Raise the Hammer
Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is undertaking reviews of two important statutes: Municipal legislation and Municipal Elections legislation.
By Ryan McGreal
Published June 05, 2015
This article has been updated.
Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is undertaking reviews of two important statutes: Municipal legislation and Municipal Elections legislation.
This integrated review covers the Municipal Act, the City of Toronto Act and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
You can submit comments online via the Municipal Legislation Review website, via email at municipalreview@ontario.ca, or by mail at:
Municipal Legislation Review
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Local Government Policy Branch
777 Bay Street, 13th Floor
Toronto, ON
M5G 2E
The deadline for submissions to the Municipal Act Review is Friday, August 7, 2015.
One important issue is Section 364 of the Municipal Act, which requires municipalities to give a 30 percent property tax rebate to vacant commercial properties and a 35 percent rebate to vacant industrial properties. As we have argued, this is a perverse incentive that forces municipalities to reward vacancy and disinvestment.
The Ministry is also reviewing the Municipal Elections Act, which governs municipal elections for Mayor and Councillors as well as School Board Trustees.
One important change under consideration is the proposal to allow municipalities to use ranked ballots in upcoming municipal elections, starting in 2018.
A ranked ballot allows the voter to rank the candidates in order of preference. During vote tabulation, all the first choices are counted. If no candidate has a majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is removed and the votes are tabulated again using the second choice of the voters whose primary vote was removed. This process continues until a candidate emerges with a majority of votes.
You can submit comments online via the Municipal Elections Act Review website, via email at mea.info@ontario.ca or by mail at:
Municipal Elections Act Review
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Local Government Policy Branch
777 Bay Street, 13th Floor
Toronto, ON
M5G 2E
The deadline for submissions to the Municipal Elections Act Review is Monday, July 27, 2015.
Update July 23, 2015: The Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has extended the deadline for the Municipal Act, City of Toronto Act, and Municipal Conflict of Interest Act to October 32, 2015.
By KevinLove (registered) | Posted June 05, 2015 at 19:31:23
As a professional Accountant, I favour giving municipalities expanded taxing powers. Right now, municipalities have very heavy demands placed upon them with inadequate means of meeting these demands. Powers I advocate for municipalities include:
You must be logged in to comment.
There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?