Legislative Changes to City Governance - Bill 3 and Bill 39

Further regulations to define provincial priorities under Bill 3 are not finalized at the time of writing this report. Language proposed by the Province with respect to provincial priorities is provided in Attachment 3 to this report. The Province has indicated that regulations confirming provincial priorities will be released when Bill 39, Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022 is proclaimed. Bill 3 amended the City of Toronto Act, 2006 ("COTA"), the Municipal Act, 2001 and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, to provide specific powers and duties to mayors that were previously provided to city councils for the City of Toronto and the City of Ottawa. Amendments were also made to 1) eliminate the option of appointment before March 31 of an election year in case of vacancy in the office of Mayor and instead require a by-election; and 2) to provide that a person appointed as Mayor after March 31 in an election year will not have the powers of the Mayor under Part VI.1 and that those power are exercised by Council. The Municipal Conflict of Interest Act was also amended to extend the declaration of interest provisions to the Mayor's exercise of his powers and duties outside of a meeting. Specifically, the Mayor is required to declare any interests in writing to the Clerk, not use the power and refrain from influencing the decisions of the City in respect of the matter. Further, if as a result of declaring an interest the Mayor is prohibited from using his powers to exercise his duty to prepare the City's budget in respect of a matter, City Council may pass a resolution to amend the proposed budget with respect to the matter and the Mayor may not veto that amendment. The City is required to maintain a registry of any declared interests. This report provides an overview of the new Mayoral powers for: · Council governance; · Organizational structure; · Direction to staff; · Prescribed provincial priorities; and · Preparation of the municipal budget. Once provincial priorities are finalized in regulation, the associated Mayoral power to veto or put matters in front of Council to advance such priorities will be in force. Bill 39, Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022 On November 16, 2022, the Provincial government introduced Bill 39 the Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022 ("Bill 39") that proposes additional mayoral powers to those in Bill 3. At the time of writing this report, Bill 39 legislation has not yet been proclaimed into force. Information about the proposed additional mayoral powers in Bill 39 is provided in this report and a copy of Bill 39 is included as Attachment 4 to this report with the Province's proposed amendments to regulations included as Attachment 5 to this report. Updates to Governance Processes and Procedures The City Clerk has established templates and related processes and procedures to assist the Mayor in carrying out these new powers. An example of this already in use is the Mayoral Decision template, and the associated online public-facing repository. To ensure the Toronto Municipal Code chapters are updated to align with the changes arising from Bill 3 and Mayoral decisions made under Bill 3, some updates will be required to City by-laws including Chapters 27, Council Procedures and Chapter 169, Officials, City.

b. The City Solicitor, in consultation with the City Clerk, may submit bills directly to Council for enactment where an action is required as a result of the coming into force of Part VI.1 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006 or a decision made by the Mayor under Part VI.1 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006.