Doug Ford to extend ‘strong mayor’ powers outside of Toronto, Ottawa

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s planning to expand so-called strong mayor powers to municipalities other than Toronto and Ottawa as a way to get more housing built.

Speaking on Monday at the Association of Municipalities Ontario annual conference in Ottawa, Ford says the legislation will provide those mayors with additional tools to advance those provincial priorities.

“Building more homes is at the top of the list,” he said. “In the coming months, we’ll have more information on how these tools will be expanded to other municipalities so more municipal leaders like yourselves can help build Ontario.”

Ford says in the coming months, he will provide more information on how those tools will be expanded to other municipalities.

RELATED: What will a ‘strong’ mayor system mean for Toronto?

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark tabled a bill called the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act last week that, if passed, would give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa the ability to “move priority projects forward and get more homes built faster.”

The “strong mayor” strategy would allow the mayors of those two cities to override council approval of a bylaw, for example, a zoning bylaw, that would hamper a set of provincial priorities that will be set out later in regulations.

Under the strong mayor system, the local city council would be able to override the mayor’s veto with a two-thirds majority vote.

The mayor currently only has one vote in decision-making, which is the same as other city councillors.

Toronto Mayor John Tory supports the idea, though the current, outgoing mayor of Ottawa doesn’t, and neither do two contenders to replace him.

A recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says the country’s housing stock would need to climb to over 22 million units by 2030 to achieve affordability for everyone living in Canada.

The housing agency notes that two-thirds of the supply gap is found in Ontario and British Columbia, two markets that have faced major declines in affordability.

Around 2003 and 2004, an average household would have had to devote close to 40 per cent of their income to buy an average house in Ontario and close to 45 per cent in British Columbia. As of 2021, that number is close to 60 per cent.