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Janette MacDonald was fired after 19 years as Downtown London’s chief executive because she resisted sharing power under a proposed restructuring of the merchant group, sources said.

Her dismissal in August came as the Downtown London board looked to embrace task force recommendations on how the agency needed to change to be more responsive to core-area merchants especially disgruntled businesses on Richmond Row, said sources close to the board of directors.

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MacDonald pushed back on some of the proposed changes.

“When there was discussion of limiting her scope of control, she just said ‘I will not do that,’ ” said one person, who declined to be identified.

“It became a problem. If a staff person was not doing what the board wants, and the board is tasked with legal and fiduciary responsibility, you have a problem.”

Following an annual general meeting in June when the task force recommendations were supported by the board, talks began in earnest about a new direction for Downtown London.