Toronto should fight Ford within Ontario

Whoa, Toronto! Take it easy. Enough with the fevered and, frankly, foolish talk about separating from the rest of Ontario and forming the Province of Toronto.

This summer was hot enough even before Premier Doug Ford’s decision to slash Toronto council from 47 members to 25 managed to raise tempers in Canada’s largest city to the boiling point. Now, cooler minds should prevail.

Ford’s move was unexpected, unwelcome, unfortunate and unfair, considering that it came when dozens of people had already announced their candidacy for this fall’s municipal elections. Torontonians are fully justified in protesting this political sabotage and doing whatever they can to stop it.

But separating from Ontario? Not only would this almost certainly never happen, it would be one of the biggest blunders in Canadian history if it did.

While the idea has been mooted before, most recently in 2010 by maverick MPP Bill Murdoch, the latest separation trial balloon was floated in late July by Jennifer Keesmaat, Toronto’s former chief city planner and now top challenger to John Tory for the mayor’s job.

Shortly after Ford lobbed his downsizing grenade at Toronto City Hall, Keesmaat tweeted “Secession,” noting that Toronto would be the fifth-largest province or territory in Canada, while insisting, “This is not a crazy idea.”

After her secession musings garnered publicity any municipal candidate would love, Keesmaat backtracked. She was expressing her frustration with Ford, she explained, not proposing real policy for her campaign.

But the secessionist cat was out of the bag. Pundits debated the pros and cons of the idea. CBC convened a panel of experts to discuss it. Columnist Royson James wrote in the Toronto Star: “I am now prepared to flirt with the idea (of secession) and to listen, seriously, to the cries of the aggrieved.”

Well, although what-if discussions can be entertaining on a dull summer afternoon, there is, to use one of James’ own words, “seriously” no chance of Toronto seceding.

First, it’s nearly impossible — from both political and legal perspectives.

It could only happen with a constitutional amendment. And such an amendment would need approval not only from the Ontario and federal governments, but from the legislatures in at least two-thirds of the provinces representing at least half the population of all 10 provinces.

It’s highly unlikely any Ontario government would agree to territorial self-amputation. Ottawa could not be relied on, either. And the disastrous collapse of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990 suggests no one should bet their home on the required number of provinces accepting a constitutional rewrite.

But Torontonians should also realize the Province of Ontario could never meet their needs.

Toronto is not an island. It is part of a provincial political entity that dates back to the creation of Upper Canada in 1791.

It shares countless interests — such as the environment, roads and highways, public transit, agriculture, food safety and economic development — with the rest of the province. Those issues transcend city limits and are best managed with everyone working together, not in separate provincial silos.

Before anyone starts talking referendum, they should remember the social discord, economic uncertainty and political paralysis the Brexit referendum bequeathed to the United Kingdom. Torexit would be as bad on a smaller scale.

Please, Torontonians, don’t get so mad at Ford that you lose sight of reason. Get even.

And the best way to do this is elect municipal leaders this fall who will stand up to Ford for the sake of everyone in Ontario.