The city is taking the province to court over a move to cut the size of council to 25 wards.

Council voted 25 to 17 on Monday to challenge Premier Doug Ford’s unprecedented Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act, after it restarted the municipal election in the middle of the campaign, reducing the number of wards from 47 to 25. Now headed into uncharted legal territory, councillors also voted to defend the city’s interests in any and all appeals.

“Today, Toronto city council took a stand against Doug Ford’s meddling in our local democracy,” said Councillor Josh Matlow, who moved the motion supported by Mayor John Tory and others.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle, but we’re doing the right thing. We’re standing up for local representation. We’re standing up for the principle of not ripping apart an election when it’s halfway underway. And we’re seeking to set a new precedent to ensure that local democracy will prevail when a premier acts like a tin-pot dictator.”

Tory, in an emailed statement after the vote, said: “Challenging this legislation and the process used to introduce it is the right and responsible thing to do.”

A hearing date has already been set for Aug. 31, when the city’s lawyers will join others who have already launched legal challenges against the province.

Council also directed the city’s legal team to seek a postponement of the election, should the city be successful in court and if it is required to again prepare a 47-ward election as previously planned.

The decision came after a daylong debate at a special council meeting called after Ford’s government surprised the city by introducing legislation at Queen’s Park without warning or consultation.

The chamber was, early in the day, packed with hundreds of residents and an overflow room was needed for those opposing the legislation. Thousands more Torontonians had their names entered into the record on petitions against a 25-ward election.

Meanwhile, dozens of candidates were busy signing up for that race in the elections office downstairs, after nominations opened Monday morning.

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Councillor Stephen Holyday, opposing any legal action, argued public confidence could be lost if the election process were changed again. He said sticking with the legislated 25-ward election was practical.

“The outcome could be an election that’s contested, could be an election that simply could not happen,” Holyday said of a legal fight. “I think that’s irresponsible.”

Councillor Justin Di Ciano, who supports a cut to 25 wards even though he doesn’t plan to run in that election — in part, he earlier told the Star, because of the increased workload — said the “silent majority” are thinking: “Let’s get on with business.”

City clerk Ulli Watkiss, after facing several questions on the issue, said she would make contingency plans in case the city is successful in court and there is a return to a 47-ward election. But, she noted, she has little confidence that a proper election with 47 wards could be held in time for the Oct. 22 election date, and said it was “highly unlikely” a judge could change the date of the election.

A motion from Matlow directing the clerk to prepare the 47-ward election concurrently with a 25-ward one was ruled out of order.

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“We cannot sacrifice the future of our local democracy and the ability to serve residents well for the expediency of the moment,” Matlow said on the floor of council.

Much more than the fate of this election is at stake in challenging the province, Councillor Gord Perks warned.

“The province of Ontario, if we don’t get something changed in the way the framework works, could at any time pass a piece of legislation that this government no longer existed and could simply appoint somebody … to just run the city,” he said.

Toronto residents, he said, “deserve the right to elect a government to manage our affairs,” one that is “immune from the arbitrary actions of someone who, frankly, I do not understand has any meaningful goal here.”

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Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, the only woman of colour and openly queer elected member of council, used part of her five-minute speaking time to note that an election with 25 wards would be likely to limit significantly the number of new faces and therefore representation of Toronto’s diversity on council — making it harder to hear from marginalized communities.

Citizens have already made legal cases against the province’s legislation, beginning with candidate Rocco Achampong.

Law firm Goldblatt Partners announced Monday it will represent three applicants: candidate Chris Moise, a gay Black man who was running downtown in a ward that included the Gay Village; elector Ish Aderonmu; and Prabha Khosla, as a representative of the organization Women Win TO, which trains and supports women looking to run for municipal office.

They plan to make constitutional arguments and charge that the legislation violates equality rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, saying in a court application filed Monday that the law has an “adverse impact on women and racialized and LGBT candidates.”

Heather Ann McConnell, a partner at Goldblatt and the daughter of longtime city councillor Pam McConnell, who died last year, said it’s important for the city to join the court challenge and that the question “goes to our very sense of democracy in the city, as well as in the province and in the country.”

Other applicants are expected.

The Star last week reviewed a secret report prepared by city solicitor Wendy Walberg for councillors. Walberg concluded there was no “obvious path” to overturn Ford’s council cut but did identify some avenues, including constitutional arguments, that would likely require a judge to set a precedent beyond current case law.

How council voted on challenging the province in court:

Yes: Paul Ainslie, Maria Augimeri, Ana Bailao, Jon Burnside, Christin Carmichael Greb, Josh Colle, Joe Cressy, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Sarah Doucette, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Mary Fragedakis, Mike Layton, Josh Matlow, Joe Mihevc, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Frances Nunziata, James Pasternak, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, Jaye Robinson, Neethan Shan, John Tory, Lucy Troisi, Jonathan Tsao, Kristyn Wong-Tam

No: Gary Crawford, Vincent Crisanti, Justin Di Ciano, Frank Di Giorgio, Michael Ford, Jim Hart, Michelle Holland, Stephen Holyday, Jim Karygiannis, Norm Kelly, Giorgio Mammoliti, Migan Megardichian, Cesar Palacio, David Shiner, Michael Thompson

Absent: John Campbell, Mark Grimes, Mary-Margaret McMahon

With files from David Rider and Samantha Beattie

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