{"id":32087,"date":"2022-10-21T17:40:19","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T21:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32087"},"modified":"2022-10-21T17:40:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T21:40:21","slug":"aurora-votes-2022-no-need-for-strong-mayor-legislation-in-aurora-say-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-votes-2022-no-need-for-strong-mayor-legislation-in-aurora-say-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Votes 2022: No need for \u201cStrong Mayor\u201d legislation in Aurora, say candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Province of Ontario grants so-called \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers to the leaders of Toronto and Ottawa, with the door open for further expansion, Aurora\u2019s mayoral candidates have rejected the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They made their positions known at an all-candidates meeting hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, where Phiona Durrant, Anna Lozyk Romeo, and incumbent Tom Mrakas were asked by Chamber President & CEO Sandra Ferri how they would use additional powers \u2013 purportedly put in place to encourage affordable housing developments \u2013 if they were granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t answer that question because I do not believe the Mayor should have extra powers,\u201d said Lozyk Romeo. \u201cI think we should work as a Council to make decisions. We had one situation prior to the pandemic on March 30, 2020 when an emergency bylaw came in that there were actually delegated powers\u2026 The Town has tried to give themselves delegated powers to become involved in the planning applications and I think that it\u2019s a whole Council decision, not just Mayors, who should have the power to make those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar views were shared by Mrakas, who said he stands with the \u201cmajority\u201d of Mayors across Ontario who have said the powers \u201care not necessary and not needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe work collaboratively with our Councils and we believe we will continue to do so,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it is needed\u2026and above and beyond that, we have also heard from the Premier in regards to that it might expand, but also the expansion would only be to communities that have residents of 100,000 or more population. It\u2019s kind of a moot point discussing Aurora and I don\u2019t expect to ever come to Aurora\u2026and I am actually thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In responding to the question, Durrant said what needs to be on the table is \u201creturning that power to residents and the taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people\u2019s voice has been silenced and the power been taken from our community,\u201d she said. \u201cIf any power is going to be issued, it should be back to the people who knew exactly what their community needs; the power we need as a Council to really provide affordable homes, power that we really need, and fresh perspectives. I don\u2019t see why right now that\u2019s something we experience\u2026. We do need power back into people\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Province of Ontario grants so-called \u201cstrong mayor\u201d powers to the leaders of Toronto and Ottawa, with the door open for further expansion, Aurora\u2019s mayoral candidates have rejected the idea. They made their positions known at an all-candidates meeting hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, where Phiona Durrant, Anna Lozyk Romeo, and incumbent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8lx","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 09:46:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}