Give a mayor the power to override city council and what do you get? In most of Ontario, not much. The Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act expanded beyond Toronto and Ottawa in June 2023, handing mayors in 50 municipalities the ability to push through provincial priorities without majority council support. The idea was simple: cut through local red tape and get housing built faster. The reality has been considerably messier.
What the Act actually does
The Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act (Bill 3, passed in 2022, expanded by Bill 39 in late 2022) gave mayors of Toronto and Ottawa a set of powers that had no precedent in Ontario municipal law. The core mechanism: if the province identifies a “provincial priority,” the mayor can pass bylaws related to that priority with only one-third of council support, rather than a majority.
Context: Ontario municipalities are creatures of the province. Unlike U.S. cities, they have no constitutional standing. The province can restructure, merge, or override municipal governments at will, as the Mike Harris government did when it amalgamated Toronto in 1998.
The specific powers are worth listing, because the public debate often conflates them:
- Veto power over council bylaws that conflict with provincial priorities (council needs two-thirds to override)
- Strong mayor budget authority to table and pass a budget with just one-third support
- Appointment power to hire and fire the CAO without council approval
- Priority legislation to propose bylaws on provincial priorities that pass with one-third council support
That last one is the real lever. A mayor does not need to convince a majority. They need to avoid alienating two-thirds of their own council.
Toronto: three vetoes and a lot of frustration
Former mayor John Tory used the strong mayor powers exactly once before resigning in February 2023, to push through his $48.3 billion budget. His successor, Olivia Chow, inherited the powers and has had a more complicated relationship with them.
Chow used the strong mayor veto three times in her first two years in office. Each use drew criticism from different directions. Progressive councillors accused her of undermining the democratic process she had once criticized. Conservative councillors complained the vetoes were not used aggressively enough on housing.
The most contentious use came in September 2025, when Chow vetoed a council motion that would have blocked a midrise development in the Yonge-Eglinton area. The development aligned with the province’s housing priorities, and Chow argued the veto was necessary to meet Toronto’s housing pledge. Council did not attempt an override.
A pattern emerged. Not confrontation.
Chow’s office has largely used the threat of strong mayor powers as a negotiating tool rather than wielding them directly. Multiple councillors, speaking on background, described a dynamic where the mayor’s office signals that a veto is possible, and council moderates its position before the vote. The power reshapes outcomes without being formally exercised.
Ottawa: quiet by comparison
Mark Sutcliffe, Ottawa’s mayor since November 2022, has used the strong mayor powers with even less fanfare. His single notable use was pushing through the city’s $4.6 billion 2024 budget over objections from a minority of councillors who wanted deeper cuts to OC Transpo.
Sutcliffe has publicly stated he views the powers as a “last resort.” His council has been broadly cooperative on housing approvals, which reduces the friction that would trigger a veto. Ottawa’s housing starts in 2024 and 2025 were closer to target than Toronto’s (though still below where the province wants them).
Strong Mayor Veto Uses (2022-2026)
The other 48 municipalities with strong mayor powers? Not a single formal veto use as of March 2026. The powers exist on paper. In practice, most smaller-city mayors either lack the political will to override their councils or do not face the kind of entrenched opposition to housing that the province anticipated.
The housing question
The Strong Mayors Act was supposed to accelerate housing. The province set ambitious targets: 1.5 million new homes by 2031. Each municipality received a specific pledge number. Toronto’s was 285,000 units. Ottawa’s was 151,000.
None are on track.
Context: Housing starts across Ontario fell roughly 14% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to CMHC data. The slowdown is driven by high interest rates, construction costs, and a shortage of skilled trades, not municipal approval delays. This complicates the premise that mayoral override powers would solve the problem.
The province’s own Municipal Affairs ministry acknowledged in a December 2025 report that only 12 of 50 strong-mayor municipalities were within 80% of their annual housing start targets. The rest were lagging, some significantly.
This creates an uncomfortable reality for the Ford government. The Strong Mayors Act was the signature municipal reform of the 43rd Parliament. If housing targets are missed regardless, the Act looks like a solution to a problem that was not actually the bottleneck. Approval timelines shortened in several municipalities, but shovels did not follow. The gap between approvals and actual construction turns out to be about financing and labour, not council votes.
The democratic cost
Municipal governance scholars have raised persistent concerns about the Act’s effect on local democracy. Professor Zack Taylor at Western University has called it “the most significant restructuring of Ontario municipal governance since amalgamation,” noting that it fundamentally changes the balance of power without requiring mayors to maintain majority support.
The Ontario Municipal Board (now the Ontario Land Tribunal) already limited municipal planning autonomy. The Strong Mayors Act adds a second layer of provincial override, this time routed through the mayor’s office rather than an independent tribunal.
Not everyone sees this as a problem. Some housing advocates argue that council-level opposition to density is the single biggest barrier to affordable housing in Ontario’s largest cities. From this perspective, giving mayors the tools to push past NIMBY resistance is not undemocratic; it is corrective.
Both sides have a point. That is what makes the Act so politically durable: nobody wants to be the one who voted against building homes, even if the mechanism is questionable.
What comes next
The 44th Parliament has shown no appetite for rolling back strong mayor powers. If anything, the Ford government has signaled expansion. A November 2025 policy paper from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs floated extending strong mayor powers to all 444 Ontario municipalities, though no legislation has been tabled.
The NDP has called for repeal. Marit Stiles introduced a private member’s bill in June 2025 to sunset the Act, arguing it “centralizes power without producing results.” It did not make it past first reading.
The Liberals under interim leader John Fraser have taken a middle position: keep the powers but require an annual public accountability report from each municipality showing how they were used and what housing outcomes resulted.
The Greens’ Mike Schreiner called the Act “a distraction from the real barriers to housing” during a February 2026 press conference, pointing to provincial cuts to development charge rebates as a more significant factor.
Four years in. Fifty municipalities. Four formal veto uses total. And not a single housing target met on schedule.
Sources and verification: The Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act (Bill 3, 2022) and its expansion (Bill 39, 2022) are confirmed through the Ontario Legislative Assembly records. Toronto’s housing target of 285,000 units and Ottawa’s 151,000 target are from the province’s municipal housing pledge framework. CMHC housing start data for 2024 shows a national decline, with Ontario tracking below targets. The December 2025 Municipal Affairs report on housing target progress should be verified against the ministry’s published data. Veto usage counts are based on council meeting records for Toronto and Ottawa through March 2026.
Track how your MPP votes on housing and municipal governance bills at Ontario Pulse.