How City Hall works
Three questions for anything City Hall promises or stalls. Whose call is it, where is it stuck, and how can you check it yourself?
Each part below opens on its own. Every claim links to its source.
01Whose call is it?What does the job control?
Which level of government controls what isn’t always obvious. City Hall runs some things outright, shares others, and has no direct say over plenty more. Here’s how to tell the difference, and what to ask once you have.
Council can decide this on its own.
London holds a piece. Other governments hold the rest.
Another government decides. A councillor can push, not pull.
Who controls what
A check means that level of government holds a real piece of it. Most of what voters ask about is shared.
| WHO CONTROLS IT? | CITY | PROVINCE | FEDERAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property taxes and the city budgetCity sets the budget and city tax rate. Province sets the school tax rate. Source ↗ | yes | yes | no |
| Zoning and what gets builtCity writes and approves zoning. Province sets rules, built-in permissions and zoning orders. Source ↗ | yes | yes | no |
| Appeals of planning decisions (Ontario Land Tribunal)A provincial tribunal decides. Province limits who can appeal. City defends its decisions. Source ↗ | no | yes | no |
| Development chargesCity sets the rates by by-law. Province decides what's chargeable, exemptions and timing. Source ↗ | yes | yes | no |
| Roads, buses and London TransitCity runs local roads and LTC. Province owns 401, 402. Senior governments co-fund projects. Source ↗ | yes | yes | yes |
| Police budget and policingCouncil sets the budget total. Board directs the chief. Province writes the rules. Source ↗ | yes | yes | no |
| Shelters and homelessnessCity runs shelters and the local plan. Province and Ottawa fund it, with conditions. Source ↗ | yes | yes | yes |
| Affordable and social housingCity manages community housing and incentives. Province sets the rules. Ottawa funds programs. Source ↗ | yes | yes | yes |
| Rent increases and evictionsProvince sets the rent cap, eviction rules and the Landlord and Tenant Board. Source ↗ | no | yes | no |
| Health care and addiction treatmentProvince runs and funds care. Ottawa sets Canada Health Act terms, licenses consumption sites. Source ↗ | no | yes | yes |
| Social assistance rates (Ontario Works, ODSP)Province sets the rates. City delivers Ontario Works locally but cannot change them. Source ↗ | no | yes | no |
| SchoolsProvince sets curriculum and funding. Elected trustees run school boards. Not City Hall. Source ↗ | no | yes | no |
| Immigration and international studentsOttawa sets immigration levels and study-permit caps. Province issues attestation letters. Source ↗ | no | yes | yes |
| By-laws, parking and licensingCouncil passes and enforces them, within powers the Municipal Act grants. Source ↗ | yes | no | no |
Test the promise
“I’ll cut property taxes.”
DIRECT CONTROLThis one is genuinely council’s call. Council sets how much property-tax revenue London raises and what the budget funds. The mayor proposes the budget, council can amend it, and two-thirds of council can override a mayor’s veto of an amendment. The school portion of your bill is set by the Province, not the City.
ASK INSTEADWhat exactly are you cutting, delaying, charging for, or replacing to get there?
“I’ll fix homelessness.”
SHARED CONTROLLondon controls shelters, City land, and local contracts. It writes its own zoning, inside rules the Province sets. Queen’s Park controls health care, addiction treatment, and social-assistance rates, and provides homelessness program funding. Ottawa provides some housing money.
ASK INSTEADWhich part is London’s job, how much would you spend on it, and what do you need from the province?
“I’ll lower rents.”
SHARED CONTROLOntario controls landlord-tenant law and rent rules. London writes its zoning by-law and official plan and decides planning applications, inside rules the Province sets. It also sets development-charge rates and runs some housing programs. That reaches supply, not the price tag.
ASK INSTEADWhich of the City’s housing powers would you actually use, and how?
“I’ll fix health care.”
ADVOCACY ONLYHospitals, doctors, and health-care delivery are provincial. A mayor or councillor can advocate and join local partnerships, but can’t set provincial health policy.
ASK INSTEADWhat specifically would you ask Queen’s Park for, and what can London do if they say no?
“I’ll put more police on the street.”
