Toronto should take province to court over Ford’s plan to slash city council, David Miller says

Thestar.com
July 27, 2018
David Rider

Toronto must take Ontario to court over plans to slash the size of city council or risk appearing weak and inviting more “outrageous” interference by Premier Doug Ford, says former mayor David Miller.

Miller, who has rarely waded into city hall issues since leaving politics in 2010, made the comments in an interview Sunday with the Star.

“I think the city should explore every legal avenue possible,” Miller said one day before city council resumes meeting to consider a response to legislation expected Monday. It will, Ford says, cut council from 47 to 25 seats.

“You have to stand up to this kind of thing or the province will be running the city. The election started May 1,” Miller said.

“If the city doesn’t show backbone and leadership to deal with this political crisis, how is it going to deal with other challenges facing the city like transportation, pedestrian safety, gun violence, environmental challenges, hope for young people?

“It needs to show that it’s going to fight.”

The Star revealed Thursday that Ford, a former one-term city councillor, plans to push through the change even though Toronto’s 47-ward election started May 1. The premier on Friday cited an urgent need to make council cheaper and more effective, with nominations closing Sept. 14 in new wards with the same boundaries as provincial and federal ridings.

Mayor John Tory on Friday sounded doubtful about the chances of a successful legal challenge, instead focusing on a proposal to ask the province for a Toronto referendum on council size. That response led some councillors to accuse Tory of capitulating to Ford, while others applauded him.

Tory spokesperson Don Peat said Sunday that “there is a motion going to city council tomorrow asking the city solicitor to undertake legal action against the proposed legislation.

“The mayor will support that motion,” plus a referendum call with a request that Ford “pause his plan,” Peat said.

Miller, a lawyer, called Ford’s move “wrong in substance and completely outrageous in procedure,” adding that, while he hasn’t researched the topic, he believes there are good legal grounds to fight it in court.

The right to vote and run in an election is “sacrosanct,” so changing rules mid-election is an “unacceptable way to interfere with a fundamental right,” he said.

On a practical level, expanding wards to the size of provincial and federal ridings will make it impossible for councillors, particularly those in downtown wards with a lot of development applications, to properly stand up for residents, Miller said.

“Being a city councillor is not like being a member of Parliament or member of provincial parliament --you are required to be in your community working with people directly on issues that affect them,” he said. “... Developers compared to citizens are very powerful --they have money, they have lawyers, they have planners. All the citizens have is their local elected representative.”

Not going to court, Miller said, would leave the next mayor and council “severely compromised if the province believes that the city will roll over and not fight on matters of significant import.”

Current politicians have expressed similar outrage at Ford’s move, including Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who called it “tinpot dictator stuff” and urged Tory to “find a legal answer to what the limits of provincial authority are here.

“It’s not just for Toronto --it’s for all of us,” he said.

However, legal experts have told the Star the city would face an uphill battle because city powers flow from provincial legislation.

And some councillors, including 11 who announced Friday that they support Ford’s move, are unlikely to vote for legal action against the province.

Some Torontonians who registered to run in one of the 47 wards this fall, meanwhile, are preparing lawsuits of their own to try to recoup their costs from the province.

Lawyer and Ward 13 candidate Rocco Achampong --who ran for mayor in 2010 against Rob Ford and has been an Ontario PC party candidate for St. Paul’s --plans to take legal action as early as Monday in an attempt to stop any proposed legislation from taking effect before this election. He said the lack of consultation will factor in to his application for an injunction.

“To the extent that this election cycle began long before he became premier,” Achampong said of Doug Ford, “you can’t just ... by fiat and decree say I’m changing the rules of the game that everybody’s now involved in.”

Nick Tsergas, a political organizer, told the Star on Sunday he has set up a GoFundMe site to solicit donations to cover candidates’ legal costs.

“This campaign is our way of protesting with teeth --it’s our way of telling (Ford) to keep his hands off our city,” Tsergas said, adding he has already lined up lawyers and “pledges” from organizations he declined to name.

Suzanne Kavanagh, who’s been campaigning in Ward 21 since May 1, helped spark the effort.

She said she has campaigned full-time and spent just under $18,000 in a ward that could soon vanish.

“I’m not concerned about the number of councillors; I’m concerned about the process,” she said. “We feel it’s a cancellation of this election. Do we all refile? What do we tell donors who gave us money for a particular ward? Do we give the money back?”