Official Opposition leader Andrea Horwath has tabled a motion in the legislature that will be debated today to stop Doug Ford’s attempts to meddle in municipal elections in Toronto, Muskoka, Peel, York and Niagara.
Horwath and the NDP have delayed Ford’s bill through a reasoned amendment, forcing the legislature to debate consultation for two days before it can proceed.
But now the bill – which wipes out Toronto’s election boundaries and cancels the democratic regional chair elections in Peel, York, Muskoka and Niagara – will face another challenge from the NDP.
The text of Horwath’s motion to be debated Thursday afternoon reads:
That, in the opinion of this House, the Government of Ontario should not meddle in municipal or regional elections and should withdraw Bill 5 as the government did not campaign on interfering in elections in Toronto, Muskoka, Peel, York and Niagara and changing the rules of a democratic election in the middle of a campaign period is undemocratic, un-Ontarian, and un-Canadian; and fails to reflect widely held beliefs that decisions about our democracy should engage citizens so they have their say about any changes to the electoral processes.
Horwath went on to say "Doug Ford is not the King of Ontario."