Ford’s new focus must be def icit

After a turbulent few weeks, Ontario Premier Doug Ford got some welcome news this week. And the timing couldn’t have been better.

On Wednesday, a panel of three judges for the Ontario Court of Appeal issued a stay of a previous ruling, by Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba. Justice Belobaba had ruled that Bill 5 — the Progressive Conservative government’s measure to shrink the size of Toronto City Council — was unconstitutional, largely on the grounds that it violated the freedom of expression of those running for office in a campaign that had essentially begun. The ruling was bizarre and was immediately identified as ripe for overturning on appeal. We quoted in this space last week University of Waterloo constitutional scholar Emmett Macfarlane who wrote that the judge had used “incoherent legal arguments.” While “the law is bad and disruptive, and the government’s motives are dubious,” in Macfarlane’s opinion, "none of that makes the law unconstitutional.” And so Premier Ford said he would have to use the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to circumvent the unreliable ruling and assert the primacy of democratically elected legislators. His critics screamed fascism.

But the appeals court found that the ruling did indeed appear to be seriously flawed. It did not over turn it; that awaits the outcome of a full appeal, which Ontario is pursuing. But the judges did conclude that Belobaba had likely erred in his ruling, and so set his decision aside until the appeal can be heard. As that won’t happen before the Oct. 22 Toronto municipal election, the premier has won the legal battle — without actually invoking the notwithstanding clause.

This is undeniably a win for the premier, and not a moment too soon. This controversy was becoming a noisy distraction from the real business of running Ontario’s government. And on Friday morning, Ontarians were reminded just how serious that business is.

In a morning speech to the Economic Club in Toronto, provincial Finance Minister Vic Fedeli revealed the early results of the government’s review of accounting practices under the now-defeated Liberal governments of Kathleen Wynne. Ontarians knew it would be bad news — the outrageous fiscal chicanery practised by the Wynne government was one key reason (among several) that her Liberal party was annihilated in the recent Ontario election, now so unpopular that it has lost official party status. Still, the numbers were shocking even to those expecting the worst. The previous Liberal government had claimed this year’s deficit would be $6.7 billion. No one took that figure seriously, of course. The provincial auditor general warned it would be closer to $11.7 billion. But it’s much worse — $15 billion.

That wasn’t the only bad news: the Liberals had also drained provincial reserves and had used accounting tricks to hide deficits in years they had claimed surpluses. These were outright lies, as Fedeli rightly said. This is a horrible spot for any new government to start from, but fixing this is the job Doug Ford wanted and was elected to do. He should get started at once — and keep his focus from drifting to further distractions.