Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba has cited the Charter of Rights to strike down Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act. Judge Belobaba said the legislation, coming when it did, “substantially interfered” with both the municipal candidate and voter’s “freedom of expression” guaranteed in the Charter. “I find that the reduction from 47 to 25 in the number of City wards and the corresponding increase in ward-size population from an average of about 61,000 to 111, 000 substantially interfered with the municipal voter’s freedom of expression under s. 2(b) of the Charter of Rights, and in particular her right to cast a vote that can result in effective representation,” the judge said in his written decision. Belobaba’s decision notes the province can try to reduce the size of city council again in the future, but says October’s election should go ahead as planned.
CHAOS?
The decision seems to throw the Toronto election into chaos. The City Clerk has previously said that she could not plan for a 47-ward election while planning for a 25-ward vote. City Council has talked of delaying the October 22 general election but the legality of that seems a challenge. There is also the question of whether the PC government will challenge Judge Belobaba’s interpretation of the law. Premier Ford is set to speak today. The CBC says Judge Belobaba cited two reasons for his decision:
- Because it was passed in the middle of an election campaign, it breached the freedom of expression of municipal candidates.
- For some councillors it nearly doubled the size of the population they represent — from an average of 61,000 people per ward to almost 111,000. That, Belobaba says, “breached the municipal voter’s right to cast a vote that can result in effective representation.
Rocco Achampong, a lawyer planning to run in the upcoming election who became the first to challenge the government’s plan in court, tweeted simply: “We Win!” Mayor John Tory welcomed the judge’s decision. “You can’t change the rules in the middle of the game. That’s not fair to anyone, and this is not a game,” he said. Now, Tory said, he wants answers from the province about why it tried to cut the size of council to begin with. Toronto city council, which supported redrawing the ward boundary map to add more councillors after a years-long consultation process, voted to condemn Ford’s plans, and then to join the court challenge — although some councillors supported the premier.
