YOU DON'T NEED A STRONG MAYOR SYSTEM TO HAVE A STRONG MAYOR: FORMER TORONTO MAYOR DAVID CROMBIE

Aug 11, 2022

By Jane Brown

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A former Toronto mayor is weighing in on a plan by the Ford PCs at Queen’s Park to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa veto powers over certain bylaws in a bid to get more housing built.

David Crombie tells Zoomer Radio News, he’s not in favour of the plan.

“The more power you give to the mayor to act on his or her own, the less public discussion you’re going to have, and to me, you lose the juice of democracy by doing so,” Crombie explained, “We need strong mayors, but you don’t need a strong mayor system to have a strong mayor.

Crombie served as mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978, and is currently a recurring panelist on Tune into the Town, heard every Thursday on Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer after the noon news.

The current mayors of Toronto and Ottawa are divided over the strong mayor plan.

Ottawa’s Jim Watson says he does not see how the so-called strong mayor powers will help build more housing in his city, calling instead for more provincial funding.

Toronto Mayor John Tory says he needs to review the legislation tabled yesterday by Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark, but says he supports the idea.

The opposition New Democrats say the legislation “will make local government less transparent and less accountable while doing nothing at all to address the affordable housing crisis.”

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