POL101Y1 Democracy Dictatorship War and Peace: Introduction

Answer:

The Toronto bill 5 was enacted by Premier Doug Ford’s government in a bid to reduce the city council members from 47 to 25. According to Ford, the reduction of the size of the city council will help to reduce the burden on taxpayers and save money during Ontario provision campaign. The fact that this bill was implemented only a few weeks before the Toronto residence go to election rises concern if it serves to bring democracy or destroy it in favour of a few minority interests.  This paper will analyze whether the implementation of the Bill is a contribution to democracy or destruction to democracy. The focus will be on how damaging the Bill is on democracy and will then end by looking at some of the contributions it has made to democracy.

To begin with, the manner in which bill 5 was adopted and implemented, indicates a deficit in democracy. The minorities in the government are involved in the whole process of implementation without listening to the voice of the majority. They changed the normal rules of the legislature, to limit the debate and allow them to adopt it only a few weeks after it was introduced (Wechsler and Syed). The minorities involve going a step further to change some rule to favour their interest in the enacting of the bill. This is surely undemocratic as the voices of the majority are oppressed, and also a few have the power to influence the majority. There is also a challenge to democracy, as the discussion on the bill was limited by rules enforced. This ensures that the bill passes without listening to the voice of people, this is a sign of dictatorship within the government. In such cased, there is no equality as few people are highly influential.

The bill implementation comes in a few weeks before the election in the city council. There is a rush in implementing the rules, and its implementation is done in a manner that is questionable if it is in the interest of the majority. Ford did not consult with the municipality government over the issue neither, did he provide any opportunity for debating over the issue ("Ontario’s Bill 5 And What It Means for Toronto’s Upcoming Election"). This is undermining democracy as the voice of the majority is not heard. The fact that democratically elected government can be altered by the principals of the unwritten principle of democracy and the rule of law show that the freedom of the voice of the majority is violated. The bill also changes the election boundaries in the middle of a campaign of an oncoming election; this also violates the freedom of expression of the candidates running for the sits in the city council.

The reduction of the members of the city council from 47 to 25 will have an impact on the representation of people in Toronto city in the government. The population of the 25-ward structure is large and nearly double the population in the 47-ward structure. “Councilors representing 100,000 people would not have time to address the difficult problems of disadvantaged people” (Hale). This reduces the capacity of the council to serve their communities and also the effect of representation of their grievances to the government. When it comes to the election, the larger population undermines the fairness of the election, as the 25-ward structure does not provide parity compared to the 47-ward structure. Due to the limited time to the election, the candidates are left with less time to inform and engage with the large electorate. “It was found that bill 5 also violated voter’s right to effective representation by nearly doubling ward population from 61,000 to 100,000 on average” ("BILL 5 IN SUPERIOR COURT"). “This violates the charter rights and freedom of voter and candidate” (Jeffords). For a country to be democratic, equality is an aspect to be considered, any violation of equality undermines democracy.

Toronto has been a residential area for a significant population of tenants in Ontario province. Toronto city council highly contributes to the protection of the tenants from an abusive landlord who violates human rights by discriminating against people and harassing tenants. Increasing the population of people in a municipality by expanding the boundaries of the wards would weaken the democracy of Toronto. The voice of complaining tenants would be difficult to be heard, and this will shut down tenant’s rights and community interest. It will be difficult for councillors to address each and every issue that tenants want to be solved because the population is larger and there are only a few representatives. This will reduce the council effectiveness to address the grievances of tenants, and the will be left at their disadvantage. The possibility of landlord harassing their tenants will be possible at an increase.

Bill 5 introduce the reduction of the council members, the issue of how to improve decision making in the council is a concern. Less representation in the council means that the power is given to the minorities and this is not democratically right. When the minority have power on their hand, wrong decisions can be easily taken and also there will be a change of favouritism as they can be easily manipulated. The chance that there will be money saved by reducing the council members is high, but the effectiveness and functioning of the council are uncertain. As members of the council are reduced, the councillors are left to serve more people, and it becomes harder for them to administrative serve people effectively.

 The freedom of expression is highly suppressed by bill 5. The Canadian government advocates for the freedom of speech, but the implementation of this bill is an obstacle to the freedom of expression. The increasing population of people in each ward makes it harder for the people to express themselves effectively to the government through the council. One member of the council representing 100,000 people makes it harder for the member to engage with each member and also forward their views to the government. This will be an overwhelming task to carry by one individual. Also, during the election period, it will be difficult for a candidate of city council sit to have the freedom of expression, the large population proves to be difficult for one to completely engage with the electorate and have a constructive debate that will enhance the chances of getting the city council seat.

Bill 5 enhancement to the democracy is freedom of movement as the number of boundaries is reduced. People the interact freely in the 25 wards compared to 47 wards as the boundaries are removed. People are less limited on how they can move and thus interact freely.

In conclusion, the bill 5 proves to be more damaging to the democracy and has few advantages to democracy if any at all. The bill draws attention to matters concerning power in the province and municipalities rather than addressing issues of democracy of its people.

References

"BILL 5 IN SUPERIOR COURT". DEMOCRACY TORONTO, 2018, https://www.democracytoronto.ca/bill-5-in-superior-court.html. Web. 7 Nov 2018.

Hale, Kenn. "Bill 5 Will Weaken Toronto's Democracy". Advocacy Centre For Tenants Ontario- ACTO, 2018, https://www.acto.ca/bill-5-will-weaken-torontos-democracy/. Web. 6 Nov 2018.

Jeffords, Shawn. "Judge Expects to Rule Quickly on Toronto Challenge of Council-Cutting Bill". ctvnews, 2018, https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/judge-expects-to-rule-quickly-on-Toronto-challenge-of-council-cutting-bill-1.4075294. Web. 6 Nov 2018.

"Ontario’s Bill 5 And What It Means for Toronto’s Upcoming Election". Samaracanada.Com,

2018, https://www.samaracanada.com/samarablog/blog-post/samara-main blog/2018/09/06/ontario-s-bill-5-and-what-it-means-for-toronto-s-upcoming-election. Web. 7 Nov 2018.

Wechsler, Steph, and Fatima Syed. "What You Need to Know About Bill 5 Before Judge Decides Toronto's Fate". National Observer, 2018, https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/09/09/news/what-you-need-know-about-bill-5-judge-decides-Toronto's-fate. Web. 6 Nov 2018.