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Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

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JGHali said:
I don’t think the province can unilaterally remove any municipal politicians. Would require legislation to change the City of Toronto Act. Unless there’s some other path for it. I feel the LG would be obligated not to accede to anything like that.
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Didn't Doug literally do just that by removing half of city council?

And the LG is just a figurehead obligated to go along with the wishes of the government. How many times in history has the LG of Ontario vetoed anything?
 
Doug Ford will have to find “significant” new savings — over $6 billion — in the last two years of his term to balance the budget if he plans to keep an election promise to provide personal income tax cuts, says Ontario’s independent financial watchdog.

This next round of spending cuts would match the cuts for this fiscal year and next contained in Finance Minister Vic Fedeli’s spring budget, Financial Accountability Officer Peter Weltman said Wednesday, prompting opposition parties to warn more pain is on the way.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/pr...d-budget-promise-financial-watchdog-says.html
 
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Towered said:
Didn't Doug literally do just that by removing half of city council?

And the LG is just a figurehead obligated to go along with the wishes of the government. How many times in history has the LG of Ontario vetoed anything?
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Big difference between changing the size of a city council and trying to suspend democratic local governance. Of course, it would be an excellent way of destroying the PC party in Toronto if not the whole province for a generation.
 
Towered said:
Didn't Doug literally do just that by removing half of city council?

And the LG is just a figurehead obligated to go along with the wishes of the government. How many times in history has the LG of Ontario vetoed anything?
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Though the province has been hesitant to get involved in Toronto's affairs, both Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey have said the mayor can only be removed from office if he/she is convicted of a criminal offence and is imprisoned.Nov 6, 2013
How can a mayor be removed from office in Toronto? | CTV News
https://www.ctvnews.ca/.../calls-for-resignation-how-can-a-mayor-be-removed-from-offi...
[...]
Council has no legal means to remove Ford from office. Beyond the mayor losing his Canadian citizenship or ceasing to be a Toronto resident, there are only three options that would see him lose his post:
If Ford stops showing up …
Under the City of Toronto Act, the office of a city council member becomes vacant if that person is absent from council meetings for three successive months without council’s authorization.
That seems a highly unlikely option for Ford.
Even before his stunning admission on Tuesday, some suggested Ford should take a leave of absence, stepping away from both the media spotlight and his mayoral duties to let the dust settle.
But Ford has repeatedly rejected those calls since May, when allegations of the video first surfaced on U.S. website Gawker and in The Toronto Star.
His statement Tuesday confirmed he has no plans to abandon office – and that he intends to run again in the 2014 election.
“There is important work that we must advance and important decisions that must be made,” Ford said.
“For the sake of the taxpayers of this great city … we must keep Toronto moving forward. I was elected to do a job and that exactly what I’m going to continue to do.”
If there is a criminal conviction and jail time is served …
Though the province has been hesitant to get involved in Toronto’s affairs, both Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Ontario Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey have said the mayor can only be removed from office if he/she is convicted of a criminal offence and is imprisoned.
“There’s nothing that we can do at this point,” Jeffrey told reporters gathered at Queen’s Park. “The province has no power to remove anybody, and obviously we’d have to wait until the investigation unfolds as to next steps.”
She was speaking just after Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair confirmed existence of a video that appears to show Ford smoking from a crack pipe.
Blair said he was “disappointed” by the video as a citizen of Toronto, but added that the recovered video does not support criminal charges against the mayor.
Others have pointed out that even if charges were laid, the legal process would be unlikely to wrap up before the end of the mayor’s four-year term next October.
If city council can’t achieve ‘quorum’ for 60 days …
Another option involving both the city and the province allows Ontario’s municipal affairs minister to step in and “declare all the offices of the members of the council to be vacant” if city council is unable to hold a meeting for 60 days.
That two-month period would begin on the first day council couldn’t achieve “quorum,” meaning attendance by a majority of councillors. In Toronto’s case, that’s 23.
But in addition to council business grinding to a complete halt -- a position likely to frustrate the public, who expects elected officials to work – it would also trigger a byelection for all of the seats. Councillors would be putting their own jobs on the line.
A number of councillors have already expressed frustration with the amount of attention the issue is getting, characterizing the story a “circus,” “sideshow,” and “train wreck.”
Most agree that pushing on with city business needs to be a top priority right now – whether Ford is involved or not.
A non-binding motion drafted by Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong pushes for Ford to “do the right thing” and take a leave of absence.
Another by Councillors John Filion and Paul Ainslie proposes that Ford be stripped of specific powers, such as the ability to appoint the deputy mayor or committee chairs. Those duties would instead be shifted to city council at large.
And Coun. Adam Vaughan -- one of Ford’s staunchest opponents – has simply suggested that city council effectively ignore the mayor and move the agenda along without his influence.
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- : above link

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Admiral Beez said:
Yes. Both. But it's confirmation bias, it's meant to trigger folks who want to be part of a movement, crave a group experience, who want to believe a dystopian world is coming - you might as well go to Comicom dressed as stormtroopers to protest militarization. People ignorant of or too lazy to find examples from our actual history instead pull some costumes from a popular TV series, and use fictional characters to make their point against actual events or ideals. Think back to the Civil Rights movements in the USA, did people dress up in costumes or garb that had no connection to reality?
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You'd be on firmer footing if you didn't just refer to it as a "popular TV series" (i.e. acknowledging the Peggy Atwood source material)
 
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