By Emily Stonehouse

Dysart passed their budget earlier this year by following a standard status quo pattern. Very few feathers were ruffled. If you blinked, you may have even missed it on the agenda altogether.

That’s a stark contrast to the way Minden has rolled out their 2026 season. I’ve lost count of how many meetings have been dedicated to the conversations, and how many stories have swirled around social media in regards to the process.

When I was a department head with the Township of Minden Hills, not that long ago, the budgeting process was completely different. Senior staffers would take their proposed budgets to a live council meeting, where, line by line, their initiatives would be sifted through in real time, and spliced and divvied until a palatable number was achieved. The process would take staff and council well into the late winter, early spring. And no one was ever happy about it. Everyone grumbled.

This time around, it was different. Mayor Bob Carter worked directly with department heads, to understand their needs for the year, and, using their expertise and experience, built a budget based on those.

He presented a budget of under four per cent which highlighted those departmental needs in December. And everyone grumbled.

Council countered, proposing amendments which would increase the taxes well over five per cent. A handful of these amendments were not done with staff considerations in place.

Carter then countered that, suggesting additional support for staff, and a further decrease in the tax rate, keeping it under five per cent.

And everyone grumbled.

That leads me to believe that the grumbling around the budget has nothing to do with the tax rate itself.

Instead, it’s the usage of “Strong Mayor Powers”. When Doug Ford chose to give municipal mayors these ‘powers’, he knew exactly what he was doing: taking the target off his own back.

The term carries weight. It launches an oligarchical perception of those in positions of power: the decisions of many, made by a select few. And I get it. Many are quick to jump on anyone who takes away some semblance of their freedoms. It’s a politically charged swamp that we are wading through these days.

But in reality, these superpowers carry very little weight. They also don’t allow Carter to act as a lone wolf who exclusively makes every little decision for our community.

They merely change the process. Even with the amendments increasing the tax rate, it’s likely that they will go through. If 2/3rds of council members vote to pass them, then they’re set in stone, and the whole process that Carter started with; working directly with department heads in an effort to lower taxes, becomes a moot point.

You will never find me supporting one person controlling many. We’ve all seen how that plays out, through the past and the present.

When Ford coined the term ‘Strong Mayor Powers’, he played on that fear. He saw how the world was sitting on edge; a palpable concern that we were on the cusp of control from those who do not have our best interests at heart.

So when Carter used his “Strong Mayor Powers” (a sharp and cutting phrase) to “veto” (another dagger of a word) a number of these amendments (good or bad), the target suddenly moved to his back.

Let’s take the time to learn about the reasoning. To understand the actual numbers behind these decisions, and support what’s best not just for taxpayers, but for the dedicated staff who are committed to keeping this community afloat.

Because words matter, and what’s where the real power lies.