There were high hopes for Caroline Mulroney as a progressive politician when she announced in the summer of 2017 that she wanted to run for the Ontario Conservatives.

Those hopes remained strong despite her ill-advised decision to run for the Tory leadership when Patrick Brown resigned suddenly earlier this year.

However, Mulroney, who was appointed as attorney general in June by Premier Doug Ford, is turning out to be a huge disappointment to progressives within the Conservative party.

Indeed, Mulroney, who is viewed as decent, hard-working and compassionate, is virtually missing in action as Ford tramples all over her justice portfolio, stomping on the rights of citizens and thumbing his nose at democratic practice and decency.

The most obvious example occurred this week when Ford announced he will use the “notwithstanding” clause of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override a Superior Court judge’s ruling that Ford’s legislation to slash the size of Toronto city council to 25 from 47 wards in the midst of an election was unconstitutional.

It was a dramatic move by Ford, given that the 36-year-old notwithstanding clause has never been invoked before in Ontario. Even Bill Davis, the former Ontario premier instrumental in formulating the clause in 1982, has come out openly against Ford’s move.

And Ford threatened to use the clause again in the future if any court ruled in any way that might derail any part of his agenda.

Worse, he attacked what he sees as laws made by appointed judges, not legislators. “I was elected,” Ford defiantly told reporters. “The judge was appointed. Only the people will be judge and jury.”

All of this is totally unprecedented in Ontario.

So where was Caroline Mulroney, our attorney general? Did she speak up in cabinet? Did she let Ford know this was the wrong thing to do? Or did she quietly agree to go along with our bully premier?

Mulroney was noticeably absent from Ford’s press conference on Monday. Only hours later did she send out a short tweet backing his plan. She parroted that support Wednesday in the legislature.

Reaction to her support for Ford’s action was swift and almost universally critical.

Even her father, former prime minister Brian Mulroney, who says he hasn’t talked to her about this issue, must be shaking his head at her support for Ford’s action.

“Everybody knows I’m not a big fan of it (the notwithstanding clause) and I never have been,” Mulroney said Tuesday during an appearance in Ottawa. “Look, to me, the backbone and the enormous strength of Canada is the independence and the magnificence of our judiciary. … That is a major thrust of our citizenship.”

This isn’t the only time Caroline Mulroney has been forced to toe Ford’s line. In August, Ford sent her out before the cameras to announce his government is launching a constitutional challenge against Ottawa’s carbon-pricing scheme. She said at that time the tax was “unethical and unfair.” She didn’t mention, though, that her father imposed the goods and services tax on provinces in 1991 — without any constitutional challenges.

I asked in a column in August, where are the grown-ups in Ford’s cabinet? In it I cited Mulroney, Health Minister Christine Elliott, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, Environment Minister Rod Phillips and Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark. I could have listed others.

However, these moderates are learning fast they don’t have any real say over what is happening and that Ford is driving this government in a personal way.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

In fact, Ford brags that the Tory caucus is “1,000 per cent” behind him. I doubt that’s true, but for now Ford has total control of this caucus, and especially of his cabinet.

It’s a sad development, but one that Mulroney and other moderates have shamefully allowed to happen. In her case, as attorney general, she needs to ensure complete respect for fairness as well as the rule of law. Or is she merely satisfied pandering to Ford in order to keep her job?

For Mulroney, it’s time to look in the mirror, step up and defend herself and her ministry — or else it’s going to be a long, humiliating four years for her and every progressive in this province.

Read more about: