For the first time ever, Centre Wellington is going into an election where Strong Mayor Powers (SMP) are in play. These powers significantly change the role of the Mayor from ‘just one voice on Council’ to having almost unilateral control over a number of decisions and procedures.
So what exactly are Strong Mayor Powers?
Strong Mayor Powers were first introduced in Ontario in September 2022 via Bill 3, Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022. At the time, they were only applied to the Cities of Toronto and Ottawa. The stated intent of these new powers was so these two mayors could expedite decisions related to provincial priorities, in particular, housing and infrastructure.
This new legislation gave the Mayors of Toronto and Ottawa the following powers:
- Unilaterally appoint the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)
- Hire and fire Department Heads, including the CAO but does not include specific roles such as the treasurer, clerk, integrity commissioner, or fire chief
- Reorganize Departments
- Form committees and dictate their core functions
- Appoint leadership for these council committees
- Present (or table) motions without going through the typical council tables to directly introduce matters that are intended to advance a provincial priority
- Independently prepare and propose the municipal budget by February 1st each year; Council is given a 30-day window to propose amendments to the budget. The mayor has a 10-day window to veto any of those council-proposed changes. Council can only override a mayoral budget veto with a two-thirds supermajority vote of all members including the mayor.
In May 2025, these powers were expanded to 169 additional municipalities, including Centre Wellington. At the time, the Province stated that:
“This significant expansion reflects Ontario’s commitment to streamline local governance and help ensure municipalities have the tools they need to reduce obstacles that can stand in the way of new housing and infrastructure development”.[1]
This suggests that somehow councils and the democratic process of reaching consensus and making decisions in a collaborative manner was somehow to blame for blocking housing projects across the Province. While this might have been true in some cases, there is no overwhelming guarantee that a mayor working independently would do anything differently. In fact, the Toronto Star did a comprehensive analysis of decisions made under SMP and found that out of 4,200 decisions made, only 2% were related to housing.[2] But at the same time, mayors have used their new powers to fire senior staff, quash legal challenges against themselves, and kill housing projects. Some critics, like John Taylor, Mayor of Newmarket, say that SMPs’ “ability to override council breeds disenfranchisement, and that the ability to fire senior staff undercuts public servants’ ability to provide independent, professional advice.”[3]
At this year’s Ontario Small Urban Municipalities’ annual conference, John Mascarin, a municipal lawyer at Aird and Berlis, was quite blunt when he stated that there is no evidence that SMPs are helping to build housing and that it’s an abysmal development for democracy in Ontario. The Association of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers (AMCTO) found a similar lack of evidence that SMPs have resulted in more housing projects, but instead, they note that SMPs are blurring the line between political and administrative responsibilities.[4]
Mayors with SMPs do have the option to delegate some authorities back to staff and council but not all of the powers. And even if a sitting mayor has delegated some of the powers back to council, that delegation is immediately revoked at the time of the election. So what this means for Centre Wellington is that you will be electing a mayor who will automatically be granted the full suite of Strong Mayor Powers. Depending on the person who is elected, this could have significant impacts on the municipality.
If I am elected mayor, I commit to delegating as many Strong Mayor Powers back to Council as possible and will also commit to taking a collaborative and consensus-building approach to decision-making with all members of Council. Democracy is critically important and we must work together to maintain the ability of all elected officials to participate fully in the business of Council.
[1] April 09, 2025. Ontario Proposing to Expand Strong Mayor Powers to 169 Additional Municipalities.Government of Ontario, Newsroom.
[2] June 9th, 2026 https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/fords-government-gave-these-mayors-superpowers-heres-what-happened-when-some-mayors-tried-to-give-them-back/article_41731a4c-5440-4333-8ced-cf500589a7da.html
[3] ibid
[4] May 1st, 2026 https://www.newmarkettoday.ca/local-news/power-grab-strong-mayor-powers-spark-debate-as-municipal-election-nominations-open-12223843