In announcing plans to override a judge’s decision that blocked cuts to Toronto city council, Premier Doug Ford made several questionable statements Monday. The Star fact-checked his prepared remarks and responses to reporters’ questions and found the following:

Ford said: “This Act would reduce the size and cost of Toronto’s municipal government and improve decision-making by fixing the current dysfunctional government and the political gridlock that has crippled Toronto’s city hall”

The act would indeed have reduced the size of council to 25 wards from 47.

But the provincial government presented “no evidence (other than anecdotal evidence)” in court that council was “dysfunctional,” Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba wrote in striking down the legislation, nor did it explain how reducing the number of wards would fix this alleged problem.

The same is true for the claim it would save council money. But an affidavit submitted by the city from the deputy city manager said the cuts would result in savings of less than $6 million over four years, or $2.08 for every Toronto resident — far less than the $25 million over four years that Ford has claimed.

Ford said: “Section 92 subsection 8 of the Constitution makes it clear the province has the exclusive responsibility over municipalities.”

The courts have long agreed the city is a “creature” of the province under the Constitution Act.

However, Belobaba wrote, the province gave city residents the right to vote for a municipal government and that right “must be consistent with and not in breach of the Constitution.” He ruled the legislation infringed the Charter right to freedom of expression, and was therefore unconstitutional.

Ford said: “Virtually every single legal expert agreed that this law was completely constitutional and within the legal power of the province to enact.”

Every expert that Star has spoken to — and those who spoke to other media outlets, whose comments the Star has reviewed — agreed that the city is a creation of the province, which has the right to make or change laws relating to the city and its powers.

But two constitutional law scholars from York University’s Osgoode Hall and others in the legal community detailed why the law might not stand up to a constitutional test. The city’s legal team told council that the law could be challenged on constitutional grounds. And Belobaba is an expert in constitutional law.

Ford said: “Acting decisively to fix Toronto’s dysfunctional council has proven to be wildly popular among the people.”

In a Forum Research poll conducted Aug. 27, a majority of respondents — 52 per cent — opposed reducing the size of Toronto’s city council. Respondents were nearly split on their support of a legal challenge. At council on Aug. 20, a petition with 28,826 names was submitted in opposition to Bill 5 from 30 of 44 existing wards in the city, with residents filling the chamber to support a court challenge.

Ford said: “The only people who are fighting this move are a small group of left-wing councillors, those looking to continue their free ride on the backs of taxpayers of this great city along with a network of activist groups who’ve entrenched themselves in the power under the status quo over the years.”

At a city council meeting on Aug. 20, 27 of 42 councillors present voted to challenge Bill 5 in court, including right-wing council members like James Pasternak, Denzil Minnan-Wong and Mayor John Tory. A vote on July 30 saw councillors of all political stripes vote 24-17 to oppose Bill 5 being introduced in the legislature. Those who challenged the legislation in court include former PC Party candidate Rocco Achampong.

Ford said: “David Miller couldn’t build it. Rob Ford could save ($1 billion) but he couldn’t get transit done. John Tory talks a big game, but he hasn’t even been able to find the shovel to get transit going. Then we have a housing crisis that nothing is being done (about) because of this dysfunctional council.”

The TTC’s Spadina subway extension opened in 2017 and extensive work on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is either underway or complete. Council has also created a program to encourage developers to build affordable housing, approved funding for emergency shelters and lobbied the province to allow the city to mandate a number of affordable units in new developments.

Rob Ford, as top city officials and several reporters have previously noted, did not save taxpayers $1 billion during his administration.

Ford said: “I was elected. The judge was appointed. He was appointed by one person: Dalton McGuinty.”

Belobaba was appointed by the federal government under Liberal prime minister Paul Martin in 2005. Ford’s office corrected the premier’s statement on this point after the news conference.

Ford said: “We haven’t seen any decisions over the last four years with this mayor.”

According to the city clerk’s office, council adopted 1,767 items during Tory’s four-year term, including a transit network plan, regulating Airbnb, rebuilding the Gardiner East, and approving new ward boundaries for the city.

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Ford said: “Is it undemocratic that people can just arbitrarily raise the number of councillors — 44 to 47? I never heard anyone take that to court. You want to talk about undemocratic? That’s undemocratic. At least I ran an election and people knew what we were going to do.”

The city spent nearly four years reviewing its ward boundaries using independent consultants, who recommended the 47-ward option. Council approved that option in 2016 without amendments. The decision was unsuccessfully challenged by two sitting city councillors at a provincial tribunal and then in divisional court.

Neither Ford nor any of his PC MPPs suggested during the provincial election campaign that they planned to cut the size of Toronto’s city council while not touching any other municipal council.

With files from Ben Spurr and Jacques Gallant

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