Notwithstanding

Wednesday June 16, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 16, 2021

Ford government pushes through controversial election spending bill with notwithstanding clause

The government of Premier Doug Ford has pushed a controversial bill through the Ontario legislature limiting third-party election advertising by employing a rarely used legislative power.

June 11, 2021

Bill 307, which used the notwithstanding clause to reintroduce parts of a law struck down by a judge last week, passed Monday by a margin of 63 votes to 47.

The clause allows legislatures to override portions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.

A judge found it was unconstitutional for the government to double the restricted pre-election spending period for third-party advertisements to 12 months before an election call.

The Progressive Conservative government argued the extended restriction was necessary to protect elections from outside influence.

The bill passed Monday afternoon after a marathon weekend debate in which opposition politicians argued the government was trying to silence criticism ahead of next June’s provincial election.

“It’s obviously a move from a man who’s desperate to cling to power,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

December 9, 2010

The New Democrats spent the day trying to drag out the process by introducing a variety of motions on pandemic-related issues they argued should be the focus of the sitting. Ford said earlier on Monday that he wouldn’t be swayed.

“We’re fighting for democracy,” Ford said at Queen’s Park. “I’ll work all day, all night to protect the people.”

Last week, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan found it was unconstitutional for the Progressive Conservative government to double the restricted pre-election spending period for third-party advertisements to 12 months before an election call.

A bill that took effect this spring had stretched the restricted spending period from six months to one year before an election is called, but kept the spending limit of $600,000 the same.

Morgan found that the government didn’t provide an explanation for doubling the limit, and his decision meant sections of the law involved in the court challenge were no longer in effect.  (CBC) 

 

Friday June 11, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 11, 2021

The Canadian Charter’s notwithstanding clause is increasingly indefensible

It isn’t happening in Quebec, but in Ontario, so there will be more of a fuss than would otherwise be the case.

September 14, 2018

But there will be less of a fuss than the last time the Doug Ford government threatened to use the notwithstanding clause to override constitutionally guaranteed rights. The next time it happens, there will be less still. And there will be a next time, and a next time after that, and another, and another – precisely because the political costs of doing so diminish with each use.

This is how the clause is being normalized. This is how, in consequence, the Charter of Rights is being eviscerated. It is already more or less a dead letter in Quebec, where the override has been invoked over the years by governments of every party. Once upon a time it might have caused something of a stir, at least outside the province, as when Robert Bourassa used it to uphold the ban on English-language signs in 1988.

September 21, 2019

But having paid no discernible price for invoking the clause to protect Bill 21, legislation that effectively bars the hiring of religious minorities across much of the public service, Quebec’s CAQ government was quick to do the same with regard to Bill 96, its new and harsher language law. A rights “guarantee” that cannot protect minorities from overt harassment and discrimination – a guarantee that applies only as when the government of the day decides it should – is not much of a guarantee at all.

July 28, 2018

And now it is happening elsewhere. Mr. Ford’s first attempt to use the clause, over a 2018 bill that would have cut the size of Toronto city council in half – in the middle of a municipal election – may have collapsed in confusion, but now the Premier is back for another try. This time the casus belli is Bill 254, legislation passed earlier this year that would, among other things, double the length of time before an election campaign during which third-party advocacy groups would be subject to spending limits.

As before, the Premier has supposedly been provoked to action by a judge’s ruling, overturning the legislation on Charter grounds. But as before this is not really the issue. The government could have appealed either ruling to a higher court, and even had it lost there, it could have rewritten either bill in ways that addressed its purported intent, without unduly limiting Charter rights. (Globe & Mail) 

 

Thursday September 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 13, 2018

City council candidates in ‘entirely uncharted waters’ amid chaos over nomination deadlines

After an unprecedented day comes unprecedented chaos.

September 11, 2018

Premier Doug Ford’s move to trump a judicial ruling in order to secure a Toronto city council with 25 wards has left candidates and lawyers scrambling and voters in limbo ahead of the upcoming municipal election.

That includes at least eight incumbent city councillors who had planned to run for re-election but who could be locked out of the 25-ward race depending on how the legislation is worded, with legal experts unsure of what to expect from Ford’s government.

When a Superior Court judge ruled Monday that Ford’s legislation cutting the size of council to 25 from 47 wards was unconstitutional, city advocates believed for a short time that they had won the day.

July 28, 2018

But Ford’s announcement hours later that he would invoke the rarely used “notwithstanding” clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override Justice Edward Belobaba’s ruling led to a flurry of unanswered questions, including whether the election can even proceed as planned on Oct. 22.

The legislature will resume Wednesday after Ford recalled MPPs from recess. Ford indicated the new bill would be tabled then. What it will say, his officials refuse to tell.

The province doesn’t expect the new legislation to be passed before Sept. 24, with MPPs off for two days next week to attend the International Plowing Match near Chatham-Kent. That leaves a very small window between a fundamental shift in the election process and the start of advance polling days, which are currently scheduled to begin Oct. 10. City clerk Ulli Watkiss earlier raised concerns about having enough time to prepare an election, including printing ballots for the whole city.

City council will have an emergency meeting Thursday to again discuss their current legal options and what happens next. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

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Tuesday September 11, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday September 11, 2018

Ford plans to invoke notwithstanding clause for first time in province’s history

Premier Doug Ford is taking an unprecedented step, invoking the province’s powers and using the “notwithstanding” clause to override a court decision that shut down his plans to cut the size of Toronto’s city council.

July 28, 2018

For the first time in the province’s history, Ford says he plans to use a rarely reached-for tool in the Charter to allow the cut to 25 wards from 47 for the upcoming election to continue — and warned he will use it more than once if he has to.

He said his government is also appealing a court decision released Monday morning and will resume the legislature this week to reintroduce the bill that forced changes to Toronto’s ongoing election.

“I believe the judge’s decision is deeply concerning and the result is unacceptable to the people of Ontario,” Ford said.

Ford made the announcement at a news conference Monday afternoon just hours after a bombshell ruling that shut down his government’s plans to align city council wards with provincial and federal ridings.

“I was elected,” Ford told reporters, while saying the judge “was appointed.”

The actions of the Ford government were harshly criticized in the ruling by Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba, who said the province’s Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act, infringed Charter rights and deemed it unconstitutional.

The judge called that move “unprecedented” and ruled it “substantially interfered with both the candidate’s and the voter’s right to freedom of expression” guaranteed by the Charter.

In doing so, he ordered an election continue on the basis of 47 wards, returning the campaign to a state before Bill 5 was tabled at Queen’s Park. (Source: Toronto Star)