Speaking to Global News outside Queen’s Park, Ford said mayors are “responsible for everything but have the same single vote as a single councillor”. A veto would allow those mayors to “make the appropriate changes,” he continued. Ford added that while specific details were still being worked out, it was possible that two-thirds of councilors would be able to override the mayor’s veto. Ford suggested he intends to move forward with introducing a strong mayoral system in both cities immediately, ahead of the upcoming municipal elections in October. The Toronto Star reported late Tuesday that Ford is considering legislation that would give stronger powers to the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa as part of an effort to build more new housing in those cities. Toronto Mayor John Tory said Wednesday he would support giving the province expanded powers. “The powers of the ‘strong mayor’ are something I have said I will support – I spoke before the last election,” Tory said in a statement on Wednesday morning. “I understand this is something the province is looking into in order to get more homes built as soon as possible.”
“We have to pick up the pace,” says Tory
Beyond the right of veto, further details on exactly what these additional capabilities would entail remain unclear. A “strong mayor” system is typically characterized by the concentration of executive power with the mayor having control over the appointments of department heads and overseeing budgets. The system is common in the United States, with the role of mayors akin to a CEO who operates in conjunction with but also independently of the council. Speaking to reporters ahead of today’s city council meeting, Tory said he had not had formal talks with Ford about expanding the powers of the mayor’s office, but that the issue of finding ways to speed up housing construction came up “in passing.” ” during the pair’s most recent meeting. meeting in June. “Anything we can potentially do to, say, build more homes — to build more homes faster — I’m interested in that. Because we have a big problem to deal with here,” Tory said. “We need to pick up the pace of how we get things done.” Asked how a strong mayoral system would translate into faster decision-making and planning, Tory said it was too early to speculate as he had not seen details of what the additional powers might look like.
Councilors want more information from the province
Right now in Toronto, the mayor’s vote is the same as that of a councillor. Ford did not talk about introducing a strong mayoral system during Ontario’s election campaign this summer, and such a move would add a new level of complexity to the mayoral race in this fall’s municipal elections. Nor has the Ford government moved to amend the Municipal Elections Act to address other issues, including a loophole reported by CBC News that allows lobbyists to pay people to campaign for councilors without their knowledge. During the current term, Tory has controlled the balance of power on the city council, which has allowed him to pass most of the policies he supports. On Tuesday, Parkdale Coun. Gord Perks asked for any information on Ford’s plan that city or mayoral staff may need to bring to the city council for discussion. This week’s meeting is the last council meeting before the municipal elections in October. “I think it would be inappropriate to end our term without having the opportunity to discuss a potentially very, very important change in the way the city of Toronto is governed,” Perks said. Perks also supported a move from Toronto-St. Paul’s Coun. Josh Matlow which will see council ask the province not to pass any legislation to expand the existing powers of the mayor’s office. “Such a move would erode democracy by stifling advocacy on the most important issues affecting Torontonians,” the motion says. “Our city’s governance structure should be designed not only for what we aspire our system to be, but also consider what guardrails are necessary to protect a healthy local democracy,” he continues. “In the case of Toronto, we don’t have to look too far back in our own history to see how important the ability to hold the mayor’s power to account is. In fact, it’s been absolutely necessary.” The last paragraph is an obvious reference to the tumultuous mayoral tenure of Rob Ford, Doug Ford’s late brother. Rob Ford’s time in office was marked by a series of scandals that eventually led to the council stripping him of certain powers, including the power to hire and fire the deputy mayor and appoint members of its executive committee.
