A political science professor is cautioning Nova Scotia on giving mayors stronger powers.
Dr. Tom Urbaniak of Cape Breton University says it would be a significant change to how municipal governments operate.
If the Ontario model is used, he says it would mean the mayor could veto decisions of council.
“Council would really lose a lot of its ability to examine the effectiveness of the administration, because suddenly you’ve aligned the administration with the mayor, and not with council,” said Urbaniak.
Urbaniak adds it would be a like mini-American presidency in each unit.
“With less or equal congressional oversight then you get in the United States. There’s also no way in this strong mayor model to impeach the mayor, or force an early election.”
In the Ontario model, mayors introduce yearly budgets and give councillors 21 days to make amendments, but mayors could veto those too.
Last week, Premier Tim Houston said he was looking at the possibility of strong mayor powers, as he looks to overturn an HRM council decision on creating more bike lanes.
Urbaniak adds that when voters cast their ballot in the 2024 municipal elections, they didn’t have an idea that this could be coming.
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