Members of city council will hold a special meeting today to discuss what options, if any, they may have to fight back against Premier Ford’s use of the notwithstanding clause in slashing the number of municipal wards.
On Wednesday, the Progressive Conservative government reintroduced a bill reducing the size of council from a planned 47 wards to 25, this time using the rarely used notwithstanding clause to override a judge’s ruling deeming it unconstitutional.
At today’s meeting members of city council are expected to hear from city solicitor Wendy Walberg on what options they may have in the face of the move, though it is believed that little legal recourse exists.
“It is a very difficult challenge that is in front of us,” Mayor John Tory told reporters on Wednesday. “One of the reasons we have called the council together is so we can hear from our city solicitor, who I met with again yesterday, about what options might exist. I think they are probably few and far between but having said all that I think we have the obligation given that I think many of us object to the use of the notwithstanding clause and frankly object to the unnecessary way it was done, having it rammed down our throats.”
Tory said that at least part of today’s meeting will be held in-camera, as it will concern the city’s legal options.
He said that the purpose of the meeting is largely to determine what council’s options are, though he indicated that there could also be an opportunity for discussions around the challenges presented by a 25-membner city council. Such a slimmed down council, he said, could present issues for existing community councils as some of them would only be composed of a few members.
“There has been far too little attention paid in the midst of all the debates about constitutional squabbles and election meddling as to how the city government will work in the aftermath of this decision if it carries through,” Tory said.
Ward 7 Coun. Girogio Mammoliti, who supports the use of the notwithstanding clause to slash the size of council, has already said that he will boycott today’s special meeting.
In a message posted to Twitter on Tuesday, he called it the “socialist romper room crybaby meeting” and said that he will “instead be knocking on doors – asking people for their votes.”
The meeting is scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m.
