Burlington Council Unanimously Approves Receiving Petition Related to Democracy

Today, at our Council meeting, we unanimously approved receiving petitions related to the legislation assigning news powers and duties to the Mayor. Below is a copy of my remarks at Council (check against delivery).

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I want to thank everyone who has shared their perspectives with me on this matter. I’ve had many discussions with residents, community leaders, staff and other mayors and heard a wide diversity of views. It is truly unfortunate that our discussions have been marred by misinformation and misunderstanding of the legislation, so I’m going to do my best to be helpful now and briefly outline what is, and isn’t, at stake.The legislation assigns new powers and duties to the Mayor. The word "duties" is very important here, as there are new responsibilities that must be fulfilled.There is some misunderstanding circulating that the Mayor can “give these back,” or could have “opted in” or “opted out,” or commit to “not use them.” None of these is accurate.The City and I, as the Mayor, are now bound by the legislation as a result of Council unanimously accepting a housing pledge. Our strongest duty now is how we will govern together, collaboratively and respectfully under this new legislation.The powers and duties are now implemented by way of Mayoral Decisions. There is built-in transparency and accountability. It is a requirement of the legislation for these decisions to be posted online and you can see them on the City of Burlington Mayoral Decisions webpage. I am required to use these powers and duties for such things as approving the decisions made democratically at Council, and presenting a budget for Council vote. The majority of Mayoral decisions to date have implemented Council decisions at our Council meetings.There are three administrative duties that can be reassigned either to the City Manager or to Council.In my recent open letter to the community, which is included as correspondence on today’s agenda, I outlined my decision to reassign two out of the three administrative duties that could be reassigned:

• One to the new city manager: organization structure and staffing; and
• One to council - establishing committees, their functions, and their chairs/vice chairs.

I did not reassign the hiring of the City Manager -- we just hired one together through a public process that included Council, a public all for applicants, Council setting the job description and skills, reviewing the short list of candidates and interviewing the candidates. The outcome of that process was implemented by way of a Mayoral Decision. I have retained this duty for reasons of governance, transparency and in recognition of the unique role the Mayor serves on Council -- as head of Council and CEO of the corporation. These roles existed in The Municipal Act well before this new legislation. In respect of those roles, it’s important for the Mayor and CAO to be compatible.If we look at current Mayors governing under the legislation, 12 have reassigned all 3 duties that could be reassigned, 16 reassigned none of them, and 16 reassigned some of them, as I have.I encourage people to refer to opencouncil.ca for a complete list of every decision made by every mayor across Ontario under these new powers and duties.You will find the decisions are much the same as mine, including among those mayors who have reassigned all, some or none of the duties.There is also misunderstandings of what's at stake based on misinformation or misunderstanding of the legislation circulating in the community. Some members of the community -- as you can see in a comment attached to this petition -- who now think that we live in a "dictatorship" of the Mayor.Statements have been made that Mayors now run the show and that Councillors are reduced to observers of the decision-making process, and your voice as constituents and those of Council members are gone.Who wouldn’t sign that petition to stop that -- if it were true?It isn’t true.Democracy is alive and well in the City of Burlington and that hasn’t changed with this new legislation. Since the new legislation came into effect, council has, by democratic vote, at our committee and council meetings approved: 281 recommendations and heard from 195 delegations, including the 40+ on today’s agenda. Your voice is heard, has been heard, and will continue to be heard, including from delegations today. Council is and has been involved in decision-making, and will continue to be.It will continue to be true that Council has a role in decision-making, and that the community and Council have a voice -- that hasn’t changed under this legislation. Democracy hasn’t gone anywhere and has been with us all along and will continue to be.I am not defending this legislation; and I didn't ask for it. I am saying that it is here now, and we are now required to govern under it.Now is the time to reset, commit to stamping out rumours and misinformation, and governing in the best interests of our community.We have a new City Manager joining us, and many new staff coming on board.Our staff and community expect us to work together respectfully, collaboratively, truthfully and professionally. We have shown we can do this, and we must do this, and I have confidence we will do this, for the sake of making the best decisions for our residents for the balance of our time together.-- Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward