In a last-minute appeal to Ontario’s top lawyer, more than 400 legal professionals have signed an open letter to Attorney General Caroline Mulroney, urging her to vote against her government’s controversial proposal to invoke the notwithstanding clause to slash the size of Toronto city council in the middle of the municipal election.“The government is beholden to the highest law in the land, which is the constitution,” the letter states. “We expect the Attorney General of Ontario to value the role of the judiciary and the important check that the courts have on the impulses of the government.”The author of the letter, Toronto family lawyer William Hutcheson, went public with the missive Sunday afternoon, hours before the legislature was set to resume for a midnight session to debate Bill 31, The Efficient Government Act, which cuts Toronto council to 25 wards from 47.For the first time in Ontario history, the bill invokes the notwithstanding clause under Section 33 of the charter, which allows Ottawa and the provinces to overrule charter rights that go against a government’s legislative agenda. Premier Doug Ford triggered the so-called nuclear option last week after a previous incarnation of the legislation, The Better Local Government Act, was deemed unconstitutional by Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba because it infringed on charter rights.The province is appealing that decision. Read more:Legislature sitting all night to speed passage of controversial Toronto council billOpinion | Bob Hepburn: Where are you, Caroline Mulroney?Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: How Doug Ford trumped Caroline Mulroney — and all of us — on basic rightsFord said he “won’t be shy” about using the notwithstanding clause again.A spokesperson for the attorney general did not respond to a request for comment. On Wednesday, when Bill 31 passed first reading, Mulroney defended her government’s decision to invok ...
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