MPs urge rejection of Ford’s plan

SASKATOON— Liberal members of Parliament from Toronto unanimously condemned Thursday Premier Doug Ford’s decision to use the constitutional override clause to cut Toronto city council.

In a statement obtained by the Star, all 25 federal MPs from the city of Toronto called on all provincial MPPs to defeat Ford’s legislation tabled Wednesday at Queen’s Park, calling the premier’s resort to s. 33 — the notwithstanding clause never before invoked by Ontario — “heavy-handed and disrespectful.”

“We believe MPPs elected in Toronto have a responsibility to defend the city, its democratic institutions, and the rights of citizens to a free and fair municipal election. The people of Toronto deserve nothing less.”

They quoted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s declaration that the Liberal party will always “defend the Charter” and said “but this is not a partisan issue,” noting former prime minister Brian Mulroney, premiers and municipal leaders “of all political stripes have denounced Ford’s triggering of the notwithstanding clause. The correct response to a court decision one disagrees with is to appeal.”

The statement — the first of its kind — is signed “The Toronto Liberal MPs,” and it includes several high-profile cabinet ministers such as Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennettand Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen.