Rob Ford’s powers as mayor may not be as grand as he thinks they are
With Rob Ford’s transit plans poised to grind to a rather embarrassing halt after a local law firm, solicited by Councillor Joe Mihevc, argued that the mayor legally lacked the power to unilaterally kill Transit City, the city hall press corps is pontificating about what, exactly, the powers of the mayor’s office are. (Of course, it probably would’ve been better to explore the limit of those powers before Ford went ahead and cancelled the multi-billion-dollar transit plan.) While Ford maintains he acted within his rights, based on a perceived mandate from voters to build subways, most reports are suggesting otherwise.
Take, for instance, a column in the Globe and Mail today by Marcus Gee:
In theory, the mayor of Toronto has plenty of power. He is elected citywide and he is elected directly by the voters. That should give him a broad mandate to implement his program.
In practice, he is only one voice among 45 on city council. In the words of Denise Bellamy, the judge who wrote a 2005 report into the Toronto computer-leasing scandal, “Council is the source/primary locus of almost all authority with relatively few exceptions, including all legislative authority.” By contrast, “The statutory authority of the mayor…is actually quite limited.”
Gee also notes that while Ford is the mayor of all of the city, he’s not all-powerful. More to the point, because Toronto’s municipal system is not divided along official party lines—although sometimes it seems like it might as well be—Ford can’t whip his colleagues into following his lead on any given vote. In short, as George Smitherman pointed about before the last election, that means that more than anything else “the office has the powers of persuasion.” But given Ford’s proclivity for bully tactics thus far, perhaps he doesn’t really wield that much power at all.
• Transit City flap raises prickly question: What power does Toronto’s mayor have? [Toronto Star]
• Transit woes reveal the limits of mayoral power [Globe and Mail]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/rob-fords-powers-as-mayor/&title=Rob Ford’s powers as mayor may not be as grand as he thinks they are&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/not-so-powerful-after-all.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_114968" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Mayor Rob Ford (Image: City of Toronto)"][/caption]
With Rob Ford’s transit plans poised to grind to a rather embarrassing halt after a local law firm, solicited by Councillor Joe Mihevc, argued that the mayor legally lacked the power to unilaterally kill Transit City, the city hall press corps is pontificating about what, exactly, the powers of the mayor’s office are. (Of course, it probably would’ve been better to explore the limit of those powers before Ford went ahead and cancelled the multi-billion-dollar transit plan.) While Ford maintains he acted within his rights, based on a perceived mandate from voters to build subways, most reports are suggesting otherwise.
Take, for instance, a column in the Globe and Mail today by Marcus Gee:
In theory, the mayor of Toronto has plenty of power. He is elected citywide and he is elected directly by the voters. That should give him a broad mandate to implement his program.
In practice, he is only one voice among 45 on city council. In the words of Denise Bellamy, the judge who wrote a 2005 report into the Toronto computer-leasing scandal, “Council is the source/primary locus of almost all authority with relatively few exceptions, including all legislative authority.” By contrast, “The statutory authority of the mayor...is actually quite limited.”
Gee also notes that while Ford is the mayor of all of the city, he’s not all-powerful. More to the point, because Toronto’s municipal system is not divided along official party lines—although sometimes it seems like it might as well be—Ford can’t whip his colleagues into following his lead on any given vote. In short, as George Smitherman pointed about before the last election, that means that more than anything else “the office has the powers of persuasion.” But given Ford’s proclivity for bully tactics thus far, perhaps he doesn’t really wield that much power at all.
• Transit City flap raises prickly question: What power does Toronto’s mayor have? [Toronto Star]
• Transit woes reveal the limits of mayoral power [Globe and Mail] ){kind=link}
Ford is going down. SO hard.
I have to agree that Rob Ford is going down. And at a fast Rate. What I don’t understand why the people of the city of Toronto are allowing him to Bully the counselor in City Hall when we are trying to teach the Kids in our schools that we are not going to put up with Bulling. What kind of sample is he giving to our Kids and his own.
He didn’t win with the TTC issue so he is going to Fire the guy and have to pay out big bucks to do it.After this Guy has worked for the city for 35 years, What kind of Mayor is this.And now he wants to kick the low income out of there home .because he didn’t get his way with the TTC issue.This is also not good in my books and this is also call bulling.
Why are the paper afraid to print the issue of Bullying in the Mayor Office. Maybe it will wake the people of Toronto up and they will rally to get him kicked out. He is far from a good MAYOR
It is time we rally and get this mayor to learn that we are not going to put up with him and the Bullying that is going on at City Hall BY him. If it continues it is time for him to resign.
I know this won’t get pronted but it has made me feel good to write it.
It is ashamed that the paper and the editors are afraid of this man and how they allow him to bully them, This is a shame Let us all stand up against him and for our Right .
Thank you for reading it.
I Senior who has been through a lot of Mayors but never seen a Bully Like this.
celeste,Yes, here’s to some good Karma coming back our way in 2007!cat,I wish I could stmyaphize, but I’m afraid I can’t. I’m getting manned for some ‘serious’ Celebrity Big Brother watchin’.surlygirl,Thank you for the good wishes. All the best to you and yours for 2007beth,I can’t even begin to explain….