Clark sounds off on Toronto council cuts debate
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s move to reduce the size of Toronto city council during an election campaign concerns Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark.
Ford has been widely criticized for his plans to slash the size of Toronto city council from 47 to 25 seats mid-campaign.
Wednesday, his Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation to cut council, employing the rarely used notwithstanding clause from Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The clause allows the Ford government to pass the legislation despite an Ontario Superior Court ruling this week that said the decision violated the Charter.
Clark said in an interview Wednesday the decision to cut the size of Toronto council undermines the democratic process and will hinder the ability of the City of Toronto to address issues of concern to citizens.
“I think it’s concerning beyond just Ontario,” Clark said. “So I worry about what’s happening there.”
Amid protests, the Ontario PCS introduced the bill that would reduce the size of Toronto council even as municipal elections in Ontario loom just six weeks from now.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said earlier this week he was reaching out to other mayors, like Clark, who are members of Canada’s Big City Mayors Caucus over the unprecedented situation.
Clark said Tory’s office has contacted his office, although Clark said he has not spoken directly with Tory.
Virtually every decision made at the federal or provincial level winds up “on the doorsteps of mayors and city councils,” but municipal government is still considered the “bottom of the totem pole,” Clark said.
While Clark said he does not have a recommended solution to the power imbalance, he thinks conversations about a new approach are needed.
“The country is changing and the role of cities is changing, and what’s happening with Toronto is moving backwards instead of forwards,” he said.
Closer to home, the Saskatchewan Party provincial government has been contemplating moving the 2020 municipal elections to avoid a conflict with the next scheduled provincial election. As it stands now, the two elections are five days apart.
Clark has said he believes the municipal election date should be left alone and the province should move its voting day to avoid the overlapping campaigns.
The provincial government is considering adding a year onto the term for city and town councils, but Clark does not see the situation as similar to that in Ontario.
“I wouldn’t draw that parallel,” Clark said.
“The manner and tone of that conversation has been entirely different.”
The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities have both expressed opposition to changing the municipal election date.