Bill 39 gives the Ontario government the power to appoint regional council leaders for certain municipalities, while also allowing the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa — the two municipalities that received strong mayoral powers this month — to propose and amend regulations related to with the provincial priorities and allows the council to approve them by a vote of more than one third of its members.
This means Tory would not need a majority to push his agenda. 
If the city council wants to override the mayor’s decision, it needs more than two-thirds of the council to agree.
Both the Tories and the province say these powers will be used to ensure more homes are built quickly. 
Newly elected city councilors Ausma Malik, Alejandra Bravo and Jamaal Myers issued statements opposing the bill after it was introduced Wednesday.
In each of the statements, councilors either called on the Tories to “reconsider” or “withdraw” their request for the new power.
“I welcome the provincial government’s focus on desperately needed housing for Ontarians … That said, we cannot trade our local democracy for convenience,” Myers said in a statement.
“Toronto is in a housing crisis and I strongly support the use of all reasonable tools to end it.  However, allowing the bylaws to pass with a vote of only nine council members is not the way to do it.”
Malik said in a statement that she believes the legislation is not about housing, but rather a “blatant attack on local democracy.”


TORY HAS PUSHED FOR BOOSTED POWERS 
Tory released a statement of his own yesterday after the legislation was tabled.
In it, he said he supports the changes to mayoral power and added that he “raised this change with the province to make sure we can build more housing as quickly as possible.”
Tory said he supports the use of strong mayoral powers “only where they are necessary to promote housing and other key priorities”.
In a statement released by Bravo, he said these proposed changes to mayoral power should have been reported before last month’s municipal election, not after.
“The time to propose and discuss such a change was before the elections.  The people of Toronto have not been informed and heard about this fundamental change in the way this city is governed,” said Bravo.

		All Torontonians deserve to have their voices heard and their communities represented in local decision-making.  My statement on Bill 39, The Municipal Government Improvement Act, 2022 pic.twitter.com/iejRQqk0CK
	— Alejandra Bravo (@bravo_alej) November 17, 2022
Longtime Councilman Josh Matlow also issued a statement against the bill.  He called one of the province’s stated reasons for the legislation — to allow changes to zoning laws around transit stations — “provably absurd.”
“First, council has already approved moving forward with increased densities around Major Transit Stations to comply with provincial direction earlier this year,” Matlow said in the statement.
“Secondly, the province already has full authority to rezone Toronto as it wishes through the Planning Act.  If Doug Ford wants to build housing, he can do it without Bill 39.”
The provincial government says the bill was introduced to cut red tape and ensure municipalities with the largest populations in the province can build housing quickly.
“The proposed changes support our bold and transformative plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years,” Housing Minister Steve Clark said when introducing the bill.
Tory’s office said in a statement that despite the new powers he has been given, his leadership style will not change.
“His leadership style and overall approach to the city council will not change,” the statement said.
“He will continue to work with city council to get things done for the people of Toronto.” 
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With files from CTV News Toronto’s Katherine DeClerq.