Facing temporary defeat and uncertainty surrounding Toronto’s legal fight, Bill 5 challenger Chris Moise is sure of one thing — the new 25-ward city council will be predominately white, middle aged and male, and will not adequately represent him or his community. Moise, a gay Black man who was campaigning for one of the original 47 seats, said he will not run in the 25-ward election because it would mean going up against his friend and mentor Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam for Ward 13 Toronto Centre. Wong-Tam, the only gay, female visible minority on the current council, will face George Smitherman, who was Ontario’s first openly gay cabinet minister and a 2010 mayoral candidate.“We need more people like her, not less,” said Moise, a Toronto School Board Trustee who is part of a group of candidates fighting Bill 5 in court alongside the city. “But the fight is not over yet. It’s just beginning.” Now that the Court of Appeal has granted the province a stay of Justice Edward Belobaba’s ruling that Bill 5 is unconstitutional, the city can move forward with a 25-ward election — new-found certainty Mayor John Tory welcomed while expressing “very profound disagreement with how we got here.” Read more:Stay granted on previous Bill 5 decision, paving way for 25-ward electionBill 5: The winners, the losers, and the in-betweenersCourt to rule Wednesday morning on whether to allow 25-ward Toronto electionTory said he doesn’t know if Toronto’s government will be less effective with only 25 councillors, adding council debates might be shorter but there must be efforts to ensure residents have access to councillors who will see ward populations almost double.“I’m quite happy to make sure we consider ways in which we can keep the full engagement of citizens in the different parts of the city,” he said, including strengthening community councils, the four groupings of councillors ...
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