SHARED CONTROLCouncil sets the police board’s overall budget. It cannot approve or reject specific items, and the board can take a budget dispute to arbitration. Council does not direct policing. The board sets policy and directs the chief, and the chief runs day-to-day operations.
ASK INSTEADHow much more funding would you approve, and what outcome do you expect it to buy?
“I’ll build 20,000 homes.”
SHARED CONTROLCouncil can approve, zone, and enable. City Hall cannot force private construction. Interest rates, building costs, and whether projects pencil out aren’t council’s to decide.
ASK INSTEADApproved isn’t built. What’s your plan to close that gap?
What City Hall decides on its own
City Hall has real control here. When the call is council’s, the record shows how it was made.
- The City’s part of your property-tax bill (the levy and the budget it funds). The Province sets the school portion.
- What gets built next door (London’s zoning by-law, its official plan, called The London Plan, and planning approvals, inside limits the Province sets on minimum housing permissions, who can appeal, approval of some plan changes, and zoning orders)
- How often the bus comes (London Transit funding and service levels)
- Roads, sidewalks, and snow clearing
- Parks, recreation, libraries, garbage and recycling
- The size of the police budget
- Development charges (the rates; the Province sets the exemptions), licensing, and local by-laws
The messy ones
Shared files are where the hardest questions live, because more than one government holds a piece. Here’s which piece is whose.
- CITY
- shelters, outreach contracts, City land, zoning for supportive housing inside provincial rules
- PROVINCE
- health care, addiction treatment, Ontario Works and ODSP rates, homelessness program funding
- FEDERAL
- some housing and homelessness funding
- CITY
- the zoning by-law, official plan and approvals, development-charge rates, City land
- PROVINCE
- landlord-tenant law, the Planning Act and Provincial Planning Statement, the right to up to three units on an urban house lot, ministerial zoning orders, approval of some official plan changes, appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal, development-charge exemptions, housing targets
- FEDERAL
- transfer programs and immigration-driven demand
- MARKET
- construction costs, financing, whether projects pencil out
- CITY
- policing response, some community funding, public-space management
- PROVINCE
- the health-care system that treatment lives in, and approval before the City can apply for a supervised consumption site
- FEDERAL
- drug law, and the exemptions supervised consumption sites need to operate
- CITY
- building and maintaining it (roads, pipes, transit)
- PROVINCE
- co-funding and approval of major projects
- FEDERAL
- co-funding of major projects
Nobody controls the whole problem. That doesn’t mean nobody is accountable.
Nobody has a switch
Some of what shapes London isn’t controlled by anyone you can vote for, locally or otherwise.
- Interest rates, set by the Bank of Canada, which operates independently of the government of the day
- Construction costs and labour supply (the market)
- Housing prices and market rents (supply, demand, and financing)
- Commercial vacancies (where employers decide people work)
- U.S. tariffs and global trade, which London can only brace for
Some problems aren’t solved by one government decision. A politician who admits that is being straight with you.
Schools. Read the fine print on your school board
Queen’s Park sets curriculum, teacher contracts, and the funding formula. But elected trustees normally hold real powers too. The board’s budget, where schools open and close, hiring the Director of Education, and local policy. Since May 2026 those powers come with strings. The Minister must approve a board’s budget in circumstances the Province sets, and an English-language board needs the Minister’s approval to dismiss its director, now called the chief executive officer. One 2026 exception. Thames Valley is under provincial supervision, so the trustees elected there hold no role until it ends, and there’s no set end date.
THE FULL SCHOOL-BOARD STORY →Every promise gets three questions
- Is that actually your decision?
- If it is, what exactly would you change?
- If it isn’t, what are you actually promising to do?
Know whose call it is. Ask the next question.
Sources for the split Justice Canada · division of powers ↗Municipal Act, 2001 ↗AMO · Municipal 101 ↗Ontario education ↗Planning Act (archived e-Laws copy, October 24, 2026) ↗Provincial Planning Statement, 2024 ↗Ontario · housing targets ↗Municipal Act, s.284.16, strong-mayor budget (archived e-Laws copy, October 19, 2026) ↗Ontario · property tax ↗Development Charges Act, s.4.1 to 4.5 (archived e-Laws copy, October 10, 2026) ↗Community Safety and Policing Act, s.40 and s.50 ↗Ontario · Homelessness Prevention Program ↗Community Care and Recovery Act, 2024, s.3 ↗Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, s.56.1 ↗Education Act, s.231 and s.279 to 283.0.1 (archived e-Laws copy, October 19, 2026) ↗
Now see who holds each job. Start with the mayor, your ward, and your school board.
