Ontario’s strongest mayors? The leaders making the most of enhanced powers

The predetermination of erstwhile Mississauga councillor and Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish arsenic nan city’s caller politician successful June has been hailed by section leaders arsenic a displacement for nan area.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, Caledon Mayor Annette Groves and Parrish herself are proclaiming a caller era of defense for nan Region of Peel, promising they’ll get caller backing commitments from different levels of government.

The self-styled “Three Musketeers of nan modern day,” arsenic Parrish described them successful a caller societal media post, are besides showing their spot successful different way: by relying heavy connected nan beardown politician powers granted to them by nan Ford government.

All 3 person taken power of hiring and firing astatine metropolis hallway — a comparatively uncommon move for mayors of large cities province-wide — while Groves was warned by Housing Minister Paul Calandra aft she attempted to rezone onshore connected nan way of Highway 413 utilizing beardown politician powers.

As nan Peel Region leaders return afloat advantage of their enhanced powers, soul documents obtained by Global News show Queen’s Park is watching and monitoring really each beardown politician powers are utilized — without immoderate evident plans to measurement successful and referee them.

Strong politician powers were initially introduced by Ontario Premier Doug Ford successful 2022, giving nan mayors of Toronto and Ottawa nan expertise to override and sidestep their councils connected definite issues, peculiarly if they related to provincial priorities for illustration building of caller housing.

Those powers were past expanded measurement by measurement to different cities and towns crossed nan province. Some mayors said they would garbage to usage them, others said they would see them sparingly.

One master fears nan usage of beardown politician powers to prosecute and occurrence unit — arsenic each 3 Peel mayors person done — risks politicizing nan roles of municipal civilian servants.

“The elder positions and appointments wrong nan civilian work astatine nan municipal level, they are captious to nan day-to-day cognition of section government,” Myer Siemiatycki, professor emeritus of authorities astatine nan Toronto Metropolitan University, told Global News.

“You’re fundamentally turning nan full servants of nan state and unit of nan metropolis into group who are beholden only to 1 personification and cognize that if they want to support their job, they amended beryllium singing from nan aforesaid hymn book arsenic nan mayor.”

Groves successful Caledon was nan first to usage nan hiring and firing powers of nan Peel Region mayors.

At nan opening of August 2023 — conscionable 32 days aft being granted beardown politician powers — Groves fired Caledon’s apical civilian servant and replaced her pinch a caller main administrative serviceman (CAO) recruited from nan Town of Erin.

She past relinquished power of galore of nan town’s hiring and firing powers, handing them to nan CAO she had selected and hired utilizing a mayoral order.

Caledon Coun. Dave Sheen, who obtained a transcript of nan caller CAO Nathan Hyde’s statement done state of accusation laws, told Global News that nan caller CAO “began to cleanable house” almost immediately, moves he said he believed were made connected behalf of nan mayor.

Sheen said nan municipality clerk was fto go, followed by nan municipality solicitor. The main planner went adjacent and past nan commissioner of finance. The communications head was besides fto go, on pinch nan commissioner of engineering, nationalist useful and transportation.

The head of bylaw left, on pinch nan caput of quality resources.

Through a spokesperson, Groves denied nan characterization that Hyde was acting connected her behalf erstwhile he made a myriad of changes to staffing successful Caledon.

“The CAO was brought successful to oversee each administrative functions, including nan information of nan existent mode of operations and structure,” Groves said. “He restructured to strategically pivot nan Town to reside aggravated organizational maturation needs tied to Bill 23 targets and Peel transition, while ensuring beardown work transportation successful resident-facing programs.”

That restructuring, Groves said, saw nan municipality move from 11 departments pinch board to six led by commissioners. As a result, she said, immoderate roles were phased out.

Caledon would not disclose really overmuch it had spent connected severance successful 2023.

“The chilling effect connected unit has been difficult to watch,” Coun. Sheen said.

“Keep successful mind, Caledon is comparatively mini compared to our neighbours to nan south, Brampton and Mississauga. All these unit represented a important magnitude of firm and organization knowledge, organization history, know-how, and background. All of this was mislaid erstwhile they left.”

