Two Brothers, One Vision,” although he did not mention the subject during this year’s Ontario election campaign.

“If I ever get to the provincial level of politics, municipal affairs is the first thing I would want to change,” wrote the one-time city councillor, whose late brother, Rob Ford, was mayor from 2010 until 2014.

“I think mayors across the province deserve stronger powers. One person in charge, with veto power, similar to the strong mayoral systems in New York and Chicago and L.A.”

However, the “strong-mayor” idea in Ontario predates Ford.

Former premier Dalton McGuinty touted it when his Liberal government passed the City of Toronto Act in 2006, which gave the provincial capital a greater say in its affairs, including more taxing powers.

“This is an issue that is independent of personalities, political leanings,” McGuinty pointed out in 2008.

“It’s all about ensuring we have an effective governance model ... I don’t think that we’ve got the model in place that allows them (Toronto city council) to do that,” he said at a time when the mayor of Toronto, David Miller, was hamstrung in legislative gridlock.

“I’ve said before that I’m in support of a strong-mayor system and my support remains.”
Under Ontario’s existing “weak-mayor” system, a mayor can guide an agenda by appointing committee chairs, but only has one vote on council and needs the backing of a majority of councillors to make major moves.

Tory, who has argued the head of city council needs more than symbolic authority, said Wednesday “there is definitely a need ... to speed up the way we get things done at the city hall.”

But NDP MPP Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre) said it was “a scheme to give the mayors of the Toronto and Ottawa more unilateral powers.

“Why did Premier Doug Ford keep his ‘strong-mayor’ plan secret throughout the campaign?” said Burch.

“Why won’t he consult municipalities or the people they represent? It’s baffling that Ford is focused on giving two mayors more power, instead of working on giving municipalities support that would actually help people -- like better funding for housing, public health, long-term care and transit.”

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said the salvo was a reprise of the premier’s surprise 2018 move to slash the size of Toronto’s city council by almost half.

“Doug Ford is starting off his second term as premier with yet another attack on local democracy and the people of Toronto and Ottawa,” said Schreiner.

“Premier Ford and the Progressive Conservatives did not campaign on this change,” he said.

“Steamrolling voices and concentrating power at the top is not the answer.”