A way to protect democratic process
Re Constitutional and legal case can be made against Bill 5, August 3
The late Sen. Eugene Forsey was, and still is, considered one of Canada’s foremost constitutional experts, distinguished particularly for his views on the “reserve powers of the Crown.” At this time of political crisis in Ontario, it would be worth asking what remedies Forsey might recommend for dealing with arbitrary and undemocratic exercises of power by the governing majority party and its leader.
In his book Freedom and Order, Forsey advised that “If a Prime Minister tries to turn parliamentary responsible government into unparliamentary irresponsible government, then only the Crown can stop him. . . . The Crown is the embodiment of the interests of the whole people, the indispensable centre of the whole parliamentary democratic order, the guardian of the Constitution … .”
The powers of the Crown are embodied, at the provincial level, in the lieutenant-governor, who must sign any piece of legislation in order for it to become law. Normally, this is a routine act, but Sections 55 and 90 of the Constitution Act of 1867 specify that according to [ his/her] discretion the lieutenant-governor may assent thereto or withhold the Queen’s Assent, or that [ he/she] reserves the Bill. . . Thus, the lieutenantgovernor need not sign Bill 5, the Ford government’s bill that arbitrarily, without study or consultation, would reduce Toronto council from 47 to 25 seats.
In refusing to sign, the representative of the Crown would not be interfering with the policymaking powers of the elected legislature, but rather protecting the democratic process — the conventions of responsible government. Bill 5 could be returned to the legislature for the normal processes of study and public hearings. Joell Ann Vanderwagen, Oshawa
Thank you to Craig Scott for doing the heavy lifting on sorting the constitutional issues around Doug Ford’s heavy-handed flouting of convention and the democratic process.
Perhaps Trudeau could make it up to us for failing to keep his promise on election reform by beginning some legislative plans to unshackle large cities like Toronto from the arbitrary power of the provinces and give them their own power to govern and tax according to their needs.
Susan Spizziri, Mississauga