LIVE: Raucous debate underway Thursday morning at Queen´s Park over `notwithstanding´ clause
(The Star Television)

Another session at the Ontario legislature began Thursday morning with more fireworks, after at least one protester was escorted out from the public gallery.On Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford’s unprecedented move to override Charter freedoms led to chaos in the legislature, as two protesters were handcuffed and ejected, and later most New Democrat MPPs were kicked out for banging on their desks amid shouts of “shame.�Although the re-introduced bill later passed first reading — with no Tories breaking ranks — Ford came under fire from within his own party when former premier Bill Davis said he did not approve of invoking the “notwithstanding� clause after a Superior Court Justice ruled that the original legislation to cut Toronto’s city council in half was unconstitutional. The Better Local Government Act, struck down Monday by Justice Edward Belobaba for violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was tabled again Wednesday afternoon as the Efficient Local Government Act.Read more:Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: How Doug Ford trumped Caroline Mulroney — and all of us — on basic rightsFormer premier Bill Davis speaks out against Doug Ford’s use of the ‘notwithstanding’ clauseProtesters say Doug Ford is violating their rights ‘notwiththinking’Ford did not campaign on cutting council during the June 7 provincial election campaign, though he did talk about cutting the size and cost of government.This is the first time the Charter’s notwithstanding clause has been invoked in Ontario, and it protects the new bill from any further Charter challenge.The new bill is expected to pass in the next two weeks. Candidates running for city council in the Oct. 22 election will have two days to register after it receives royal assent.Davis, who governed Ontario from 1971 to 1985, told TVO’s Steve Paikin that “the notwithstanding provision has, understandably, rarely been used, b ...