TORONTO — Most candidates running in Ontario’s 50 largest municipalities say a mayor should never use provincial strong-mayor powers to overturn council, according to Vote Compass figures circulating Monday — four weeks before the October 26 civic vote. The tool, built by Vox Pop Labs with The Toronto Star, asked mayoral and council candidates the same questions voters will see. As of Friday, almost 80% of those who answered agreed mayors should never overturn council decisions — 47% strongly, 31% somewhat.Fewer than one-quarter disagreed. Council candidates were harder line than people running for the mayor’s chair: 49% of council hopefuls strongly agreed the override should never be used, against 32% of mayoral candidates. That is a candidate questionnaire, not a random poll of voters, and it only covers those who filled it out.Premier Doug Ford’s government created the powers in the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022 and then spread them far beyond Toronto and Ottawa. About 216 of 444 municipalities are now designated. A designated mayor can draft the budget, hire and fire the chief administrative officer and some senior staff, reorganize departments, veto certain by-laws tied to provincial priorities, and move some of those items with only one-third of council. Council needs a two-thirds vote to beat a veto..Ford sold the package as a housing tool. A Toronto Star review of more than 4,200 mayoral decisions found most substantive uses were running city hall, not directly adding homes — under 9% of those uses were squarely about building housing. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens led the province in “substantive” uses, including a veto that killed council’s plan to keep a Windsor–Detroit tunnel bus. Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas has used the veto on budget items, while Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall used the powers to accept private money for a giant flagpole.Ministry consultation notes obtained by CBC News described public feedback on the later expansion as “predominantly negative.” Queen’s Park expanded the list anyway.Municipal Affairs Minister Rob Flack’s office has not issued a fresh response to the Vote Compass cut. In an earlier statement, spokesperson Daniel Strauss said mayors in Ajax, Brampton, and St. Catharines had used the system to help build housing and that the government was giving municipalities “the tools they need” to cut obstacles to homes and infrastructure. October 26 is the first municipal election in which many of these mayors will be chosen already holding the extra powers.
