The mayor of Fort Frances is one of 169 other municipal leaders who will see their capabilities grow come May 1, 2025.
In a press release from the Government of Ontario this morning, the province announced it was proposing an expansion to the strong mayor powers that it says allow the heads of municipal councils to “cut red tape and accelerate the delivery of key priorities in their communities.” Listed among the recipients of these additional strong mayor powers are Fort Frances, Rainy River, Dryden, Kenora and Atikokan.
The province had previously bestowed these strong mayor powers to 47 municipalities, primarily in southern Ontario. The program began in Toronto and Ottawa in 2022 and have since been rolled out gradually across the province.
The goal of the powers, according to the government, is to allow municipalities to streamline local governance and help to ensure municipalities in the province have the necessary tools to reduce obstacles in the way of local objectives like housing and infrastructure development. In its release, the government said that the powers will allow heads of single and lower-tier municipalities with six or more members to “support shared provincial-municipal priorities.”
Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack said the powers are meant to enable mayors to act in the best interests of their communities.
“Heads of Council are key partners in our efforts to build homes and infrastructure across the province,” Flack said.
“By extending strong mayor powers to these additional municipalities, we are providing mayors every tool at our disposal to empower them to get homes and infrastructure built faster. Mayors know their municipalities best, and we support them in taking bold actions for their communities.”
The list of strong mayor powers include:
- Choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer.
- Hiring certain municipal department heads and establishing and re-organizing departments.
- Creating committees of council, assigning their functions and appointing the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council.
- Proposing the municipal budget, which would be subject to council amendments and a separate head of council veto and council override process.
- Proposing certain municipal by-laws if the mayor is of the opinion that the proposed by-law could potentially advance a provincial priority identified in regulation. Council can pass these by-laws if more than one-third of all council members vote in favour.
- Vetoing certain by-laws if the head of council is of the opinion that all or part of the by-law could potentially interfere with a provincial priority.
- Bringing forward matters for council consideration if the head of council is of the opinion that considering the matter could potentially advance a provincial priority.
The government notes that certain of these powers are only useable to support “prescribed provincial priorities” including the building of new homes and constructing and maintaining infrastructure that supports new and existing housing developments.
Robin Jones, the president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), echoed the government, noting the powers will help to get more housing built everywhere in the province.
“Increasing housing supply is a top priority for municipalities in every part of Ontario,” Jones said.
“Strong mayor powers can provide an additional tool to help municipalities play their important role in getting houses built. As the most trusted order of government, municipalities can be counted on to exercise new powers accountably and in the best interests of the public and the communities they serve.”
