Story by Lee Griffi:
The mayor of Cochrane would like upper levels of government to do more to get homes built in rural Ontario. Peter Politis says one tool he would like to see offered to rural Ontario is strong mayor powers.
Politis says he would accept them to level the playing field between rural and urban Ontario.
“We’re setting the table in what the province is trying to do here, demonstrating that those opportunities are up here and we can’t get the types of tools that their creating for the larger centres which would help us,” he said.
Another change he would like to see is the ability for municipalities to be able to sever large lots more than three times in order to build more homes.
According to the province, “Strong mayor powers offer tools to help heads of council cut red tape and speed up the delivery of key shared municipal-provincial priorities such as housing, transit and infrastructure in their municipalities.