Opinion Martin Regg Cohn: Doug Ford has abandoned the people to put politicians first
Say what you will about the populist premier, he loves to say that people always come first. And that the people must forever have the final say.Not for the first time, he is rewriting the rules of the game to put the most powerful politicians first. And people last.minority rule, defying the most fundamental
For this travesty of democracy to be consummated, the premier requires partners in crime, allies in support, enablers in excess. Without a mayor and a minority of city councillors doing the undemocratic deed, this would be a non-starter and a nonstory. What’s odd is that the premier who aspires to be a populist — having won two consecutive majority mandates in Ontario — would sell out the people he purports to represent. This is a backflip within a flip-flop, executed in perfect synchronicity with Tory, Crombie and Brown.
Ford’s original strong mayor law empowered them to veto obstructionist council measures. But that veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of councillors — fair and square. That’s democracy. Ford couldn’t impose his will on a majority of the people’s representatives — the rules don’t allow it, provincially, yet he now wants to rewrite the rules municipally.says. Tory vows never to abuse those new powers, but as we’ve seen with Ford and other premiers overusing the notwithstanding clause, constitutions are forever while politicians come and go.
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