Doug Ford, in a breathtaking abuse of power, plans to use the notwithstanding clause to circumvent a judicial ruling thwarting his plan to slash the size of Toronto city council.
The dramatic step would make Ford the first Ontario premier to ever use the clause, which allows government to create laws that operate in spite of certain charter rights that the laws appear to violate. He also threatened to use the clause again in the future, but didn't provide any specifics.
In an unprecedented and scathing decision, Justice Edward Belobaba ruled Monday that Ford's Progressive Conservative government "clearly crossed the line" with its Better Local Government Act, which aligns municipal ward boundaries with provincial ridings, cutting the potential number of councillors from 47 to 25 after the Oct. 22 election.
"We're taking a stand," Ford said of the court decision. "The result is unacceptable."
Now, Ford says he will recall the Ontario legislature on Wednesday to reintroduce the Better Local Government Act and will invoke the notwithstanding clause — here's a CBC News backgrounder on what that means — at that point.My two cents: if you people of Ontario let this thug get away with this, even this once, he will use it freely thereafter. The Charter means little to Doug Ford. To invoke the notwithstanding clause over something this minor is the act of a man never to be trusted.
6 comments:
Hear, hear all ye people who stand for justice. Anyong
.. "the results are "unacceptable" ..
One could build a fine list of political animals
who have embraced the same conclusion
albeit after waiting breathlessly for the alternate
and therefore totally wonderful results from the respective courts
Why, Justin Trudeau is currently casting about
for an end around to the Federal Courts
such that he can get digging his (our) pipeline twin
to the 65 year old Trans Mountain pipe
Just skip over First Nations & 75 or so Orca
and hey presto.. here we go, dosey do
swing your foreign owned partner, smartly now !
Harper did it too.. for 5 years via Peter Kent
told Federal Courts insisting the SARA mandate be upheld
to stick it in their ear and let tar sands destruction
decimate boreal caribou habitat, year after year
just throwing lawyers at the courts in endless delaying actions
Welcome to the new era of political scummery..
mealy, schemy, lip service, sellout, captured..
take your pick, they mostly all apply
Jeebus, Sal, I think you're right. Each of these thugs takes a little chip out of the Charter and before long you're left with Sweet Fanny Adams.
The mentality of people like Ford is that the laws are an impediment, and the courts, being unelected, have no right to 'overrule' democracy. Such is the stuff of a slow slide to tyranny.
Apparently part of the ruling ... on the impaired democratic rights ... is not cancellable by the NotWS clause
Ford's invocation of the clause may be nullified by injunction
(BTW, the judge was a federal LIBERAL appointment)
That boy would be Mussolini if he could. Without hesitation, without even thinking about it. I mean, Stephen Harper, if you gave him the opportunity to rule without elections and have his political opponents imprisoned and tortured, he'd go for it . . . but he'd think about the pros and cons for a while first. Doug Ford would just be like, "Where do I sign? You can have the soul, I wasn't using it for anything anyway."
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