{"id":106220,"date":"2025-05-29T12:34:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T16:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editionap.ca\/?p=106220"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:52:18","slug":"champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/politique\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Champlain Township: Strong democracy over strong mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Champlain Township\u2019s mayor and council want to make sure that democracy is alive and well and strong in their municipality.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Both Mayor Normand Riopel and every member of council declared that the provincial government\u2019s offer of \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers for the municipality is neither wanted nor appreciated. During their May 22 session they reviewed an analysis report from Municipal Clerk Alison Collard about the Ford Progressive Conservative government\u2019s plan to expand its \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers project to more municipalities in Ontario and described the plan as unnecessary and unwanted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s anti-democratic legislation,\u201d said Councillor Peter Barton, \u201cand reflects the disconnect between the people in Queens Park and the rest of the province.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Ford government introduced the \u201cstrong mayor powers\u201d program in 2022, with Toronto and Ottawa the first municipalities to see their mayors allowed greater authority to cut red tape and accelerate the delivery of key priorities in their communities\u201d. The program has since expanded to include 47 municipalities with enhanced mayoral authority and now the provincial government intends to add another 169 communities this month to the list of \u201cstrong mayor\u201d municipalities. That list includes Champlain Township, Hawkesbury, Clarence-Rockland, and The Nation Municipality. One of the guidelines on which communities become \u201cstrong mayor\u201d municipalities is whether or not they have six other people sitting on council with the mayor.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cstrong mayor powers\u201d give a mayor authority to: choose and appoint or dismiss the chief administrator for a municipality; hire the head of certain municipal departments and also to either set up or reorganize a municipal department; create council committees and assign them their purpose and appoint the chairs and vice-chairs for those committees; propose a municipal budget that would be subject to amendment and revision by council and also to a separate head of council veto and council override process.<\/p>\n<p>The expanded mayoral powers also include the authority to propose certain municipal bylaws if the mayor believes that a particular bylaw proposal could help advance a provincial priority for the municipality identified in a provincial regulation. Those priorities could include infrastructure maintenance or improvement or dealing with local housing needs. Council could approve these mayoral-inspired bylaws if more than a third of all sitting councillors voted for the bylaw. The mayor could also veto certain bylaw if he or she believed they could interfere with a provincial priority. A mayor could present topics for council to consider if they could advance a provincial priority.<\/p>\n<p>Collard noted in her report that \u201cthere is no option for a municipality to opt out of the Strong Mayor Powers\u201d though the mayor may delegate any or all of these new powers to either council or a member of administration. On May 16 Mayor Riopel gave the township clerk\u2019s office official notice that he was delegating to council the power to appoint and dismiss the chief administrator, the power to set up committees and assign their functions, and the power to appoint the chairs and vice-chairs of those committees. He also delegated to the chief administrator the responsibility for the township\u2019s organizational structure and authority related to employment matters concerning the heads of municipal departments.<\/p>\n<p>During an interview last month Mayor Riopel said he saw no need for the \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers that the provincial government offered. He affirmed his position during the May 22 council session, describing the new authority as \u201chothead powers\u201d that are contrary to the purpose of an elected mayor and council.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe in democracy,\u201d said Riopel. \u201cI believe in communication and I believe in debates. I do believe in council. I believe in my council.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The mayor promised that from now on, when he signs off on all bylaws passed during each council session, he will also write on every document that he has no objection to the bylaw and will not veto it.<\/p>\n<p>Councillor Andr\u00e9 Roy expressed concern what could happen to the township in future if there is a change of mayors following a municipal election. The provincial legislation does not allow the township to opt out of the \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers program.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Riopel said that citizens who are well-informed and responsible with their votes are the best future safeguard for the township.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do we protect ourselves?\u201d said Mayor Riopel. \u201cVote for the right people. Don\u2019t vote for a dictator. Don\u2019t vote for somebody who\u2019s going to control this council. There are good people out there. There are good people with (wise) heads on their shoulders. That\u2019s what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Champlain Township\u2019s mayor and council want to make sure that democracy is alive and well and strong in their municipality. Both Mayor Normand Riopel and every member of council declared that the provincial government\u2019s offer of \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers for the municipality is neither wanted nor appreciated. During their May 22 session they reviewed an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":106046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Champlain Township: Strong democracy over strong mayor - Tribune-Express<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/politique\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Champlain Township: Strong democracy over strong mayor - Tribune-Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Champlain Township\u2019s mayor and council want to make sure that democracy is alive and well and strong in their municipality. Both Mayor Normand Riopel and every member of council declared that the provincial government\u2019s offer of \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers for the municipality is neither wanted nor appreciated. During their May 22 session they reviewed an [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/politique\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tribune-Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-29T16:34:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T20:52:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/champlain.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"892\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"286\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anil Jhalli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anil Jhalli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anil Jhalli\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a09095fdf65e09e747105760fe90175c\"},\"headline\":\"Champlain Township: Strong democracy over strong mayor\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-29T16:34:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T20:52:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":761,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.editionap.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/champlain.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politique\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/politique\\\/champlain-township-strong-democracy-over-strong-mayor\\\/\",\"name\":\"Champlain Township: Strong democracy over strong mayor - 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Both Mayor Normand Riopel and every member of council declared that the provincial government\u2019s offer of \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers for the municipality is neither wanted nor appreciated. 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