Totonto Several Ontario municipalities have rejected the province’s offer to grant strong mayoral powers due to concerns about the housing goals the government has tied to them or because they fear the powers will abet a “dictatorship”. The Progressive Conservative government has assigned housing targets to 50 municipalities – their share of the 1.5 million homes Premier Doug Ford has promised to build by 2031. Ontario now is far ahead of the pace needed to achieve this goal.
As long as the city government formally commits to achieving the target through a housing commitment, the province will give the city powerful mayoral powers, including allowing the head of the council to propose regulations relating to housing and pass them with the support of one-third of the councilors, override council approval of certain regulations, and prepare their city budget on behalf of the council. The province frames these powers as a way to quickly build more housing. But some mayors with these powers have vowed not to use them, as in Toronto and Ottawa, and others have received them with a warm welcome, predicting that they will only be used in special cases. Today, four municipalities Newmarket, New Tecumseth, Norfolk County, and Haldimand County said no thank you.
Newmarket was the first to come out, with Mayor John Taylor telling the province that the town could not build 12,000 homes in 10 years because the municipality currently did not have the wastewater treatment capacity to serve a few thousand more. home. The city is submitting to the province another proposed target of 6,400 housing units. Ontario announced it will provide $200 million over three years to municipalities for water and wastewater projects. It also provides up to $1.2 billion over three years through another fund for housing-related infrastructure – provided municipalities meet at least 80% of their housing goals their. But so far, most cities are not eligible to receive their share of that $1.2 billion fund, under current regulations. According to provincial data, only 12 of 50 municipalities have met 80 percent or more of their targets for housing starts by 2023, with less than two months left in the year. Many are not even at 40 percent.
Municipal authorities argue that starting construction is an unfair measure since local governments can control the number of permits, but it is up to developers to start projects. Norfolk County is another municipality that has now said no to strong mayoral powers, partly because of concerns about measuring housing starts, funding challenges, and labor shortages Dynamics and supply chain issues are hindering many construction projects, Mayor Amy Martin said.
“I think it’s a manageable target for us if approved, but in this global financial environment, the reality is that (it’s) very far from the control of the administration city,” he said. Ontario’s Major Cities Mayors Group has written to Minister of Interior and Housing Paul Calandra asking him to allow municipalities to qualify for a portion of the funds based on the number of building permits they have okay, instead of starting to build. Calandra’s office said it would review the request. Norfolk County Council also decided that it did not want to give strong mayoral powers to the community, Martin said. She stated: “Norfolk County does not have the ability to refuse higher levels of funding, we know that, but council members have had a really difficult time dealing with the strong attachment to power of the mayor”.
“I don’t want to talk about myself, but there was a lot of conversation around the table: ‘Maybe we’re doing well with this mayor. Now that’s not the issue, but who will be the next mayor? “We don’t think it’s right for one person to make decisions for the entire municipality,” she said in an interview.
“We have board members. Each person represents each neighborhood. They represent the people who live in our community. They should be able to come to the negotiating table and represent the people of their parishes and speak up about their problems, but if just one person can give orders then it’s more like a dictatorship than anything. anything else. Powerful mayors can also hire fire department heads, and Bentley believes the provincial government could pressure these municipalities to remove a chief administrative officer he thinks is hindering their goals, for example, or that they hire a particular person. “I think they want to get rid of our grassroots governments and we have to say no,” Bentley said.
“We are growing and we have housing goals and we will probably meet the housing goals that they require, but let’s do it on our own terms. ” Cities also say two new funding streams for housing-related infrastructure won’t cover the shortfall created by provincial legislation aimed at reducing some fees paid by developers that the community uses to fund these necessities. The Association of Ontario Municipalities estimates the deficit at about $5 billion. A Calandra spokesman said the government was encouraging all four cities to commit to their housing targets. “If they do so, our government will give them the support they need to achieve our shared housing goals, including with the major powers,” Alexandru Cioban wrote in a statement.