September 6th, 2023
Office of the Premier
Legislative Building
Queens Park
Toronto, ON M7A 1A1
Dear Premier Ford:
At the September 5th, 2023 Council meeting of the Township of South-West Oxford, Council raised grave concerns about the recent decisions by your government to expand "Strong Mayor" powers. South-West Oxford Council is unanimously opposed to this direction because it fundamentally undermines the role of elected Councils. While the "Mayor" is elected as the head of council, with the responsibilities that entails, that individual should not have the power to disregard or reject the direction of the majority of Council on any issue when acting as the mayor.
The public elect councils for the collective wisdom of the group to make decisions that affects their daily lives, which is always better informed than the wisdom of an individual. Giving any mayor extraordinary powers that reduce the ability of the majority of council to make decisions that impact the citizens is in our opinion wrong and dangerous. Any mayor that needs extra power to move forward their agenda for the community should be seen as a weak and ineffective leader. This is not the person one should ever enable with more power. If a mayor is unable to facilitate the actions and policies that are required in the community, then that mayor should consider another line of service.
At this time, when the public perception of politicians and public trust in the democratic institutions are already at an all-time low (thanks mainly due to politicians themselves) we should not be doing anything that further undermines public trust in, and accountability of, all elected persons at all levels of governance.
The Township of South-West Oxford strongly encourages you to rescind your legislation (Bill 3, Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022), as it relates to Strong Mayor powers, that allows this dangerous degradation of our municipal governance model.
Thank you,
Mayor David Mayberry
Township of South-West Oxford
cc. Oxford MPP Hon. Ernie Hardeman
Oxford MP Hon. Arpan Khanna
Hon. Paul Calandra, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
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