The Supreme Court of Canda will hear the City of Toronto’s appeal against the Ontario Government’s decision to cut the number of City wards from 47 to 25 two years ago. The decision will make legislative history either way. If the SCC should accept the arguments that Councillors’ constitutional rights were violated by the reduction, it seems likely to open the door to huge challenges in the power of provinces to control the fate of municipalities. That’s a power enshrined in the constitution since Confederation.
Narrowly upheld by Court of Appeal
Challenges to the 2018 legislation, named the Better Local Government Act, have so far seen an early victory for Councillors when Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba found the law unconstitutional. He also said it violated the rights of politicians in the middle of a campaign and ran afoul of the rights of voters by stopping them from casting a ballot that could provide effective representation. But later the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned Belobaba’s ruling with a narrow 3-2 decision saying the sudden legislation did not interfere with either candidates’ or voters’ ability to express themselves freely. Free speech is not the same as effective free speech, the majority found.
