Strong mayor powers are anti-democratic

April 14, 2025

KITCHENER — Ontario Greens Deputy Leader and Kitchener Centre MPP, Aislinn Clancy, responds to news that Doug Ford plans to extend strong mayor powers to 169 additional Ontario municipalities.

“The extension of strong mayor powers to municipalities in 2022 did not solve the housing crisis then, and it won’t now.

Doug Ford is veiling his attack on local democracy as a solution to the housing crisis. What Ford’s government has branded as a commitment to “streamline” local governance and “reduce obstacles”, actually disenfranchises millions of Ontarians.

Cities and towns elect their city councils to work for them, overruling that process is anti-democratic.

Ford continues to centralize more power in fewer hands to bypass municipal council on key decisions and avoid accountability. To solve the housing crisis, this government must end exclusionary zoning and urgently build more affordable and supportive homes so people can afford to live in the communities they love.

Embracing minority rule sets a concerning precedent, and goes against the democratic norms and principles that are the basis of Canada’s political system. ”

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