02Where is it stuck?Where is this decision?
You elect fifteen people. The work itself is done by city staff you didn't elect, boards and committees you rarely see, and sometimes a different government entirely. When something stalls, it's usually stuck at one specific stage, not lost in the whole machine. Knowing which stage tells you who to actually push.
Who actually does the work
Council sets direction, fifteen votes on the things that are theirs to decide. Delivering it falls to the City Manager, seven Deputy City Managers, and the staff under them, none of them elected. Separate boards run police, transit and other services on their own budgets. A councillor can direct staff to look into something; a councillor cannot personally make it happen.
SEE WHO SITS WHERE →The path something takes
Six stages, in order. Most delay lives in one of them.
Idea
- HOLDS IT
- Any councillor, city staff, or a resident who raises it.
- CAN STALL
- Nothing obliges anyone to act on it. It has to compete for a spot on an agenda that staff and a committee chair control.
Staff report
- HOLDS IT
- The city department responsible. Most council votes start from the options a staff report lays out, so an item without one usually waits.
- CAN STALL
- Staff capacity, competing priorities, or waiting on a study, a consultant, or another government's answer first.
PUSH HEREA records request can surface a report's status, or the correspondence behind a delay.
Committee
- HOLDS IT
- One of council's four standing committees, which hears the item first and recommends a direction. Under Ontario's strong-mayor law, the mayor sets up the committees and names their chairs.
- CAN STALL
- The committee can refer it back for more information, or simply not agree, which sends it back into the queue.
PUSH HERERegister as a delegation and speak for up to five minutes before the vote.
Council
- HOLDS IT
- All fifteen members, voting as a whole. This is the vote that actually decides.
- CAN STALL
- Council can accept, amend, defer, or reject the committee's recommendation outright. The mayor can veto a by-law that could interfere with a provincial priority such as new housing, and council needs a two-thirds vote to override. For those same priorities, a by-law the mayor proposes passes with more than one-third of council.
PUSH HERESee how each member has voted on the issues that mattered most this term.
Money
- HOLDS IT
- The multi-year budget. London plans its budget four years at a time and revisits it in an update each year. Under Ontario's strong-mayor law, the mayor proposes the budget and council can amend it.
- CAN STALL
- An approved plan with no money attached is a plan on paper. Anything not funded usually waits for an annual update or for the next four-year budget, which covers 2028 to 2031.
PUSH HERESee the levers on taxes and spending, and what the next budget cycle looks like.
Outside gates
- HOLDS IT
- A different government or tribunal entirely. The province sets health, addiction treatment and rent rules, and pays for much of the City's homelessness work. The Ontario Land Tribunal hears planning appeals.
- CAN STALL
- London can approve something and still be waiting on a decision nobody in London was elected to make.
PUSH HERECheck whose call it actually is before the wait gets blamed on City Hall.
Where this actually happened: the homelessness hubs
London's plan to open its first five community homelessness hubs is the clearest recent example of a stall with a named cause, because the City's own auditor said so in writing.
The City's Hubs Implementation Plan set an objective of five hubs operating by May 2024.
MNP, Housing and Homelessness Value for Money Audit, Aug 28 2025 ↗Two, YOU's Community Youth Hub and Atlohsa's Wiigiwaaminaan Lodge. When the audit was written in August 2025, both were full, with waitlists.
MNP, Housing and Homelessness Value for Money Audit, Aug 28 2025 ↗Received by the Audit Committee Sept 10 2025, on a 2-1 vote; Councillor Stevenson voted against, saying it wasn't a true value-for-money analysis.
City of London Audit Committee, September 10, 2025 ↗Still two. A September 2026 progress update from the fund that pays for hub buildings lists the same two hubs as open and names no new one. The City's own dashboard showed two active hubs in August 2026.
