One of the most (in)famous of party-backed strong mayors was Jean Drapeau, who – as head of the Civic Party – presided as an increasingly autocratic Mayor of Montreal from 1960 until his retirement prior to the 1986 municipal elections. He was certainly a larger than life figure but many of his accomplishments were overshadowed by the fiasco of the massive cost overruns associated with the construction of the Olympic Stadium which came to be known as “the Big Owe.”
Another local political party, the Civic Election Committee (and its successors) elected a majority of the councillors in Winnipeg over many decades. Essentially a pro-business party dedicated to preventing the election of left-leaning candidates, it didn’t use its numerical strength to provide leadership on council. Another business-friendly party, the Non-Partisan Association or NPA dominated Vancouver City Council for several decades before being supplanted by more progressive local parties such as TEAM (The Electors Action Movement) and COPE (the Committee of Progressive Electors). While these local political parties usually pretended not to be parties, they at least were focused on local issues and judged by their performance with respect to such issues. In contrast, the political parties prominent in municipal government in countries such as the U.S. and Britain were simply local versions of the national parties. As a result, their fortunes were largely tied to the popularity of their national counterparts rather than to the effectiveness of their performance locally.
Informal Leaders
I attended hundreds of municipal council meetings during my half century of consulting and often observed strong mayor – or, more frequently, strong reeve – systems of a very informal nature. On the five member councils found throughout small and rural municipalities, it was very common for two or three councillors to follow the lead of the head of council. He (or she) would introduce each agenda item and then invite discussion. Periodically, however, the reeve would introduce an item, comment that it was a ridiculous or excellent idea, and then tell councillors that the decision, of course, was up to them. Given this cue, the informal majority on council would fall into line and the item in question would be rejected, or adopted, based on the less than subtle hint from the chair. These informal arrangements allowed the head of council to exercise power, but without accepting responsibility, or being held accountable, for the resulting decisions.
Dominant Personalities
Some strong mayors were even found within larger councils because of their ability to forge alliances or – more often – their dominant personalities. The best-known example is the indomitable “Hurricane Hazel” McCallion, still with us at 101 years of age. Twenty some years ago, I was discussing the strong mayor system in a course that included one of the senior staff from her municipality. Illustrating her forceful nature, he explained that if the vote went against her 1-11 (on Mississauga’s 12 member council), she considered it a tie! Equally famous (and feisty) in an earlier era was Charlotte Whitton, Mayor of Ottawa in the mid-20th century. One of her regular tactics to get her way on a subject was to announce that the matter in question was covered in the Municipal Act, whereupon she would move to the next topic. One councillor decided to investigate the matter, and at the next meeting he informed the mayor that, in fact, the subject was not covered by the Municipal Act. “Well, if it isn’t it should be,” was her abrupt response before bringing down the gavel and moving to the next agenda item.
My favourite Charlotte Whitton story concerns the time that she attended an International Conference of Mayors, hosted by the Lord Mayor of London (England), the ultimate ceremonial mayor. He greeted delegates at the front of the receiving line, decked out in his robe and historic chain of office. Charlotte had a flower in the lapel of her dress. In perhaps a gesture of old-fashioned gallantry, the Lord Mayor bowed toward Charlotte and said “if I smell your rose, will you blush” – to which she replied “If I pull your chain, will you flush.”