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Orangeville mayor says she has no intention of using ‘strong mayor’ powers following province’s announcement

April 17, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

The provincial government announced last week that it is expanding “strong mayor” powers to 169 municipalities across Ontario, effective May 1.

The powers allow mayors to hire and fire municipal staff, create and appoint people to committees, and veto bylaws or approve budgets with only one-third support instead of majority rule.

While some mayors have welcomed the expansion of these powers, many are labelling the move as “undemocratic” and have publicly voiced their concerns.

Orangeville Mayor Lisa Post is among those troubled by the province’s announcement, made on April 9.

“One of my biggest concerns is that while I’m a mayor who believes in democracy, believes in the power of my council and believes in the collaborative approach that we’ve taken to decision making… it could be dangerous in the wrong hands,” she told the Citizen. “Who’s to say who the mayor is going to be eventually, and what their thoughts on democracy are. I think that it poses a real potential long term negative impact on our community and communities across Ontario.” 

Mayor Post also noted issues strong mayor powers can pose for staffing.

“We’ve seen these powers being utilized in some municipalities to unilaterally hire and fire senior staff without council’s input, and that makes staff very uneasy… Is their job safe or can the mayor just walk in and fire them one day? Because that’s a real problem.”

Mayor Post continued, “Finding public servants to work in the municipal sector is already challenging, and to add this additional stress, concern and angst onto it is problematic.”

Strong mayor powers were first rolled out in 2022 for Toronto and Ottawa to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis. They’ve since gradually spread across Ontario, with nearly half of all municipalities to have the powers after May 1.

When strong mayor powers were first announced, Mayor Post wrote a paper on their potential dangers while studying at Humber Polytechnic (formerly known as Humber College) for a Community Development Degree, which she received in 2023.

“It’s absolutely not my intent to utilize these powers,” Mayor Post said.

“When I look through the outline of having these powers, I don’t see a time where I would utilize them.”

One of her biggest areas of concern is the idea of consolidating power into the hands of one individual.

“In Ontario, and in Canada, we have a democratic system, and as part of our democracy, every person on council and in Parliament, all have one equal vote,” she explained.

“In Orangeville, we have a council of seven people, and those seven people have been voted in by the residents of this area to represent their best interests. All seven of us on council have different lived experiences, different ideologies, different ideas of policy, and because of that diversity of voices, we have good democracy.” 

Mayor Post added, “When you give the mayor the authority to veto a decision of council, that’s problematic.”

She said it’s problematic because the council members overridden by strong mayor powers likely voted on a particular issue based on conversations they had with the people they represent.

“When you consolidate the power into the hands of one individual… it takes away not only the voices of council, but the voices of residents,” said Mayor Post.

In a statement issued on April 9, after the strong mayor announcement was made by the province, Mayor Post noted her concerns and affirmed her belief in democracy.

“Our council has accomplished great things together through thoughtful dialogue, respectful debate, and shared vision. I have no intention of changing that dynamic,” reads the statement. “Strong mayor powers, to me, are simply another tool in the toolbox –– one that will never replace the importance of teamwork and mutual respect and one that should only be used responsibly, thoughtfully, and only when it aligns with the values we all hold dear.”

The Citizen asked Mayor Post to elaborate on how strong mayor powers are another “tool in the toolbox” or when they might provide benefit to a municipality. She responded that she could potentially see the purpose for them when they were tied to housing starts.

“If you did have a council that was constantly rejecting development opportunities and really doing negative damage to a community by not allowing any housing starts, perhaps it could be beneficial in that case,” she told the Citizen. “Again, I don’t know that – I still believe in democracy and I believe in collaboration, so I’m not even certain that I fully support that being one of the targets.”

Mayor Post noted that research into strong mayor powers shows no correlation between the powers and housing starts.

“Their initial intent of trying to link it to housing starts is not working,” she said.

Mayor Post was also critical of the fact that many of the 169 municipalities set to receive strong mayor powers never asked for them. Any municipality in Ontario that has six councillors or more has been granted the powers.

“I had no idea that these [powers] were coming until I received notification from the province that I was one of the recipients of it. We had no previous dialogue with them or expectation that this was happening,” Mayor Post said.

She noted one of the “less damaging” aspects of the strong mayor powers is the ability for mayors to create committees and appoint chairs of committees.

“I don’t think that’s a dangerous tool to have,” she noted.  

“It’s something that kind of already happens at the beginning of a council term. I’ll send forward my ideas of what our committees should be and who should be chairs of them. I still like to have conversation, because I don’t want to appoint anybody to a portfolio that they don’t want, but it does allow you that capability.”

Mayor Post continued. “It also allows the mayor to bring forward and present the budget, which, I think in some circumstances, may be valuable. In our municipality, I don’t see the value in it. I’ve got a great team who I already collaborate with at the town to create the initial first draft of the budget, and then it comes to council for deliberation, which is how it should go.”

Mayor Post said she’s seen some mayor use the powers to bring forward council’s priorities instead of the priorities of a municipality’s staff when that becomes an issue.

“In the Town of Orangeville, the staff works with council already to create the budget in a way that drives forward our values and our strategic priorities. But in some municipalities, I know that that’s a challenge, so I can see the benefits to that in some areas,” she noted.

Orangeville Mayor Post says in her statement that strong mayor powers will not alter her approach to the leadership and she’ll remain focused on building a “strong, future-ready, and inclusive Orangeville, together.”

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