Local democracy takes a hit from Ontario’s premier

You can call Doug Ford’s actions to cut Toronto city council in half and suspend regional chair elections in Niagara, Muskoka, York and Peel a lot of things. Arbitrary. Dictatorial. Authoritarian. Unethical.

But you can’t call the decisions illegal. They’re not. This is why we often refer to municipalities as creatures of the province. They deliver front-line services, and, arguably, have the biggest impact on the lives of citizens of all three levels of government. But they really don’t have any exterior power, other than through collaboration and lobbying. Many people bemoan this dichotomy, this power imbalance. But it is what it is.

If Doug Ford wanted to he could literally disband a municipal government he was displeased with. Even he might not like the kind of political backlash that would result, but technically he could do it.

None of that makes Ford’s actions right. But he’s not much concerned with right and wrong — he demonstrated that during his brother’s drug and alcohol-plagued mayoralty. He is more concerned with his personal agenda, supporting his friends, and, apparently, getting back at his enemies. Call it government by revenge.

Ford was an ineffective city councillor. He missed more than half the meetings. He was disdainful of the debate and dialogue unless they suited his partisan purposes. And he has no use for John Tory, who he had planned to run against until it became apparent he couldn’t win. He did say during his time on Toronto council that he thought it was too big. He also says now that his hack job will save $21 million. The actual savings is $9 million. That’s hardly chump change. So why go all Trumpian and make numbers up? But he certainly is getting back at the people who dissed him during his council tenure.

Patrick Brown, who Ford has demonized, was running for regional chair in Peel. Sorry, no election any more. Former Liberal cabinet minister Steven Del Duca was running in York. Sorry, no election any more. Muskoka and Niagara regions seem different stories, but no doubt his motivation will emerge.

Ford’s staff say these regions need their chair elections cancelled — the chairs to be replaced with a provincially-appointed bureaucrat — because they are less “mature” than other regions, like Halton and Waterloo Region, for example. Mature? Ford also says he wants to reduce levels of government. So why pick on some regions and leave others alone?

For that matter, why cut Toronto council in half and leave all the others in Ontario as is?

Clamping down on local democracy was not on Ford’s election platform. He did no public consultation. And just like he accuses the former government of doing with sex education, he imposes new rules arbitrarily. The difference is, of course, that the Liberals actually did do consultation with 4,000 parents and professionals. Ford didn’t come close to that concerning this decision.

If Ford had integrity, he would have campaigned on this. He would have waited until this election passed, and immediately announced a provincewide consultation with the stated goal of reducing the size of municipal government. That would be legitimate. This is not. This is Doug Ford.

If Ford had integrity, he would have campaigned on this. He would have waited until this election passed, and immediately announced a provincewide consultation.