Ontario seeking stay of council-cutting decision that threw plans into disarray

TORONTO — The Ontario government will not pursue a new bill to cut Toronto city council nearly in half if the province’s highest court stays a ruling that quashed an earlier version of the legislation, lawyers said Tuesday.

In a hearing before the Court of Appeal for Ontario, government lawyer Robin Basu said legislators would hold off voting on the new bill if the court grants the province the stay it is seeking.

Last week Justice Edward Belobaba ruled that Bill 5, which slashed Toronto’s council to 25 seats from 47, violated freedom of expression rights for candidates and voters.

Premier Doug Ford has since reintroduced the bill, now known as Bill 31, and invoked a constitutional provision known as the notwithstanding clause to forge ahead with the council-cutting plan.

But the new bill won’t be up for a final vote until Thursday at the earliest, and city staff have said the chances of running a fair election on Oct. 22 shrink with every day of uncertainty that goes by.

The government’s lawyers are asking the appeal court to put Belobaba’s ruling on hold at least until after the vote, saying it’s the only way to ensure a fair election.

“There is only one path available to assure the (Toronto city) clerk that she is in a position to proceed with an election with integrity and fairness on Oct. 22,” Basu told the court. “It is simply not feasible to prepare for two elections at the same time.”

Granting the stay would eliminate any uncertainty, even in the eventuality that the new bill is challenged in court, Basu argued.

But lawyers opposing the stay said the province is responsible for the chaos surrounding the election and therefore cannot ask the court to provide relief.

Howard Goldblatt, who represents a group that includes a candidate in the election, argued that if the province wants to restore stability, it can simply stop fighting Belobaba’s ruling and allow the election to proceed with 47 wards.

“They can resolve the uncertainty,” he said.

If the province is successful in securing a stay, city staff would then immediately start planning for an election based on the 25-ward model rather than the 47-ward approach that went back into effect with Belobaba’s decision.

Basu said the appeal could be heard on an expedited timeline after the election and resolved before a new Toronto council is sworn in on Dec. 1.

The city and other parties in the case are expected to make their arguments later Tuesday.