The real risks of using a ‘strong mayor’ system to get things done. Municipal democracy relies on hearing many voices — and having non-partisan civil servants loyal not to a single politician, but to the city itself. Opinion by KGreenbergTO
By the time the next municipal elections take place in Ontario on Oct. 24, the province may change the governments Toronto and Ottawa so that each will be led by a “,” with power to decide key matters such as budgeting regardless of the wishes — or votes — of those cities’ elected council members.
Supporters of a strong-mayor system see it as a way to “get things done” in key areas that have been bottlenecked. Even as the housing market cools, Toronto and Ottawa still face an acute shortage of affordable homes. Transit projects take decades to build, and developers complain that city governments tie their plans up with endless debate.
Critics also worry about what might happen if a strong mayor comes to power who is also a populist bent on crushing the careful Official Plans drawn up by cities for sustainable smart growth. When he was a Toronto city councillor, Ford himself actually road-tested this scenario when he tried to strike a unilateral deal to undermine Waterfront Toronto and get hand-picked developers to build a luxury yacht club, megamall and Ferris wheel by the lake with little or no parkland.
An American mayor’s biggest rival for power is not the city council, it’s the city manager — an appointed bureaucrat who has vast power and can make elected councils weak or irrelevant.
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