Ontario is expanding strong mayor powers to 26 large and fast-growing municipalities that have committed to a housing pledge as part of the province’s work to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.
The announcement was made by Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark during today’s meeting of the Ontario Big City Mayors. Strong mayor powers for Toronto and Ottawa took effect in the Fall of 2022 and will be expanded to 26 municipalities on July 1.
The additional municipalities that would be designated as part of the strong mayor framework are single or lower-tier municipalities with a population over 100,000, or growing to 100,000 by 2031, that have submitted a housing pledge to the province. Mayors in Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton and several other cities in the GTHA will have the expanded powers.
“Municipalities are critical partners for our government as we help communities get shovels in the ground faster and work to build more homes,” said Clark. “By adopting ambitious and absolutely necessary housing pledges, these 26 municipalities have demonstrated they understand the importance of that target, and we are ensuring they have the tools they need to succeed. We welcome housing pledges from other municipalities to help reach our goal of 1.5 million homes by 2031.”
These are the 26 municipalities receiving strong mayor powers on Canada Day:
- Ajax
- Barrie
- Brampton
- Brantford
- Burlington
- Caledon
- Cambridge
- Clarington
- Guelph
- Hamilton
- Kingston
- Kitchener
- London
- Markham
- Milton
- Mississauga
- Niagara Falls
- Oakville
- Oshawa
- Pickering
- Richmond Hill
- St. Catharines
- Vaughan
- Waterloo
- Whitby
- Windsor
The 28 municipalities that will have strong mayor powers, have collectively pledged to build 1,217,000 units by 2031 – more than 81 per cent of the provincial target of 1.5 million homes.
The strong mayor by-law powers could only be used to support prescribed provincial priorities such as the building of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 to address the housing supply crisis, and the construction and maintenance of infrastructure, such as transit and roads, to support new and existing housing development. Checks and balances maintain the important oversight role of councillors. For example, council may override the mayor’s veto of by-laws or budget amendments with a two-thirds majority vote. Existing municipal accountability frameworks continue to apply to heads of council with strong mayor powers, including conflict of interest rules.
