[BeaverFever]

1).

$1:

Premier Ford’s government will not release its ministers’ mandate letters

Published 1 hour ago
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government is breaking with a trend set by Ottawa and other provincial governments to publicly release ministerial mandate letters, as Premier Doug Ford’s documented instructions to his ministers have been designated a cabinet secret.

....Designating the letters as cabinet secrets, one of the highest levels of secrecy available to the provincial government, means they will not be accessible to most civil servants nor will they be available to the public through freedom of information legislation.

Accountability advocates have criticized Mr. Ford’s decision to not release the letters as a move that restricts transparency. They argue that Mr. Ford’s relatively thin campaign platform in the June election has already restricted the public’s knowledge of his new government’s planned direction. Several of the Premier’s most contentious moves since taking power at Queen’s Park nearly two months ago were not publicly disclosed during his campaign, including his plan to reduce access to a public pharmaceutical program and to cut the size of Toronto’s council nearly in half.

Former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne released mandate letters for the first time in Ontario’s history in 2014. She subsequently released updated documents with each cabinet shuffle. “Releasing these mandate letters to the public increases openness and accountability,” said a statement from Ms. Wynne during the release of new mandate letters in 2016.

Mr. Ford’s platform also promises to “restore accountability and trust” to Ontario’s government. However, the Tory plan is focused on fiscal accountability issues, promising a line-by-line audit of government spending.

The official opposition New Democrats said in a statement that Mr. Ford’s decision to keep the mandate letters secret is a “disgraceful” move by the new government to cut back on transparency.

"They are ensuring that hard working-Ontarians will never know what instructions cabinet ministers have been given, leaving everyone in the dark about what cuts are coming next. Ontarians deserve a government that is open and transparent,” said NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson.

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Releasing the letters gives the public notice of what decisions a government might make and helps groups organize, said Duff Conacher, the co-founder of Democracy Watch, an organization that advocates for government accountability.

“If you don’t have advanced notice of a government’s decision, it’s hard to make your voice heard. There’s no justifiable reason to do this except to keep your agenda secret,” said Mr. Conacher, who is also an adjunct professor of law and politics at the University of Ottawa.

Since the federal government’s move to release mandate letters raised public awareness of the existence of the documents and their importance, provincial Liberal, NDP and PC governments across Canada have made them public. Only Quebec and now Ontario have chosen not to release them...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ ... s-mandate/


So is it because they have a secret agenda or just because there really is no mandate and they’re just making it all up as they go? Probably a little of both. IMO it’s no excuse to simply say this kind of secrecy was the norm before Wynne. This is what’s called “moving backwards”


2) Ford repeals sex ed curriculum without consultation and reinstates a politically engineered redraft that deliberately omits the topic of consent and reference to masturbation and glosses over many of the other topics such as sexting and harassment in far less detail. The public is being told that students who want to learn more should meet with the teacher privately one on one. That’s right kids, meet your teacher in private to talk about sex. What could go wrong?

Anyway, having promised to conduct “the largest consultation in history” to overhaul the entire curriculum that’s now been scaled back to a website and a couple of town halls. Ironically the curriculum Ford repealed for purely ideological reasons without any basis in fact or reason was in fact the product of one of the largest consultations of its kind and included the participation of over 4,000 school parents.

Naturally some teachers Unions are resisting so Ford has set up a “snitch line “ and website where conservative parents can rat out teachers who have the audacity to teach about sexual consent and otherwise rant about the evils of education.

https://nowtoronto.com/news/doug-ford-sex-education/

So far I’m managing to make at least one crank report a day in the hope that the whole thing goes “Boaty McBoatface”. I encourage good people around the world to do the same: https://www.ontario.ca/form/for-the-parents

[BeaverFever]

Well here’s one that will gat the righties frothing

$1:

Ontario premier confirms helmet exemption for Sikh riders is coming

Doug Ford says something will happen 'before Christmas' for turban-wearing motorcyclists

by Neil Vorano
August 21, 2018

Premier Doug Ford has announced Ontario will become the fourth province in the country to allow Sikh motorcyclists to ride without helmets.

....In Ontario, the helmet law as it applies to Sikhs was first challenged in 2008, when the Ontario Human Rights Commission took up the cause of Baljinder Badesha, who was fighting a $110 ticket he received a few years prior for refusing to wear his motorcycle helmet.

