Mayor and Council

The City of St. Catharines is governed by a Mayor and 12 City Councillors, who are all elected every four years. There are six wards in St. Catharines - Merritton, St. Andrew's, St. George's, St. Patrick's, Grantham and Port Dalhousie. Each ward is represented by two City Councillors.

View the current St. Catharines Mayor and the duties of the Mayor's Office.

View the current St. Catharines ward councillors.

Council meetings

Upcoming Council meeting dates are available in our Meetings Calendar. Unless noted in the Meeting Calendar, Council Meetings begin at 6 p.m.

The proceedings of Council Meetings are regulated by By-law 2021-124 - A By-law to regulate the proceedings of Council of The Corporation of the City of St. Catharines.

Agendas and Minutes

The chart above has links for the last 10 Regular and Special meetings of Council. Please use the links below to access previous agendas and minutes.

Council Minutes Council Agendas

Participating in Council Meetings

Visit our speaking at a Council meeting page to learn about making in-person and electronic delegations at meetings of Council.

Watching Council Meetings

Regular Council meetings are livestreamed to the City's YouTube channel (stcatharines.ca/YouTube).
Regular Council meetings also air live on YourTV (formerly known as TV Cogeco).
The public can also attend regular meetings in person in Council Chambers at City Hall. Council Chambers is located on the third floor of City Hall. Enter using the James Street entrance. The James Street doors open 30 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. Seating is first come, first served.

Live stream archives of City Council meetings held after March 10, 2020 are available on the City's YouTube Channel.

Council Meeting Recordings

For live stream archives of Council meetings held prior to March 10, 2020, please contact the Office of the City Clerk to arrange for a copy of the archive.

Strong Mayor Powers

On July 1, 2023, the Province of Ontario extended the use of Strong Mayor Powers to the City of St. Catharines under Part VI.1 of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001 c. 25 and in accordance with O. Reg. 580/22.

Mayoral Powers under the Municipal Act

Under Part VI.1 of the Municipal Act, the Mayor has the following special powers and duties as the head of Council:

Appoint the Chief Administrative Officer;*
Hire and dismiss certain City officials and determine the organizational structure of the City of St. Catharines;*
Create or dissolve committees of Council, appoint the Chairs and Vice-Chairs and assign their functions;*
Bring matters forward to Council for consideration that in the Mayor's opinion could potentially advance a prescribed provincial priority;
Veto certain by-laws approved by Council that in the Mayor's opinion that all or part of the by-law could potentially interfere with a prescribed provincial priority;
Propose and prepare the municipal budget by Feb. 1, which would be subject to Council amendments and Mayoral veto and Council override process; and
Direct City staff in writing.

* The Mayor may choose to delegate these specific powers and duties.

The Mayor is required to exercise these powers in writing and make them available to the public, subject to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. A public listing of Mayoral Decisions is available in the chart below.

Mayoral Decisions

Details of Mayoral Decisions
Date	Number	Subject Matter
July 14, 2023	2023-01	Delegation - Chief Administrative Officer
July 14, 2023	2023-02	Delegation - Organizational Structure and Employment Matters
July 14, 2023	2023-03	Delegation - Committees
July 26, 2023	2023-04	Approval of By-laws passed at the July 24, 2023 meeting
August 14, 2023	2023-05	Approval of By-laws passed at the August 14, 2023 meeting

Accountability and transparency

View our accountability and transparency information page for elected officials, advisory committees, Board and task force members for more on:

Code of Conduct
Conflict of interest
Closed (in-camera) meetings
Freedom of Information requests
Integrity Commissioner
Ontario Ombudsman

Upper-tier government representatives

Learn about our area's upper-tier government representatives, including representatives for Niagara Region, the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada.