After Court of Appeal grants stay on 25-seat council plan, Mayor Tory says `we need to get past this`
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

The Court of Appeal has granted the provincial government’s request for a stay of an earlier court ruling, returning Toronto’s election to a 25-ward race.Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government is now expected to abandon new legislation it was pushing through Queen’s Park. That would also bring an end to Ford’s unprecedented and controversial use of the “notwithstanding” clause to override Charter rights.Wednesday’s decision came less than 24 hours after a daylong court hearing that saw provincial and city lawyers once again pitted against one another over the council cut.The panel of three judges — Associate Chief Justice Alexandra Hoy, Justice Robert Sharpe and Justice Gary Trotter — said in a13-page ruling that because their decision would effectively decide the ward structure for the election, they had to look at the issues raised in a court appeal made by the province.In that appeal, which has not yet had a hearing, the province argues Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba erred in law when he ruled Sept. 10 that the original Bill 5 was unconstitutional and that it violated candidates’ and voters’ Charter rights of freedom of expression.“The question for the courts is not whether Bill 5 is unfair but whether it is unconstitutional,” the decision says. “On that crucial question, we have concluded that there is a strong likelihood that application judge erred in law and that the Attorney General’s appeal to this court will succeed.”They continued: “It is not in the public interest to permit the impending election to proceed on the basis of a dubious ruling that invalidates legislation duly passed by the legislature.”The province’s last-minute position in court on Tuesday — that it would pull new legislation, Bill 31, off the table if it won the request for a stay — played “no part” in their decision, ...