Ontario Court Justice James Blacklock, however, ruled against Badesha and the OHRC, issuing a 35-page decision. In it, he writes an exemption would render the helmet law unwieldy since anyone violating it could simply claim they were devout.

https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/ontar ... -is-coming

Oh those conservatives and their ethnic-pandering identity politics amirite? Unlike McGuinty taking those Sikhs to court and showing them they’re not special amirite?

But buck-a-beer is here (with 2 breweries anyway).

[BeaverFever]

Today in Fordland: Ford proves himself to be the heavy-handed thug his criticis always said he’d be. Today he announced he would use the NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE to get his way on a relatively minor issue that wasn’t even part of his election platform earlier this year.

In recent weeks Tesla easily beat the snot out of Ford in a lawsuit last month over the unfair way he singled them out for mistreatment while ending the green vehicle rebate program. And Doug today went 0 for 2 in court after the court ruled his attempt to tamper with the Toronto municipal elections currently underway violated the charter rights of both the candidates and the voters.

Municipal election campaigns started in May and the vote occurs just a few weeks from now. But Ford suddenly and unexpectedly decreed last month that he was unilaterally redrawing the municipal electoral districts in Toronto, eliminating almost half the wards -and therefore half the candidates- right before the election. Only in Toronto is he doing this. This left both voters and the surviving candidates scrambling to learn what their new wards are, who the constituents are, and what their relevant issues and concerns are.just as they enter the last stretch before the big vote. This same municipal election change also randomly targeted a few specific elected offices in southern Ontario and changed them to appointed positions while ignoring certain similar offices elsewhere.

The court noted that the Premier is fully within his rights to make these electoral changes at any time he chooses but not in the middle of the election. He could perfectly well do it the day after the election and it would be fine. But after Ford lost the court case today he announced he would use the notwithstanding clause in order to make the change during the election anyway. Why? No reason given. In fact there’s no study, no report, no consultation given for any of these changes and again not mentioned during his election campaign earlier this year. . It’s like Emperor Doug just thought of them by himself yesterday and then just decreed the new law.

NONE of these municipal election changes were mentioned during Doug’s election campaign earlier this year. Pretty significant changes to be left out of an election platform from the same year and then rammed down our throat with a notwithstanding clause, no? Was he keeping these plans a secret all this time or is he just making shit up as he goes?

In both the Tesla case and the Toronto ward case, the broader policy change was well within the authority of the Premier but he was tripped up by his completely unnecessary spiteful thug tactics and showed his true colours. And true to right wing thug form, his policy has no basis in fact or research or consultation, its only justification is that it’s what the Big Man decreed and nothing else matters. So far Ford is proving himself to be Trump North.

Also in his comments today he said he’d use the notwithstanding clause on any other matters too if he has to. Some “man of the people”!

[Thanos]

Any chance of Ford busting up the mega-city that Mike Harris unwisely created in Toronto? Seems like this is the source of all the tensions, with the conservative/moderate suburbs being forced to share resources/priorities with the mostly-left downtown/inner core neighbourhoods? All the liberals were against the amalgamation way back when Harris did it so maybe the best way to solve this is to decentralize and bust it up if no one can get along with each other.

[BeaverFever]

Thanos Thanos:

Any chance of Ford busting up the mega-city that Mike Harris unwisely created in Toronto? Seems like this is the source of all the tensions, with the conservative/moderate suburbs being forced to share resources/priorities with the mostly-left downtown/inner core neighbourhoods? All the liberals were against the amalgamation way back when Harris did it so maybe the best way to solve this is to decentralize and bust it up if no one can get along with each other.

No conservative will ever break up the megacity, Ford’s redistricting of Toronto - and it’s only Toronto being targeted- is a continuation of that same Harris plan to “suburbanize” Toronto by merging the inner core with the outer “burbs” and carving up the pie so there are more more suburban councillors than urban.

[Thanos]

Seems to have backfired on conservatives then considering that the mega-city seems like it drifts farther to the left with every passing year.

[BeaverFever]

Thanos Thanos:

Seems to have backfired on conservatives then considering that the mega-city seems like it drifts farther to the left with every passing year.

True that Conservatives have never been very good at understanding or caring about consequences or blowback. “Backfire” is their middle name.

But remember they don’t really care if the people who live in the city are “liberals”. All they care is that the people who control the city aren’t. Hence all the Republican-style electoral gerrymandering.

