Toronto council has decided not to oppose Premier Doug Ford’s plan to grant the city’s mayor additional powers. But members are asking the province to consider giving the municipality more control over issues like taxation and housing as part of the governance shakeup., Ford intends to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa veto power over council decisions that could only be overruled by a two-thirds majority vote.
The council debate on the issue, which took place Thursday afternoon on the third day of a marathon meeting, was the first chance for the city’s elected body to take an official position. The motion as a whole passed by a show of hands, but aspects of it were approved by an overwhelming vote of 23 to 2.
McKelvie said that as the city can’t stop the province from instituting a strong-mayor system, council’s message to Ford’s government should be “if you’re going to do that, then there’s things that we need as well.Before the vote Matlow urged his colleagues to reject the strong-mayor plan, arguing that giving the mayor the ability to overrule the majority of the 26-member council would be undemocratic.
Under questioning from council members, city solicitor, Wendy Walberg, confirmed that the province, not the municipal government is responsible for many important housing policies, including setting timelines for planning applications, and overseeing the Ontario Land Tribunal, which decides appeals of matters relating to land use.
Begs the question, why do we need a stroke ng mayor plan when the mayor gets everything he wants passed
More of JohnTory BS