Burlington mayor says municipalities need ‘strong city powers’

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward recently commented on strong mayor powers, stating that what municipalities actually need are “strong city powers”.

“I’ve never asked for strong mayor powers, nor do I need them,” said Meed Ward in an Instagram interview.

“What we need actually, in municipalities, is strong city powers,” she said, adding that those can then be exercised by the majority of one’s council building consensus.

Meed Ward noted that recently, they have seen this with Bill 23 and talks of changing their regional government structure.

“The province can legally, with a stroke of a pen, eliminate cities altogether if they chose,” said Meed Ward. “We are the closest level of government to the community.”

That’s why Meed Ward believes that the community needs to be their own order of government that is not subject “to the whims of whoever happens to be in power”.

“That is my strongest message,” concluded Meed Ward in the interview.

“We don’t need strong mayors, we need strong cities.”