Lose some, win some.By rights (not to be confused with the Charter of Rights), Doug Ford’s government should have been jubilant Wednesday: After a stinging defeat last week, when a court ruled that Ontario’s municipal meddling in midcampaign was unconstitutional, it won a last-minute reprieve from the Court of Appeal suspending that verdict.Now, for better or for worse, Ford will have his way. Which is precisely how our legal system is supposed to work — not with panicked invocations of the constitution’s notwithstanding clause, or intemperate denunciations of judicial independence, but through reasoned arguments in court appeals.Far from exulting in triumph, Ford’s Tories were quietly breathing a collective sigh of relief. And trying desperately to put this political debacle behind them.On the day of the court ruling, the premier jetted to Washington for a whirlwind visit to show himself getting busy, belatedly, with more pressing priorities — NAFTA clauses, not notwithstanding clauses. Attorney General Caroline Mulroney skipped the legislature’s question period to attend events in her GTA riding, notwithstanding her ministry’s big day.Why revert to damage control despite winning in court? To minimize the awkwardness of a government that managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of a victorious verdict — by wasting political capital on a grubby grudge match with the downtown NDP councillors at city hall whom Ford cites as his motivation for meddling.Never mind that the premier so recklessly interfered in a municipal election at the last moment. Bad enough that he raised the stakes by courting a confrontation with the courts. No matter that he could have recovered from last week’s setback by merely waiting for today’s Court of Appeal ruling.Instead, the premier jumped the gun, escalating to DEFCON 1 and pressing the nuclear button. He invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause for the first t ...
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