A mayoral candidate is calling Premier Doug Ford’s idea to give “strong mayoral” powers to Ottawa’s mayor undemocratic, while another candidate says he won’t need additional powers to move forward with his agenda if elected in October .
Less than 100 days before residents head to the polls to elect a new mayor and councillors, the premier said he plans to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa “veto” powers over proposals made by their respective councils.
Ford says his reforms would allow the mayors of Ontario’s two largest cities to veto any council decision, with a second measure allowing the council to override the mayor’s veto if two-thirds of councilors agree.
“I just think that the mayor of Toronto or Ottawa or whatever mayor, they’re responsible for everything, but they have the same one vote as a councillor,” Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park.
“We’ll get into the details later … we’ll do the process.”
Count. Kathryn McKenney, one of 10 mayoral candidates, says cities need their own powers, but not the mayor.
“I see this in general as an undemocratic move. Of course, we need to empower people and not put all the power in the hands of one person on council,” McKenney told CTV News Ottawa on Wednesday.
“Removing legitimate concerns that residents will sometimes have is not the way we want to move forward with the way we build our cities.”
Mayoral candidate Mark Sutcliffe says the mayor’s new veto powers are not something that would help Ottawa residents.
“My goal in running for mayor was to bring a fresh new perspective to City Hall and to work with city councillors, democratically elected city councillors, to build consensus, to work collaboratively together to get things done to make Ottawa safe, secure and affordable,” Sutcliffe told Ottawa Now with Christy Cameron on Newstalk 580 CFRA. “There’s no need for additional powers for that, if I’m elected mayor, I’m happy to work with the system we have now.”
Sutcliffe says municipal governments need to see what the Ontario government’s actual legislation says, but he doesn’t think he needs to if elected.
“I’m willing to work with all these people to get things done for the city; whether it’s affordable housing or keeping taxes as low as possible, keeping recreation fees down, fixing public transportation — bringing a fresh perspective to that record,” Sutcliffe said. “I’m willing to do that within the current system and I don’t need City Hall to have additional powers to do that.”
Mayoral candidate Bob Chiarelli says he’s trying to work with consensus, but the new powers could help break the impasse at the council table.
“It’s a tool that will be available,” Chiarelli said Wednesday.
“I would support it. If we have deadlock in the council, then the mayor’s power can be used to break a tie or to break a dispute, and it can be used very responsibly.”
McKenney says Ottawa’s mayor doesn’t need so-called “strong mayor” powers, but cities need to be stronger.
“Cities should have more power over their own self-determination,” McKenney said. “Today we are creatures of the countryside; but that system was established when most people lived outside cities, today the vast majority of people live in cities, and not having more democratic and governing powers really as a city just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
CURRENT COUNCILORS OPPOSE PLAN FOR STRONG MAYOR
Three current councilors oppose proposed new “veto powers” for Ottawa’s mayor.
Count. Riley Brockington says he was blindsided by the news of the mayor’s proposed new powers.
“There has been no discussion of this that I know of in Ottawa, certainly not by city council. It’s not really something that was on our radar screen,” Brockington said. “I guess the main question I have is what is the existing problem that we’re trying to solve here?”
Brockington says we live in a democracy and all different voices are heard at the council table.
“Everyone gets a fair and equal time to express their opinion, and the most important thing – the most important thing here is that everyone has an equal voice.”
Count. Eli El-Chantiri says the proposal would take away the power of councillors, especially in a city the size of Ottawa, where there are big differences of opinion.
“You’re taking away some of people’s rights by doing this,” El-Chantiri said.
Count. Laura Dudas, who is the current deputy mayor, told Newstalk 580 CFRA that she has no problem with our current system.
“I don’t understand what the problem is that the prime minister is trying to solve,” Dudas said. “Democracy is not a straight line, it zigzags and takes time and can be messy.
“We have to make sure we work as a team and it doesn’t help anyone to have just one voice at the top doing whatever they decide to do.”
With files from The Canadian Press
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