[DrCaleb]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Today in Fordland: Ford proves himself to be the heavy-handed thug his criticis always said he’d be. Today he announced he would use the NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE to get his way on a relatively minor issue that wasn’t even part of his election platform earlier this year.

Now he's going to use it to circumvent the unconstitutionality of editing the size of Toronto council in the middle of an election campaign!

That's what pisses me of about 'modern' Conservatives. All 'law and order' till that law interferes with their partisan agenda. Then they blame judges for 'legislating from the bench' when they find the unconstitutional law, Unconstitutional.

When the Constitution was repatriated, it was felt that 'notwithstanding' clause was too much of a political hot potato to ever get used. Then Quebec used it for their language laws, Saskatchewan used it for a similarly minor issue (back to work legislation, IIRC) so everyone uses it to wipe their ass now.

Why have a Constitution or Charter of Rights at all?

[Coach85]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Today in Fordland: Ford proves himself to be the heavy-handed thug his criticis always said he’d be. Today he announced he would use the NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE to get his way on a relatively minor issue that wasn’t even part of his election platform earlier this year.

Now he's going to use it to circumvent the unconstitutionality of editing the size of Toronto council in the middle of an election campaign!

That's what pisses me of about 'modern' Conservatives. All 'law and order' till that law interferes with their partisan agenda. Then they blame judges for 'legislating from the bench' when they find the unconstitutional law, Unconstitutional.

When the Constitution was repatriated, it was felt that 'notwithstanding' clause was too much of a political hot potato to ever get used. Then Quebec used it for their language laws, Saskatchewan used it for a similarly minor issue (back to work legislation, IIRC) so everyone uses it to wipe their ass now.

Why have a Constitution or Charter of Rights at all?

The problem is the interpretation by the Judge. Just because he said so, doesn’t mean the decision is final. The clause shouldn’t be used and run the matter through the appeals court.

I’ve read multiple pieces from legal and constitutional experts that said this change was completely legal and abided by the constitution.

[DrCaleb]

Coach85 Coach85:

I’ve read multiple pieces from legal and constitutional experts that said this change was completely legal and abided by the constitution.

The problem I read, is that it redraws constituencies during an election. That was the problem the Judge had. Before, after, no problem.

[llama66]

This is what Ontario wanted, enjoy it. Wynne was a shit premier, Ford is going to be worse.

[Coach85]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Coach85 Coach85:

I’ve read multiple pieces from legal and constitutional experts that said this change was completely legal and abided by the constitution.

The problem I read, is that it redraws constituencies during an election. That was the problem the Judge had. Before, after, no problem.

But that's not something protected under the Charter or Constitution.

What he said was that in infringed on "candidate’s and the voters’ right to freedom of expression as guaranteed "

Numerous experts have questioned the decision as this isn't a case of limiting people's freedom of expression, rather the reason he cited, in his opinion, that this should be overturned.

The other issue is the Justice allowed his personal feelings to leak out, which has no place in this type of arena, with his 'crickets' comment. Also, he referred to two inapplicable Supreme Court of Canada precedents.

A good read:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/legal-sch ... -1.4087964

[Coach85]

llama66 llama66:

This is what Ontario wanted, enjoy it. Wynne was a shit premier, Ford is going to be worse.

I totally disagree. Different, for sure. Worse? That's a high bar to cross.

[llama66]

Coach85 Coach85:

llama66 llama66:

This is what Ontario wanted, enjoy it. Wynne was a shit premier, Ford is going to be worse.

I totally disagree. Different, for sure. Worse? That's a high bar to cross.

or a low bar?

No?

The Ford family has always demonstrated that they don't give two shits for the people of Ontario.

The Province is getting what it deserves.

[N_Fiddledog]

SICK: Judge Who Struck Down Doug Ford’s Bill 5 Is Same Judge Who Ruled Against Widow Who Wanted To Freeze Omar Khadr’s $10.5 Million Trudeau Payday

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The sick thinking of the far-left continues spreading throughout our increasingly corrupt system.
In the wake of the ruling striking down Doug Ford’s Bill 5 that would have slashed Toronto City Council, it turns out that the judge who struck down Ford’s legislation had made a past ruling in favour of Omar Khadr.

As shared by David Jacobs on Twitter, it turns out that judge Edward Belobaba is the same judge who ruled against Tabitha Speer – the widow of U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer who Khadr admitted to killing in Afghanistan.

The ruling against reducing the size of Toronto's City Council is brought to you by the same judge who let Omar Kahdr keep his $10.5 million.