I have seen no evidence that intent or objective of this move was to "rig" an election. It was driven by the belief that a 44 member council with no party system/cabinet is too big to be productive. This is not an unreasonable argument.
The judge didn’t say it was unreasonable or that the Province could not do it.
I also think there was no rush and Ford was dumb to push it through. But his opponents are much more hysterical in their opposition.
The judge agrees with you. It was a rush job not done correctly.
What makes his opponents hysterical?
As for the notwithstanding clause: the courts have made its routine use inevitable (especially with their reversals on back to work legislation).
Routine? It has never been used in Ontario. How is it routine?
This is not the "first use" that I would have chosen but we have to start somewhere. Personally, I would prefer that we did not have judges that felt it was their right to invent ridiculous charter interpretations to rationalize ruling in ways that suit their political dispositions. But since those are the judges we have we will have to live with the use of the notwithstanding clause.
Why would anyone have to start with this if the remedy is an appeal, or going through a proper process to make the change? That’s nonsense.
You essentially agree with the judge that Ford shouldn’t have done this the way he did.... and yet are a cheerleader for using the Notwithstanding Clause... this view is the view of a partisan hack who will agree with their guy, even if they think he’s wrong!