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I won’t pretend to be competent to discuss the finer legal points of the Ontario Superior Court’s ruling against Premier Doug Ford’s move to cut Toronto’s city council from 47 seats to 25. That will require more lawyers on more retainers taking up more court time over a matter that no one doubts is fully within the powers of the province, and which appears certain to happen in any case.

Here are a few points to consider however.

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Justice Edward Belobaba declares that enlarging existing council districts interferes with freedom of expression as protected by the Constitution. The new boundaries are the same as used for federal and provincial constituencies. Belobaba deems the population of the new wards antithetical to effective representation for municipal representation, though evidently it works fine for federal and provincial seats.

The ruling seems to mean freedom of expression doesn’t protect the right to raise money and seek election to a political position, but instead protects the right to raise money and seek election to a political position within an unchanging boundary over a given period. “Passing a law that changes the city’s electoral districts in the middle of its election and undermines the overall fairness of the election is antithetical to the core principles of our democracy,” Belobaba asserts. Yes, the candidates for the 22 seats that were to disappear were free to contest the new seats, but that would involve expense and inconvenience, for which they were not prepared. The Constitution, it would seem, does not tolerate inconvenience.