North Huron Council largely rejects Strong Mayor Powers from province
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
At its April 22 meeting, North Huron Council joined the growing list of municipalities to discuss the Strong Mayor Powers (SMP) recently bestowed by the provincial government. SMP gives certain unilateral decision-making powers to mayors, reeves, and other heads of council all over Ontario, ostensibly in aid of the province’s accelerated housing program. While it’s undeniable that the sudden advent of SMP has unlocked a variety of new powers for municipal leaders, several North Huron councillors are still seeking clarification on exactly what those powers are, and how they are intended to be used.
On April 22, this hot-button issue was first addressed by Councillor Chris Palmer. He pointed out that many municipalities across Ontario are responding to this sudden shift in power dynamics with displeasure. “A number of municipalities are pulling themselves out of the super powers for mayors, and I’m hoping that there’s going to be a lot more,” he said. At the direction of council, North Huron staff has already sent a letter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) expressing dismay at the expansion of SMP.
In the few weeks since Nelson Santos became the CAO of North Huron the landscape of municipal government has changed considerably. Santos has chosen to tackle the tricky issue of SMP by collecting the opinions of his new co-workers, North Huron citizens, and council. “I think one of the points that we’ve certainly discussed as a staff and a team was that the previous appointing and acknowledging of this power was tied to grants, or housing projects and programs,” Santos explained. “There is no such “carrot” or incentive under this wave. They are just kind of ‘waving the wand’ to other communities with the criteria of having six members of council or greater to be included in this third wave.”
Santos went on to take umbrage with the province’s decision to rapidly roll-out such a sweeping change, without much input from the public. “The time that they put out for public consultation was a short one. It’s unusually short - a week’s time from the date of the announcement to basically last Monday or Tuesday,” he pointed out.
Santos was also dismayed at the province’s decision to ignore direct requests from municipal governments asking to be excluded from the list of communities being granted SMP. “As you’ve seen, a number of communities across the province have noted their displeasure with being included as part of the legislation,” he told council, before asking them to discuss whether or not they would like to ask the province to remove North Huron from the list.
Santos added that it was entirely possible that the request would simply be brushed aside. “Past mayors and communities that passed resolutions during the second wave that did not want them were still left on the bill amendment granting them powers,” he said. “I guess that’s a chance we take, but at least we’ll put forward this council’s position, and this township's position.”
Palmer wanted to know if the letter previously sent to the MMAH was one of displeasure, or flat-out denial of the powers. Santos responded that it had stopped short of demanding removal from the list. “The comments we put forward were certainly of displeasure, at taking away the voice of council as a whole,” he said. “It’s kind of contrary to democracy, and the voice of the people making resolutions here. So we’ve spoken the contrary to that.”
During the discussion, Deputy-Reeve Kevin Falconer advised against looking the province’s proverbial gift horse in the mouth. “Regardless of what our response is, the province is laying that power upon the municipalities anyway,” he pointed out. “I could see the Strong Mayors Act being a problem only if it’s used improperly. And I really don’t want to handcuff our municipality.” Falconer mentioned that it was entirely possible that, two weeks from now, the province might change course once again by offering infrastructure money to only those municipalities that had accepted the powers. “I’m really on the fence here,” he said. “I see the problem with the changing of the delegation, and what it means to the municipality, as far as the speed of putting things through. But that seems to have been the going trend for the province. Now, with the tariffs and stuff, we’re having to move faster and faster, and relinquish the red tape that is involved with moving projects forward. I just don’t see any reason to, at this point, remove ourselves from that possibility, when it doesn’t really make a difference what we say either way.”
Palmer further expounded on his opposition to the entire notion of SMP. “The idea of the province giving special powers to mayors for the sole purpose of jamming their own priorities through the system just irks me. It’s wrong. It’s a conflict of interest, I think. I really take huge displeasure with this… I don’t like the idea of being bought,” he declared. “There’s an abuse of power here, and I’m afraid of it being abused down the road, if the wrong reeve gets in. A reeve with the wrong principles.”
In Palmer’s opinion, speaking up against SMP is the right thing to do, even if it may not yield any results. “I know we can say no to it, and the province does it anyway,” he said. “We don’t know how that’s going to play out. I’m on the fence too, to a point, but I think it’s more of a negative. Especially to a small council, a small municipality - you can just get the wrong character in and oh my, we’ve got a problem.”
Councillor Mitch Wright had questions of his own about the SMP situation. “The only reason these next wave municipalities got given strong powers was the size of our council, right? Six or more. Is there any reading of the tea leaves indicating that it will eventually be rolled out right across the province? Is this just an intermediate step, or do you think there’s any chance of the province stopping at this?” he asked.
While not privy to the province’s plans for the future, Santos hazarded a guess. “I think, based on the comments we’ve heard from the premier in the past, and now the minister, this is just the next phase. We believe that the next step, probably in a year, would be to introduce the balance of the municipalities to provide that authority. Again, under their legislation, and their amendments to the bill,” he posited.
Reeve Paul Heffer wanted to know how the earlier municipalities to have SMP unwillingly thrust upon them reacted. “Did any of them turn down this at all, and what were the repercussions?”
Santos is aware of a few.“Some of them were single-tier municipalities,” he pointed out. “For example, in Chatham-Kent, the mayor sent a direct letter to the province and the premier, not wishing to take on those powers. Despite that, the province went ahead anyway, and still maintained Chatham-Kent under the delegation of the authorities to them as well… the province has held steadfast to not changing any of their proposals under the bill. Everyone that has been listed to date has been approved to date, despite objections from their own councils and their own mayors.”
Wright also wanted to know how the new rules were going to fit into the existing framework of municipal government.“The fact that we’ve been awarded SMP doesn’t necessarily change the bylaws, right? We still have to follow those bylaws until they’re changed, I would assume. Is there anything about this rollout that actually mandates us to change the bylaws so that they would conform with SMP?”
Clerk Carson Lamb told Wright that, when it comes to anything relating to provincial priorities, the new mayoral authorities supersede any North Huron bylaws that stand in the way. “There are areas of the procedural bylaw that are automatically overwritten or overruled by SMP. For example, the ability to introduce a matter at any given meeting if it’s determined to align with a provincial priority,” Lamb explained.
Lamb also offered an idea to council that just might make living with SMP a little more manageable. “What a lot of municipalities have done is delegate the authorities back to council, to almost mitigate the impact of the SMP,” he said. “For example - delegating the budget process back to staff and council, delegating the power for hiring and dismissal of staff back to council. The rest is really whatever the strong mayor at the time makes of those powers in regard to what they’re willing to exercise and what they’re not.”
Falconer argued that, since SMP can only be used in pursuit of the provincial priorities, they might not be so bad. “I don’t see, in that act, the taking away of any of council’s ability to say we don’t agree with the reeve,” he opined. “It’s just not written that way. So to say that the reeve would have the ability to bully council… it's still six people against one.”
Palmer shot back at Falconer’s comment by pointing to Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac, who has been embroiled in controversy ever since he used SMP to make a staffing decision without the approval of council. “Look at Orillia - the mayor fired the incoming CAO - and he hadn’t even sat in his seat yet!” Palmer exclaimed. “He used his powers. And council said they had no choice. That happened,”
Palmer concluded by expressing incredulity at the entire SMP situation. He asked the other councillors and staff to envision a scenario in which Heffer chose to use SMO to override a bylaw or decision reached by a majority vote. “What the heck?!” he exclaimed. “Do we all just go down the hall and take off? What good are we here? I just don’t understand what the province is thinking.”