TORONTO — In the year since so-called strong mayor powers were granted to the heads of council in a swath of Ontario municipalities, most mayors have used...
TORONTO — In the year since so-called strong mayor powers were granted to the heads of council in a swath of Ontario municipalities, most mayors have used them sparingly — if at all — though in some corners a sense of unease with the sweeping authority remains.
Some of the higher-profile uses include Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath using the powers to advance an affordable housing development on two municipal parking lots, and then-Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie using them in favour of fourplexes. The strong mayor powers are broad, and only a few of them directly relate to housing, in law. The powers to propose and pass a bylaw with one-third of council support and to veto a bylaw must relate to building housing or related infrastructure.
Rachel Gilliland, a councillor in Aurora, said there is too much grey area in what the strong mayor powers can be used for. Ajax Mayor Shaun Collier, who has used the powers for housing projects involving more than 4,000 units, suggested the accountability mechanism for the strong mayor powers is the election cycle.
Leanne Caron, a councillor in Guelph, is among those uneasy with the process. Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie has used the powers a number of times, including to direct staff to research establishing a structured encampments site – which would involve tiny homes – and Caron said she supports what he has used them for, just not the actual use of the powers.
"If we wanted to look at getting tiny homes, there was, in my mind, a very big issue of timing," he said. "We needed to order them and/or build them much prior to the winter coming." "Say a CAO is hired directly by a mayor. That staff is wondering where potentially that individual's loyalties lie. Is it to the municipality as a whole? Is it to council? Is it to just the mayor?"
Annette Groves Ontario Affordable Housing Development Council Support Shaun Collier Premier Doug Ford
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