Last week, Doug Ford announced that he was planning on putting forward legislation that would allow mayors in Ottawa and Toronto to be able to veto city council decision in an attempt to weaken local democracy. The only way to overturn these vetoes would be through 2/3rds of city council voting against it. This means that the Mayor would only need support from eight city councillors to control the entire council agenda!
Right now, each councillor, including the mayor represents one vote on council. These new powers would heavily dilute the ability of your councillor to be able to make decisions on your behalf at City Hall and significantly centralize power in the mayors office. It would also lead to a potential increase in the already powerful influence of developers at City Hall, who would, under this system, only need to go directly to the Mayor's office to overturn a decision they didn't like.
Decisions on how Ottawa governs itself should be made by Ottawans not by Premier Ford.
Stop Ford's attack on our local democracy and stop power from being centralized in the mayor's office!
Send an e-mail to your local representatives today!
