Ford enabled Mayor John Tory’s anti-democratic ambitions | Daily News Byte

Democracy is dying out in Ontario.

But this isn’t just another Doug Ford power grab. The premier has done many reckless things in power, but this time he is not acting alone.

Tempting to demonize him, Ford is simply doing the devil’s work — and the devil is in the sordid details dictated to him from city hall. Today, he is less a dictator than an enabler for Mayor John Tory’s anti-democratic ambitions.

By giving him unprecedented and unscrupulous power, Ford transformed Tory from a strong mayor into a sudden unstoppable strongman. By doing Tory’s bidding and following his strange demands, Ford shows himself to be not only shockingly unintelligent but shockingly weak.

In the normal course of democracy, a mayor, prime minister, prime minister, president or potentate must get the votes of a majority of legislators to enact legislation. Representative democracy is not a one-man band, a one-woman act or a one-man show.

Except for Toronto, Ontario.

Here, the tag team of Tory and Ford join hands to overreach — and undercount.

On designated issues that fit Ford’s development agenda, Tory can now claim victory with just one-third of the council’s votes: eight to 17.

That means when Tory loses the vote, he still wins the vote: Heads I win, tails you lose.

That doesn’t count in a casino, but it’s how council tabulates votes in Toronto. This is a win-win proposition for these two politicians in power, but an incalculable loss for democracy.

This is a reversal of majority rule. And a distortion of the political process.

Where did Tory and Ford come up with this one-third threshold to carry the sun? Certainly not in Queen’s Park, where Ford could never have expected to win a legislative vote with a minority of lawmakers.

Why bother with the arbitrary requirement of eight votes for a Tory to prevail? The process could also be streamlined by adopting a one-strongman, one-mayor rule as a show of streamlined strength — and abolish the council entirely.

Who would have thought that after winning three democratic elections the mayor was not satisfied with his enormous mandate and thirst for more power? Who would have thought Tory could convince Ford — the former political rival he embarrassed in the 2014 mayoral election — to do what he asked?

Surely, a wiser prime minister could have sat back, puffed on his pipe, reflected on democratic principles, considered public sentiment, and pushed back. Bill Davis never indulged in such chutzpah or acquiesced in such hubris when Tory worked as a young political aide for the late Progressive Conservative premier decades ago.

But all these years, older and not wiser, Tory has a tin ear.

“I think people trust me,” he says with unintentional irony, vowing never to abuse his regal authority.

But if Tory doesn’t think of himself as trustworthy, does he seriously believe that everyone who came before him, and everyone who will come after him, deserves the same trust? Will he support his mayoral predecessor, the late Rob Ford, who wields the same powers as his brother the premier?

It is worth noting that other Tory predecessors have publicly denounced this unique template for minority rule, tailored for Toronto and Ottawa but intended for other major cities in the coming years. The newly elected mayor of Ottawa has publicly promised these illegitimate powers, with good reason.

Municipal politics has always been the weak link of our democracy. Voter turnout is low and political violations are high.

Incumbent turnover is rare and temptations are constant. It’s hard to count on councilors held captive by aggressive developers or feared by NIMBY obstructionists.

But there are no shortcuts to democracy, only blind alleys that lure us into the darkness of dictatorship. Representative democracy can be complicated, but it cannot be adjusted to suit a politician who pushes his single issue with righteous impatience and misguided haste.

A strange symbiosis took hold of Tory and Ford, each drawing strength from the other, causing them to lose their moves. But it is not too late for them to come together to repair the damage by repealing these dangerous measures.

The premier won two elections, thanks to the power of the electorate. That is our democracy.

He took away Charter rights thanks to the “notwithstanding clause.” That is our constitution, (however controversial).

No premier, however, dared to rewrite the rules of democracy. That is not our history.

Now, the mayor has created an existential crisis in democracy in our city, thanks to his partner in the premier’s office. That should not be our future.

Tory has authored and owned it from the beginning. He should have rejected it and denounced it, so that Ford would finally abandon it when he found no one to take it.

Martin Regg Cohn is a Toronto-based columnist who focuses on Ontario politics and international affairs for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @reggcohn

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