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Given that, the judges granted a stay of Belobaba’s decision, meaning the civic election will proceed with 25 councillors’ seats up for grabs, instead of 47, on Oct. 22.

As the Court of Appeal put it: “The application judge (Belobaba) was understandably motivated by the fact that the timing of Bill 5 changed the rules for the election mid-campaign, which he perceived as being unfair to candidates and voters. However, unfairness alone does not establish a Charter breach. The question for the courts is not whether Bill 5 is unfair but whether it is unconstitutional. On that crucial question, we have concluded that there is a strong likelihood that (Belobaba) erred in law and that the Attorney General’s appeal to this court will succeed.”

With that finding, the Ford government withdrew the new law it was speeding through the legislature invoking the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to overturn Belobaba’s ruling, which had prompted widespread protests against the Ford government, meaning Ontario’s legislative record of never using the notwithstanding clause remains intact.

The larger question is was this trip necessary? The answer is no.

Ford didn’t mention cutting the size of Toronto council during the recent Ontario election campaign, so his decision to announce and implement it after the fact invited allegations from Ford’s political enemies that he was acting out of vindictiveness.

This because Ford lost the Toronto mayor’s race to the current incumbent, John Tory, in 2014, and was angry about how Toronto council treated his late brother, Rob Ford, when he was mayor from 2010 to 2014.