Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham mayors get more power from province

Ontario government granting leaders of 26 more municipalities 'strong mayor powers'

Yorkregion.com
June 19, 2023
Kim Zarzour

York Region’s three most southerly and most populous cities are among 26 additional municipalities to be given "strong mayor powers" by the Ontario government.

The province announced June 16 that the fast-growing municipalities, including Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill, will join Toronto and Ottawa with expanded powers for their mayors, beginning July 1.

That means they will have the ability to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer, hire municipal department heads and reorganize departments, create committees, veto certain bylaws if they believe it could interfere with the province’s priorities, and bring forward matters to council if they believe it advances provincial priorities.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark said it’s all about building more homes faster and municipalities selected were those that committed to doing so.

The 28 municipalities that will have strong mayor powers have collectively pledged to build 1,217,000 housing units by 2031 -- more than 81 per cent of the provincial target of 1.5-million homes, Clark said.

In addition to York Region’s three cities, the newly added municipalities include Ajax, Barrie, Brampton, Brantford, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Clarington, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Milton, Mississauga, Niagara Falls, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, St. Catharines, Waterloo, Whitby and Windsor.

All the selected municipalities have a population greater than 100,000, or growing to 100,000, by 2031 and have submitted a housing pledge to the province.

"Municipalities are critical partners for our government as we help communities get shovels in the ground faster and work to build more homes," Clark said. "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."

The province is welcoming housing pledges from other municipalities as part of the ongoing work to get 1.5-million homes built by 2031.

The announcement follows several other changes to municipal governments by the province, including the dissolution of Peel Region, plans to examine regional governance in York, Durham, Halton, Niagara, Simcoe and Waterloo, removal of planning responsibilities from regional governments and authorizing the province to appoint regional chairs.