Dear editor:
Townspeople voted in the 2022 municipal elections on the understanding that all council members, including the lord mayor, had equal voting power.
But “strong mayor powers,” recently granted through provincial legislation to some mayors, including Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa, allow a mayor, unilaterally, not only to propose bylaws to help meet provincial priorities in the development of housing, transit and infrastructure, but also to veto bylaws that interfere with these priorities (The Lake Report, “‘It’s still a democratic process’: Council doesn’t reject strong mayor powers,” May 8).
If the lord mayor chooses to use these strong mayor powers, the balance of power at Town Hall would be fundamentally changed; in my opinion, that is something that should not occur without the blessing of the electorate.
I contacted the lord mayor, expressing my concerns about his potential use of those powers. He pointed out, rather disingenuously, that council could veto his decision, but he omitted to say it would require a two-thirds vote.
And in any case, based on past voting patterns, the chances of six of the nine council members voting against him would be slim to none.
The lord mayor certainly has the right to use those powers. However, he could go some way to restore confidence that democracy, at times on life support in NOTL, is actually still alive.
He could agree not to use strong mayor powers until the next municipal election in 2026, when voters could decide whether or not they want a lord mayor with such disproportionate power.
In the past two and a half years, we have witnessed NOTL council blatantly disregard the views of the electorate on a number of occasions.
The case of Andrew Niven’s appointment to council, well covered in these pages in October 2024, was a particularly egregious breakdown of democracy (“Andrew Niven selected as NOTL’s new councillor during private meeting,” Oct. 17, 2024).
We were not fooled by Deputy Lord Mayor Erwin Wiens’ glib statement that “What we did was completely democratic.” It’s hard to imagine what some councillors think is the definition of democracy (“Appointment of new councillor was ‘completely democratic,’ Wiens says,” Oct. 24, 2024).
The lord mayor has the opportunity to show respect for the electorate and thus go at least a small way to start to repair democracy in NOTL.
Michael Fox
Old Town
