Opposition leaders pledge to reduce municipal downloading; Liberals, Greens would consider rescinding strong mayor powers

In August 2023, Doug Ford, swamped in an $8 billion Greenbelt scandal, extended strong mayor powers for the third time in less than three months, which allowed municipal heads of council to exert unprecedented control over planning and budget decisions to push Ford’s controversial housing scheme forward.

The move was labelled “undemocratic” by elected officials and advocacy groups across the province. Mayors could suddenly hire and fire key municipal staff, bring forward their own annual budget and approve certain projects unilaterally without council's permission, ostensibly to “cut red tape” when approving housing applications.

The Pointer asked Ford’s opponents, if elected, would they support his controversial moves in the municipal government space, which many see as a provincial takeover of towns and cities.

Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie told The Pointer that she “never favoured” the legislation and that Ford’s strong mayor powers are something she is going to consider scrapping. Crombie, who only exercised the powers once when she was mayor of Mississauga to get fourplexes “as of right” approved in order to be eligible for federal funding under Ottawa’s Housing Accelerator Fund (she had the majority of council’s support anyway), said she has seen how the powers have been used across the province and it is something she is “not comfortable with.”

“I don't think mayors need it. I don't think they want it. I can see across the province how it's been used, mostly for (staff) termination purposes. I've seen the examples. I'm not comfortable with that.”

The only scenario she sees the powers potentially being necessary or “helpful to have” is in cases where there is obstruction within fractured councils, as has been the situation in Pickering, which has been rife with dysfunction between the city’s mayor and a councillor.

“I need to balance that. But on the whole, I don't like what I've seen,” she told The Pointer. “I never thought it was necessary. I used it for the purpose it was designed to be used for, which is to build housing, and it didn't even need it at the end of the day because it was going to pass.”

Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie says she is not in favour of Doug Ford’s strong mayor legislation and would revisit it, if elected.

(Bonnie Crombie/X) 

The strong mayor legislation allowed Caledon Mayor Annette Groves to ignore Town policies that dictate hiring and recruitment procedures and salary administration to negotiate the new CAO’s contract — a move that was made without consultation or input from the other Caledon council members. While less controversial, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish has also used her position to shuffle around staff after being sworn in, including appointing the City’s current CAO Geoff Wright to the role, replacing Shari Lichterman. The shake up came in the first 48 hours of her swearing in despite previous statements from Parrish that she would use the powers primarily to get housing built. 

Green Party leader Mike Schreiner told The Pointer he is “absolutely opposed to strong mayor powers” and committed to getting rid of them. He added, “I believe in democracy, and I think democratically elected councils should be making decisions with mayors that put their residents first.”

While NDP leader Marit Stiles did not confirm whether she would repeal the powers, she said “Ford’s strong mayor powers are just another example of this government imposing a massive change on municipalities without consultation”. She pointed out that Ford made no mention of the move when he sought his election mandate in 2022. 

“The affected communities had no notice about this arbitrary and unilateral shift in the way their City Halls operate. I’ll work with municipal leaders, stakeholders, and community members to ensure our local governments are fair, transparent, and well-supported by the province.”

Stiles also pointed to the reality that Ontario’s municipalities have been forced to take on more responsibilities without being provided the funding necessary to support the financial responsibilities foisted on them by Ford, “creating a crisis in local services.” 

“Ford’s government has consistently undermined municipal authority, from overriding local planning decisions to stripping councils of their power,” she said, adding that, “As Premier, I’ll be a partner to municipalities, respecting their autonomy and delivering the stable funding they need to build strong and caring communities in every corner of the province.” 

NDP leader Marit Stiles plans to provide a new deal to Ontario’s municipalities.

(Marit Stiles/X) 

She said her government would bring forward a new deal for municipalities “to reverse the decades of unfair downloads and bring stability to municipal finances,” which she said will take back provincial responsibility for affordable housing, shelters and homelessness prevention, and restore the 50 percent provincial funding for municipal transit operating costs. New deals have already been struck with Toronto and Ottawa by Ford’s government. 

Schreiner said his Party is proposing a new deal for municipalities to end the provincial downloading onto the backs of municipalities, which he said is leading to unsustainable property tax increases. The Green Party is proposing to upload shelter and housing costs while bringing the provincial government “back [to] the table” to build affordable nonprofit co-op or permanent supportive housing with wraparound mental health, addictions, employment and other services. Schreiner said the Party will also cover 50 percent of transit operating costs and work with municipalities to look at different revenue tools they could be given.

The Greens propose approximately $28 billion over the next government term for an affordable communities fund and a climate adaptation fund. These revenue streams would provide “stable, predictable, dedicated funding for municipal infrastructure, particularly to unlock housing infrastructure, instead of the sort of one off project base, which makes it very challenging for municipalities.”

Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said he plans to provide nearly $28 billion over four years to municipalities to alleviate the financial challenges that have been downloaded onto the backs of property taxpayers.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer files) 

Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) emphasized in a 2024 pre-budget submission estimates from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario highlighting the more than $60 billion annually cities and towns invest in public services and infrastructure. “Municipalities need a predictable, sustainable, and workable solution to manage the growing financial pressures we are facing, which include increasing demands from services previously downloaded by the province.” It was estimated that municipalities are subsidizing approximately $4 billion annually through downloaded services previously covered by Queen’s Park.

Without additional revenue tools or government support, municipalities must rely on property taxes and user fees, neither of which provide adequate dollars needed to support all of the added costs. According to OBCM, these expenditures include: addressing the homelessness, mental health, and addictions crisis, which have resulted in cost escalations of 200 percent over the last five years; supporting a minimum of 10 percent of local hospital capital construction costs; financing the creation of affordable housing and operational support for those units; and funding climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Along with Stiles and Schreiner, Crombie agreed Ford’s moves have been “a big encroachment into authority that is not his own domain,” resulting in “unintended consequences on municipalities.”

“We know what provincial responsibilities are, and he has always liked to meddle” — something Crombie says is “gouging” municipalities’ revenue streams. She said the Liberals plan to remove development charges but provide a fund to make municipalities whole, a pledge the PCs previously made to municipal leaders, Crombie among them at the time, upon introducing Bill 23, but failed to live up to. 

“The one that really hits my heart is the homelessness, mental health and addiction issues that've been completely downloaded onto the cities without a provincial strategy,” she said. “Then it's siloed, because sometimes money comes from health and sometimes it comes from somewhere else, but it's not on the back of the property taxpayer. It shouldn't be.”

“It shouldn't be up to mayors and reeves and councilors to be building shelters and to be building supportive housing with wraparound services or tiny homes or modular homes, they're filling a gap. That's just not right. It's not the responsibility of municipal government.”

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Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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