Proposed Regulations for Bill 3, Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022

On Tuesday October 4th, 2022 Hon. Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, released proposed regulations to Bill 3, Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act, 2022. As anticipated, the regulations are consistent with the objectives of the existing bill which gives the Mayors of Toronto and Ottawa more authority to drive shared provincial and municipal priorities by expanding their powers to:

• Set the direction for the annual city budget, making the mayor responsible for proposing the municipal budget for council consideration by February 1st of each year. If the budget is not released by this date the budget powers are transferred to council.
• Hire key municipal leaders including the flexibility to appoint their respective municipality’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) or delegate the decision. Certain department heads, including statutory positions such as a clerk, treasurer, integrity commissioner, chief of police, chief building official, medical officer of health, and others will not be impacted by this change.
• Veto by-laws and override council, though council could override a mayoral veto with a two-thirds majority vote.

The proposed regulations also enable these mayors to veto increases to city wide development charges but not necessarily the charges for site-specific projects. We will continue to monitor if this changes with stakeholder input.

The proposed regulations also recognize that these powers only apply to Mayors in the City of Toronto and Ottawa and that work is underway to assess how these powers may be implemented in other municipalities.

Prior to finalizing these regulations there is an opportunity to provide feedback, due by Thursday, October 13th. The final regulations for the Bill are scheduled to take effect on November 15th, 2022.

If you are interested in submitting feedback please click here or send correspondence to the address below:

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Local Government Policy Branch
777 Bay St., 13th Floor
Toronto, ON, M7A 2J3

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Tristan Downe-Dewdney, Senior Associate, Municipal Government Relations
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Sophie Rusen, Research Associate, Municipal Government Relations
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