London Community Foundation, Health and Homelessness Fund for Change progress update, as of September 2026 ↗The bottleneck, in the auditor's own words
“challenges related to location, acquisition/availability of land, zoning limitations, and operating funding have impacted the timeline”
MNP, Housing and Homelessness Value for Money Audit, Aug 28 2025 ↗
Land and zoning run through the Staff report, Committee and Council stages above, and a zoning decision can be appealed at the Outside gates. Operating funding is the Money stage. None of the three is council simply refusing. All three are still council's to fix: land can be bought or designated, zoning can be pre-cleared, and operating funding is a budget decision, not an act of nature.
Slow for a reason, or just stalled?
Both happen. They look the same from the outside. They aren't the same thing.
- Planning changes need public notice and a public meeting, so neighbours get a say before council decides. Since 2024, most neighbours can no longer appeal a zoning decision to the Ontario Land Tribunal, though the applicant still can.
- A four-year budget means new spending competes for a spot in the next annual update or the next four-year budget, not the next meeting.
- Delegations, public participation meetings, written communication and committee review add real time. People used a public participation meeting to speak on the Bluegrass Drive decision in May 2026.
- A report that goes out for more information and never comes back.
- A committee or working group that stops meeting, or is wound up and its work handed to another body.
London's Strategic Opportunities Review Working Group was set up by the mayor in May 2024 to look for savings across the City. It met three times in 2024 and noted that it would meet again in 2025. It did not. On February 4, 2025, the mayor dissolved it and handed its work to the Budget Committee.
City of London, Mayoral Decision 2025-001, Feb 4 2025 ↗Sources City of London, standing committees ↗city release, 2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget adopted ↗City of London, Council Guide (March 2026), committees and strong-mayor powers ↗Municipal Act, 2001, Part VI.1 (strong-mayor powers, ss. 284.8, 284.11, 284.11.1, 284.16) ↗O. Reg. 580/22, provincial priorities (housing and the infrastructure to support it) ↗Planning Act, s. 34 (19), who can appeal a zoning by-law ↗City of London, SORWG meeting record, Sept 4 2024 ↗
03How can you check it?How to check City Hall
An election is one way to have a say in what City Hall does, and it comes once every four years. Between elections, four tools let any Londoner see what was decided, question it, and put a request on the public record. Here is what each one does, what it costs, how long it takes, and a real London case where it worked.
How to check the work
Ask the Ombudsman
The Ontario Ombudsman is London's closed-meeting investigator. If you think council or a committee met behind closed doors when it should have been public, you can ask for an investigation. The Ombudsman also handles complaints about most provincial and municipal bodies. A complaint that a councillor broke the Code of Conduct goes to a different officer, the City's Integrity Commissioner.
- COST
- Free
- TIME
- Slow. The Ombudsman's London rulings since 2024 came about seven to 20 months after the meeting in question.
- WHO
- Anyone can file. You do not have to live in London.
In March 2023, three members of a five-member council committee, a quorum, toured a shelter with its director and discussed a $760,000 funding request. Hours later the committee recommended approval. The Ombudsman found the tour broke the open-meeting rules: no public notice, the public could not attend, and no minutes were kept.
Ombudsman Ontario, report on the City of London, January 2024 ↗START HEREFile a closed-meeting complaint through the Ombudsman's office. How to complain, Ombudsman Ontario ↗
File a records request
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request forces the City to hand over records it holds: emails, contracts, reports, invoices. It reaches the City and its boards and agencies, and can reach a councillor's own records when they acted as an officer of the City.
- COST
- $5 to file. The fee cannot be waived. Searching for and preparing records can add $7.50 per 15 minutes, and copies cost 20 cents a page. If a record sits with an outside consultant, the consultant's invoice for finding it can be added on. An appeal costs $25.
- TIME
- As of July 1, 2026 the City has 45 business days to answer, roughly nine weeks. Until June 30 the deadline was 30 calendar days. The change came in a provincial budget bill. The City can extend the deadline for a large request. If you disagree with the answer, you have 30 business days to appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
- WHO
- Anyone can file.
In 2024 a records request by The London Free Press revealed that the London Police Services Board had paid a public-relations firm about $104,000 to help make the case for its $672-million budget request. The records came back heavily redacted. It was a records request that made the spending public at all.
