Premier Doug Ford’s 2018 mid-election slashing of the size of Toronto city council was constitutional, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled, overturning a lower-court decision.In a 3-2 decision, the appeal court said in a decision released Thursday there is no doubt Ford’s move to slash the size of city council months after the start of the election “disrupted campaigning and the candidates’ expectations.”But none of the arguments advanced by the City of Toronto, in support of a September ruling by a Superior Court judge that Ford’s move violated Torontonians’ charter rights, are valid, the appeal court concluded.“The applicants’ complaints have been clothed in the language of (sections 2b) of the Charter to invite judicial intervention in what is essentially a political matter,” the appeal court ruled. “There is no legitimate basis for the court to accept this invitation.”Two judges, however, issued a dissenting opinion, finding Bill 5, which cut the size of city council from a planned 47 wards to 25, unconstitutional.Justice James MacPherson, who chaired the appeal panel, wrote that “by reducing the size of City Council from 47 to 25 wards and changing the boundaries of all city wards mid-election, the Act interfered in an unwarranted fashion with the freedom of expression of candidates in a municipal election.”The detailed dissenting opinion could increase the likelihood that the City of Toronto and other parties who challenged Ford’s unprecedented move could seek leave to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.At Queen’s Park, Attorney General Doug Downey’s office expressed satisfaction with the ruling. “We are pleased that the Court of Appeal for Ontario allowed Ontario’s appeal in this matter,” said Downey’s press secretary Jenessa Crognali. Ford’s government introduced Bill 5, cutting council to 25 wards from a pla ...
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