Within nan statement Hyde signed were respective clauses that Sheen said concerned him.

The statement specified that alternatively of reporting to nan full of council, nan CAO would beryllium accountable only to nan mayor. It besides said if Hyde was fired without cause, nan municipality would beryllium him 3 years of full-time pay. Finally, his statement outlined a 35-hour activity week, pinch nan CAO allowed to complaint 1.5 times his hourly complaint for immoderate other hours worked.

The statement shows Hyde is to beryllium paid a net of $270,000 — aliases $148.35 per hour.

“I admit that nan beardown mayor’s authorities gives nan politician nan powerfulness to prosecute and occurrence nan CAO,” Sheen said. “However, I reason that those powers do not alteration nan fundamentals of nan Municipal Act which expects nan CAO to beryllium accountable to each of Council, not conscionable nan mayor. I don’t judge nan politician has nan authority successful nan authorities to statement pinch nan CAO this way.”

Groves said she believed nan rule allowed her to make nan decisions she had.

“Strong politician powers licence nan hiring of nan CAO,” Groves said. “The authorities does not restrict nan compensation package aliases statement offered.”

At nan opening of 2024, Brampton Mayor Brown utilized his beardown politician powers to prosecute a caller head of bylaw enforcement successful nan city.

The politician appointed a erstwhile Peel constabulary serviceman to caput up nan division.

“He believes utilizing nan beardown politician powers for hiring purposes will beryllium highly uncommon arsenic evidenced by only utilizing nan powerfulness erstwhile successful its first year,” a spokesperson for Brown’s agency told Global News.

“To guarantee City Hall is efficaciously resourced to present connected Council’s plans and priorities we are making judge that each caller prosecute has been budgeted for arsenic portion of nan broader yearly fund process.”

A mates of months later successful March, a caller process was brought successful astatine Brampton metropolis hallway that allowed nan politician to determine whether aliases not he wanted to workout his beardown politician powers to artifact nan assignment of anyone to a elder domiciled wrong nan city.

An soul statement sent to metropolis unit outlined really Brown would tighten his grip connected nan recruitment process by utilizing beardown politician powers to either veto aliases o.k. nan assignment of each head successful nan city.

“A caller process will beryllium introduced to amended support Mayoral oversight of employment matters,” Brampton’s CAO wrote successful nan note, obtained by Global News.

“The changes will… alteration nan Mayor to either waive nan usage of Strong Mayor powers and/or make an statement determination anterior to each hires for nan heads of immoderate division.”

The improvement of a veto argumentation allowing nan politician to artifact immoderate assignment he sees fresh — alternatively than proactively recruiting personification to nan domiciled — worried 1 erstwhile councillor.

“When you’ve sewage an opportunity to beryllium successful full power of each section and each group wrong nan city, that tin only lead to accrued beingness of corruption, possibilities,” erstwhile Brampton Coun. Jeff Bowman told Global News.

Bowman has agelong opposed Brown arsenic politician and held a property convention astatine Queen’s Park erstwhile begging Ford not to assistance Brampton’s leader beardown politician powers.

“Is location a criteria that’s going to beryllium utilized to opportunity yes aliases nary to these individuals? If location is, I’d emotion to spot it,” Bowman continued.

“Proactively saying, ‘I deliberation this would beryllium a bully person, he’s done this successful this metropolis and I deliberation he’ll do a bully occupation here’ is 1 thing. Looking astatine a mates of names and saying, ‘No, I don’t for illustration him, ohio nary don’t, for illustration him.’ I mean, is he a personnel of a different governmental party? Has he been portion of a municipality that a politician didn’t like? I mean, let’s spot immoderate criteria.”

Within hours of being sworn successful arsenic Mississauga’s seventh mayor, Parrish began utilizing her beardown politician powers to restructure really elder staffing would activity nether her administration.

CAO Shari Lichterman was fired, pinch nan commissioner of proscription and useful promoted to her role. City solicitor Andra Maxwell resigned her position and Parrish utilized different beardown politician bid to name her replacement.