The London Free Press, September 13, 2024 ↗START HEREThe City's FOI page has the form and explains the $5 fee and the 45-business-day timeline. Freedom of Information requests, City of London ↗
Read the audits
London has no Auditor General. Instead it hires an outside firm, MNP, as its internal auditor. In June 2026 council kept MNP for four more years, starting in 2027. The reports go to a five-member Audit Committee at public meetings. Four members are councillors and one is a citizen who must be a Chartered Accountant. None is paid. The reports are posted whether or not they are flattering.
- COST
- Free to read.
- TIME
- Published as each audit finishes, on the committee's public agenda. Six more audits have reached the committee since the one below, the latest on privacy in October 2026.
- WHO
- Anyone can read them. The meetings are public.
An MNP audit received in September 2025 found that of the five homelessness hubs the City's plan set out to open by May 2024, only two were operating, and both were full with waiting lists. The auditors named the reasons: land, zoning and operating money.
City of London Audit Committee, Housing and Homelessness audit, September 10, 2025 ↗START HEREAudit reports appear on the Audit Committee's agendas in the City's meeting portal. Council and committee meetings, City of London ↗
Speak to a committee
You can ask to speak to a council committee in person on any item on its agenda. This is called a delegation. Planning applications also get a public participation meeting, where members of the public can speak on that item. It is the most direct tool on this page. You speak on the record, before the vote.
- COST
- Free.
- TIME
- Register in writing by 9:00 a.m. the business day before the meeting. Your request must name the agenda item it relates to. To speak online or by phone at a public participation meeting, register by 9:00 a.m. on the day of the meeting.
- WHO
- Any member of the public. You get up to five minutes.
On May 5, 2026, 14 people spoke at a public participation meeting on a long-term-care rezoning at 945 Bluegrass Drive, including the applicant's planning firm. City staff recommended approval and the committee agreed, 3 to 2. On May 12 council's motion to approve failed 5 to 10, and the application was refused. The minutes name every speaker and record that council weighed all oral and written submissions. The decision has been appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal (cases OLT-26-000565 and OLT-26-000566).
City of London Council minutes, May 12, 2026 ↗START HEREThe City's meetings page explains how to register as a delegation and lists the email for each standing committee. Council and committee meetings, City of London ↗
What London doesn't have
Some accountability tools that other cities have, London has chosen not to build. That is a council decision, and a fair thing to ask your councillor about.
- No Auditor General. Hamilton and Ottawa have one; London contracts an outside firm instead. An Auditor General is independent and sets its own agenda; a contracted firm works to the scope the City gives it.
- No closed-meeting investigator of its own. London relies on the provincial Ombudsman, which keeps the review independent but slow.
- No public lobbying registry. There is no public log of who lobbies council. An October 2023 motion to study one failed 6 to 8.
Source Audit Committee, terms of reference ↗Ombudsman Ontario, City of London report, January 2024 (closed-meeting investigator) ↗Council minutes, October 17, 2023 (lobbyist registry study, 6 to 8) ↗
How council voted on board lobbying
On October 29, 2024, after the police-board PR spending came to light, two councillors moved that tax-funded boards and agencies be told not to spend public money lobbying council. The motion was defeated 5 votes to 10 at committee. On November 5 council noted the item and gave no direction. Eleven of those fifteen members were re-elected on October 26, 2026, so you can ask them directly.
SEE HOW EACH MEMBER VOTED (COMMITTEE MINUTES) ↗Sources Ombudsman Ontario, open meetings ↗Ombudsman Ontario, London open-meeting rulings ↗MFIPPA, s. 19 (45 business days) and s. 39 (30 business days to appeal) ↗R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 823, ss. 5.2, 5.3 and 6 (fees) ↗IPC Ontario ↗Council minutes, June 23, 2026 (MNP kept as internal auditor from 2027) ↗Audit Committee agenda, October 7, 2026 (2026 audit plan) ↗Integrity Commissioner annual report, April 30, 2026 ↗
Ask your councillor
- Pick something stalled in this ward. Which stage is it actually stuck at, and what would you do at that stage?
- Where a delay is the law protecting people, would you shorten it, and what would that trade away?
- Would you vote to stop city-funded boards from spending public money to lobby council?
- Would you support a public lobbying registry, or an Auditor General for London?
The election is one check. These are the others, and they work all year.