Notwithstanding court decision, Toronto council cuts move ahead
Judge says reduction of wards from 47 to 25 is unconstitutional; Ford will override ruling
Premier Doug Ford is taking an unprecedented step, invoking the province’s powers and using the “notwithstanding” clause to override a court decision that shut down his plans to cut the size of Toronto’s city council.
For the first time in the province’s history, Ford says he plans to use a rarely reached-for tool in the charter to allow the cut to 25 wards from 47 for the upcoming election to continue — and warned he will use it more than once if he has to.
He said his government is also appealing a court decision released Monday morning and will resume the legislature this week to reintroduce the bill that forced changes to Toronto’s ongoing election.
“I believe the judge’s decision is deeply concerning and the result is unacceptable to the people of Ontario,” Ford said.
Ford made the announcement at a news conference Monday afternoon just hours after a bombshell ruling that shut down his government’s plans to align city council wards with provincial and federal ridings.
“I was elected,” Ford told reporters, while saying the judge “was appointed.”
The actions of the Ford government were harshly criticized in the ruling by Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba, who said the province’s Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act, infringed charter rights and deemed it unconstitutional.
The judge called that move “unprecedented” and ruled it “substantially interfered with both the candidate’s and the voter’s right to freedom of expression” guaranteed by the charter.
In doing so, he ordered an election continue on the basis of 47 wards, returning the campaign to a state before Bill 5 was tabled at Queen’s Park.
“It is only when democratically elected government has clearly crossed the line that the ‘judicial umpire’ should intervene,” Belobaba wrote in his 21-page decision.
“The province has clearly crossed the line.”
The decision has no effect on Bill 5’s cancelling of regional chair elections in other municipalities.
After the judgment was released, the city confirmed, through a spokesperson, that the city clerk would began preparing an election for Oct. 22, as scheduled, under a 47-ward model. The statement said candidates would be those certified as of July 30 — 509 candidates for council and school boards.
In his decision, Belobaba strongly reprimanded the province for failing to justify the cut to council, saying it submitted little evidence to support the hastily made argument that the legislation would result in more effective representation for residents or arguments repeated most by Ford and others that it would make council more efficient and save taxpayers money.
“It appears that Bill 5 was hurriedly enacted to take effect in the middle of the city’s election without much thought at all, more out of pique than principle,” Belobaba wrote.
“As things now stand — and until a constitutionally valid provincial law says otherwise — the city has 47 wards.”
Belobaba said candidates’ charter rights were infringed because the legislation was enacted in the middle of the election and that voters’ rights were breached because the imposition of 25 wards by the province would have doubled the average ward population size and led to worse representation.