City council wants Windsor removed from the list of municipalities allowed to have strong mayor powers.
In a recorded 8-3 vote during Monday's meeting, the council supported a motion introduced by Ward 9 Councillor Kieran McKenzie that will see a letter sent to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing requesting the City of Windsor be removed from the list of municipalities designated under the Strong Mayor legislation.
Along with McKenzie, the motion was also supported by councillors Fabio Costante, Fred Francis, Renaldo Agostino, Gary Kaschak, Angelo Marignani, Jim Morrison, and Mark McKenzie.
Mayor Drew Dilkens, along with councillors Ed Sleiman and Jo-Anne Gignac, voted against the motion.
Ward 9 Councillor Kieran McKenzie says Windsor always functioned through consensus, debate, and collective decision-making.
"Let me be clear, this isn't about attacking any one person or individual, your worship. This isn't about your leadership. It's about principles; it's about the kind of governance we believe in as a city," he says.
Strong mayor powers came into effect in Windsor on July 1, 2023.
According to the city's website, Mayor Dilkens has used strong mayor powers around 75 times since they came into effect in Windsor.
Strong mayor powers include giving the mayor the ability to appoint the municipality's chief administrative officer, hire certain municipal department heads, establish and reorganize departments, create committees of council, assign their functions and appoint the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council, propose bylaws, and propose the municipal budget, which would be subject to council amendments and a separate head of council veto and council override process.
Dilkens told council that under the old system, the mayor and council would collectively make decisions regarding the city manager positions, but now, under the new system, it's a responsibility for the mayor.
"Has there been a time when you haven't been consulted on any of the structural changes at the city? None of you can put your hands up because 100 per cent of the time, I have always reached out in advance of making those decisions to say, 'Hey, here's what we're thinking. What do you think about this?' Get your feedback," he says.
Dilkens says every year at budget time he's asked councillors to come in and talk to him about their priorities ahead of budget time and find a pathway for each councillor's priorities.
"Then the strong mayor legislation comes in. What changed? Did I stop calling you and asking you to come in and share your budget priorities? No. You still got the exact same call, and we went through the exact same process," he says.
Ward 2 Councillor Fabio Costante, who voted in favour of the motion, says he thinks this is really bad legislation and policy.
"I've always wrestled with what problem are we trying to solve locally," he says. "What problem has this council gotten in the way of with respect to housing, with respect to provincial priorities to the extent that we had to change legislation to deal with it?"
Ward 1 Councillor Fred Francis, who voted for the motion, says his fear is that someday there is going to be a mayor who is going to push the boundaries.
"There's going to be a mayor in that chair that's going to go a lot further than everyone anticipates today. We see it every single day with the president of the United States, and America might have the strongest constitutional document in the history of the world," he says.
During the 2025 budget process, Dilkens vetoed a decision by the council to save the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel bus in a move aimed at a $1.4 million cost savings. As part of the strong mayor process, the council had a chance to override the veto, but that vote failed.
Dilkens says with respect to the veto power, it doesn't apply to every decision; it applies to budget items and certain bylaws.
"It's a discreet issue when it comes to amendments that are made by city council in the budget, of which I've used one. If the tunnel bus is the driver of the decision, I stand by it on behalf of the residents. I stand by the decision, as difficult as it was. And you're right, it is a target on my back because now I wear it," he says.
On May 1, the province will expand strong mayor powers to an additional 169 municipalities, including Essex, Amherstburg, Kingsville, Tecumseh, and LaSalle, with each of those municipal councils taking action to express opposition to being added to the list.
Pelee Island was not included on the list of municipalities receiving the expanded powers.