GUELPH POLITICAST #378 - Strong Mayors Podcast

Last Friday, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark announced that so-called Strong Mayor powers were being extended to 26 of Ontario's biggest cities, including Guelph. The move was not shocking, and going back to the original announcement last summer, it had indeed been promised, but it was kind of surprising that Guelph's mayor was there, on stage with the minister, for the announcement.

But the surprises didn't stop there. Many local media outlets, including Guelph Politico, sought out comment from Guthrie about the announcement and how he felt about being bestowed with Strong Mayor powers. The hope for this publication was to dedicate this episode of pod to a conversation with the mayor about it, but like other outlets, we were told that Mayor Guthrie was unavailable.

In another universe, you would hear Guthrie's answers to questions like whether he was at the press conference merely because he was the past Chair of the Ontario Big City Mayors, or whether this was an endorsement of the powers? Also, has his opinion about the powers changed in the last several months? Does he intend to use those Strong Mayor powers? In what circumstance will he use them?

In lieu of any new audio, we pop into the archive to find other times that Mayor Guthrie has commented on the Strong Mayor powers, and other provincial changes, to determine where he might land on the issue now. You will hear a speech he gave at a council meeting last September where council passed a motion condemning Strong Mayor powers, a November interview on Open Sources Guelph post-election, and the State of the City speech early this year.

So let’s talk about strong mayors and their powers on this week’s Guelph Politicast!

There's going to be a special meeting of city council on Tuesday July 11 to discuss an Official Plan amendment to delegate authority to City staff to approve minor Zoning Bylaw Amendments. That agenda will be posted on the City's council calendar sometime in Thursday June 29. You can read Mayor Guthrie's full statement about the expansion of Strong Mayor powers here.

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Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.