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Province proposes expansion of Strong Mayor Powers across nearly 170 municipalities

April 17, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The provincial government is proposing to expand Strong Mayor powers to the heads of council in 169 additional municipalities, effective May 1.

In a statement, the province said the special powers are designed to “help deliver on provincial priorities, such as building more homes, transit and other infrastructure across Ontario.”

The special powers would allow heads of council of single and lower-tier municipalities with councils of six or more members to support shared provincial-municipal priorities such as encouraging the approval of new housing. This is done by approving the construction and maintenance of infrastructure that supports home building, including roads and transit.

“Heads of Council are key partners in our efforts to build homes and infrastructure across the province, said Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “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.”

Ontario Strong Mayor Powers were initially introduced for Toronto and Ottawa in 2022 and have been gradually rolled out across the province.

The province currently has 47 municipalities with these enhanced powers.

The enhanced powers come with increased accountability for heads of council and maintain essential checks and balances through the oversight of councillors.

Strong Mayor Powers and duties include choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer, hiring certain municipal department heads, establishing and re-organizing departments, creating committees of council, assigning committee functions and appointing the chairs and vice-chairs of committees.

The powers also include proposing certain municipal by-laws if the proposed by-law could potentially advance a provincial priority and vetoing certain by-laws if they could interfere with a provincial priority.

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