Sarnia's mayor doesn't believe it's the right move for the province to offer "strong mayor powers" to entice communities to meet provincial housing targets.
On Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced a new three-year $1.2 billion dollar "Building Faster Fund" that will give $400 million annually to successful municipalities.
Sarnia's target is 1,000 new homes by October 2031.
If the city agrees, in writing, to the goal by October 15, 2023, it would receive strong mayor powers by October 31, 2023 and would be eligible for money under the fund.
Mayor Mike Bradley believes the target is attainable, but thinks the province is taking the wrong approach in trying to achieve it.
"We have a lot of growth projected across the community in the next number of years, and that can be done," said Bradley. "To move forward, to get strong mayor powers, to do that for that motivation, is the wrong direction. The reality is that if you can't get a council to work with you on development proposals and direction, having strong mayor powers is just going to cause a lot of stress and upset in the council chamber. I have found over the years that I win some and I lose some, but I take it to council."
Bradley said having "strong mayor powers" could create a distraction.
"If the mayor can appoint the CAO and the department heads, then they become his or hers," he said. "That means that council has no ownership. At present, when you hire a CAO it's done in a collective process with the council and you make a consensus decision. Losing that and giving it to the mayor is going to create a lot of adversarial relationships. I also think the idea that the mayor would prepare the budget each year, is not something that's workable. We have trained, professional staff that work on the budget. It goes to council and becomes our budget. My view is, the present system works well, where you have to get a consensus on council. That means that sometimes you lose, but that's okay as long as council had input on the decision."
Bradley said right now there's a lot of expansion underway in the city and growing development in the Brights Grove area, but something has to happen to make things more affordable.
"We have several projects in the community that are on hold right now because of interest rates," he said. "That's really what's holding us back. I also think the federal government has to take a good look at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). They've been turning down projects which are affordable projects in the community that provide shelter to people. If the Trudeau government really wants to lead the way on housing starts, and provide affordable housing in this country, they need to deal with CMHC. It has value as an organization, but they're turning down application after application that would put people into affordable shelter which is needed now and not in four or five years from now."
Bradley said council doesn't have to agree to give him "strong mayor powers", noting it would be up for debate.
Further information about Monday's announcement can be found here.