Town of Gananoque Mayor John Beddows has provided a service to Ontarians by seeking and releasing legal advice on the limitations of his powers to veto council decisions as a strong mayor.
The three-page legal memo, written by municipal lawyer Tony E. Fleming, is included in today’s (June 17) Gananoque Council meeting agenda.
Strong Mayor Powers: The Act and The Regulation
Section 284.11 of the Municipal Act permits a head of council to veto a bylaw if the head of council is “of the opinion that all or part of the bylaw could potentially interfere with a prescribed provincial priority.”
Ontario Regulation 580/22 states what the “prescribed provincial priorities” are. Presently, the only priorities listed are for building new residential units.
Mayor Beddows asked for a legal opinion on whether he could veto a 4-3 council decision to remove a pedestrian bridge, arguing the allocation of $488,900 (excluding HST) to demolish the bridge could “negatively affect the Town’s ability to fund alternative projects that might relate to a provincial priority.”
Municipal Act “Establishes Very Low Bar” for Use of Vetoes
In the memo, Fleming writes that while the Municipal Act “establishes a very low bar for the utilization of the veto powers” and the mayor “only needs to form the opinion that the bylaw could potentially interfere with a provincial priority,” the use of veto powers in this circumstance could likely be quashed by a Judge of Ontario’s Superior Court.
“In our opinion, if this were brought before a court, a judge is more likely than not to hold that this would undermine the intent of the legislation and be outside the jurisdiction of a strong mayor,” Fleming writes. “As a result, our opinion is that a veto in this case would not be a legally authorized use of the veto powers.”
Gananoque was one of 169 municipalities included in the May 1 expansion of strong mayor powers across Ontario. 216 of Ontario’s 444 municipal heads of council now have ‘strong mayor’ powers.
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Published: June 17, 2025
Last updated: June 17, 2025
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