The caller politician besides reversed a determination by her predecessor to delegate hiring and firing authorities, opting to springiness herself nan expertise to power nan recruitment and guidance of nan metropolis manager, nan 4 commissioners and Mississauga’s apical lawyer.

In total, Parrish made 5 staffing-related beardown politician decisions successful her first 5 days arsenic mayor.

Before nan election, Parrish told Global News she was “looking forward” to utilizing nan powers to push done housing-related decisions.

“I emotion this beardown politician stuff,” she said successful January, later adding her penchant was to find statement alternatively of utilizing nan powers.

“If you get a tie, past you spell up and usage nan beardown politician powers,” she said. “But you statement it first, you ballot first. It’s not 1 of those things (where) you conscionable march successful location and bid group around. It’s not my style anyway; I effort to coerce people, get group to cooperate, that’s really I usually get things done. I talk to people, I activity pinch them.”

In a connection sent to Global News successful July, Parrish said it would beryllium “inappropriate” to remark connected nan volley of staffing changes she made utilizing beardown politician powers aft her appointment.

She said, however, that she was taking nan lodging situation “very seriously” and cited examples of decisions while she was connected assembly wherever she felt Mississauga had made decisions that would slow aliases artifact approvals and resulting successful defeats astatine nan Ontario Land Tribunal.

“Should those situations originate during my term, I afloat intend to usage each devices astatine my disposal,” Parrish said.

As nan 3 Peel Region mayors person flexed their enhanced powers to style municipal staffing successful Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga, officials pinch nan provincial authorities person watched on.

Documents obtained by Global News done state of accusation laws show that nan authorities has tracked nan usage of beardown politician powers by municipalities crossed Ontario, pinch links to news articles, mayoral orders and comments.

Initially, nan authorities tracked them successful a ample spreadsheet earlier moving that process to a cloud-based sharepoint.

Despite search really nan powers are being utilized and keeping a log of erstwhile Ontario’s mayors rumor decrees, nan Ford authorities has stayed retired of awesome decisions and said it doesn’t scheme to get involved.

“Implementation of nan beardown politician model is simply a section matter,” a spokesperson for nan state said.

“It is up to nan mayor, assembly and municipality to instrumentality nan model successful accordance pinch nan authorities and associated regulations.”

A briefing platform connected nan beardown politician powers besides obtained by Global News shows nan state is leaving it up to section councils to determine if beardown politician powers are being misused. The existing watchdogs of Ontario’s ombudsman and section integrity commissioners are nan only recourse for disappointment councillors.

“It is up to nan respective municipalities to find whether these examples of uses of powers aliases capacity of duties are successful accordance pinch nan beardown politician legislative and regulatory framework,” 1 briefing descent said.

Professor Siemitrycki said issues could originate if oversight sits wrong metropolis hall, wherever nan politician progressively reigns supreme.

“Who’s going to adjudicate those kinds of complaints? And erstwhile you opportunity it’s going to beryllium personification soul astatine metropolis hallway who’s going to do that?” he said.

“The full model present is that nan mayor’s sewage nan powerfulness to find who gets elder positions wrong metropolis hallway and who whitethorn beryllium fired from those positions. I don’t deliberation it creates a level playing section erstwhile a personnel of assembly mightiness kick that nan politician has overstepped.”

While nan authorities maintains it is for section councils and independent watchdogs to determine what is and what is not an due usage of beardown politician powers, it has intervened connected astatine slightest 1 occasion.

In April, Minister Calandra wrote to Groves, who had planned to rezone 12 parcels of onshore utilizing beardown politician powers. Six of nan 12 parcels were on nan way of a projected caller road and would, arsenic a result, “be inconsistent and not conform pinch provincial and location argumentation directions.”

Calandra warned Groves that — while he “appreciated” efforts to build much lodging — it could not beryllium done on nan way of nan projected highway. His missive warned nan politician her bid must beryllium “modified to region immoderate permissions connected lands” on nan way of nan highway.