Toronto: the legislature will sit on Saturday to speed up the passage of the law that cuts the city council
The progressive conservative government of Ontario has declared that the legislature will meet on Saturday to help “speed up” the passage of a bill that would cut the number of Toronto city councilors nearly halfway through.
The Efficient Local Government Act, also known as Bill 31, was presented Wednesday after a judge ruled that an earlier piece of legislation that reduced the number of Toronto city councilors from 47 to 25 was unconstitutional.
Premier Doug Ford announced that he would use the detention clause to cancel the court’s decision.
In a statement, the head of the Government House Todd Smith confirmed that the legislature would sit on Saturday to speed up the passage of Bill 31.
“While the NDP is playing procedural games to delay the passage of the local Government Local Act, PCs are willing to work all day on weekends to speed up the bill,” he said in the statement. “We are committed to ending the stalemate and dysfunction at the city hall, saving taxpayers more than $ 25 million and offering a smaller and better government.”
On Thursday, the Toronto city council voted in favor of challenging the provincial bill in court.
The Toronto municipal election is currently scheduled for October 22, but the city clerk now believes it will be “virtually impossible” to make a fair and democratic election by that date.
