Re-balancing needed at city hall

In 2022, the Ontario government passed the “Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act.” The new law granted significant powers to the mayors of Toronto, Ottawa and other designated municipalities in that province, ostensibly for the purpose of speeding up the construction of housing and infrastructure. Last year, the law was expanded to apply to 216 Ontario municipalities, including all of Ontario’s major cities.

The “Strong Mayors” law shifted power away from Ontario city and municipal councils to mayors. For example, mayors in that province are now responsible for proposing the annual budget rather than city staff or the entire council. They also possess the authority to unilaterally hire and dismiss chief administrative officers and municipal department heads (other than police chiefs, fire chiefs, and auditors general).

Those same mayors can introduce and pass specific bylaws related to provincial priorities with the votes of just one-third of councillors. They also have the power to veto municipal bylaws that they believe will interfere with certain provincial priorities — a veto that can only be overridden by a two-thirds “supermajority” vote of councillors.

Unsurprisingly, there has been significant opposition to the Ontario approach. Many critics contend that the new measures are undemocratic, and argue that giving a mayor the power to ignore the will of city council creates an autocracy that undermines local democracy, transparency and public trust.

Before the passage of the Ontario law, the powers of mayors in that province were largely identical to those of Manitoba mayors. As in Manitoba, they had virtually no authority to act unilaterally, without the support of city council. The mayor’s role was largely limited to chairing council meetings, appointing committee chairs and performing ceremonial duties. All decisions had to be approved by council via a majority vote.

That is the governance model we have here in Brandon. The Municipal Act and the City of Brandon’s Organizational By-law define the structure of our local government, along with the roles and responsibilities of our mayor and city council. Under section 82 of the Municipal Act, for example, all city councillors — not just the mayor — are responsible for “developing and evaluating the policies and programs of the municipality,” for “ensuring that the powers, duties and functions of the municipality are appropriately carried out,” and for “carrying out the powers, duties and functions expressly given to the council under this or any other Act.”

Section 83 makes that even clearer, saying that all members of council, including the mayor, have the duty to “participate generally in developing and evaluating the policies and programs of the municipality.” That same section says that the head of council — the mayor — has the added duties to “provide leadership and direction to the council,” to “preside when in attendance at a council meeting, except where the procedures by-law or this or any other Act otherwise provides,” and to “perform any other duty or function assigned to a head of council by the council or by this or any other Act.” Section 10 of Brandon’s organizational bylaw contains almost identical language.

Section 7 of that same bylaw makes clear, again, that city council — not just the mayor — is responsible for “the overall development and evaluation of policies and programs of the municipality,” for “ensuring that all powers, duties and functions of the municipality are appropriately carried out,” and for carrying out the duties, powers and functions delegated to it by the Municipal Act or any other Manitoba law.

Despite the clarity of all of those provisions and, secondly, the fact that the Manitoba government has not passed a “strong mayors” law similar to Ontario’s, Brandon has evolved into a “strong mayor” city, in which the mayor increasingly exercises power unilaterally, with city councillors often kept in the dark and treated as “rubber stampers.”

For years, Brandon mayors have limited the flow of city-related information to city councillors until absolutely necessary, if ever. Far too often, those mayors have also participated in discussions with senior levels of government on a range of important issues, but both city council and the public were kept completely in the dark. Meetings and discussions were held that city councillors were often never told about.

None of that should be happening. Brandon is neither a presidency nor a dictatorship. The legal power and responsibility for governing the city rests in city councillors, and the mayor is just one member of that 11-member group. He or she is simply an “at large” city councillor, with the added responsibility of officiating at council meetings and attending ribbon-cuttings. That’s it.

Given that reality, how did Brandon end up in a situation in which the mayor — who may or may not possess the skills to do the job — has so much “de facto” power and city councillors have so little?

It has happened gradually over the past several decades, as city councillors became increasingly co-opted by persuasive mayors and increasingly delegated their duties to others, including city staff, commissions and committees. That may have made their job easier and shortened the duration of council meetings, but it hasn’t served the interests of Brandonites.

That has to stop. The current approach is increasingly putting too much power and discretion in the hands of mayors who may not possess the skills, values, intellect and judgment to exercise those powers properly. When they make mistakes, which is all but inevitable when there is little effective oversight from city council, all Brandonites pay the price.

There needs to be a re-balancing of governance powers at city hall that corresponds with the law and respects the important role of city councillors. That change must begin with recognizing that it’s time for our councillors to stop operating like a passive volunteer board of directors and start exercising the leadership and oversight duties they were elected to provide.

If they can do that, Brandon might see better decision-making at the city council table.