It was a crazy day in the state of constitutional law yesterday, as an Ontario judge struck down Doug Ford’s bill to reduce the size of Toronto city council on some rather dubious grounds, and Doug Ford responded by insisting that he would invoke the Notwithstanding Clause to ensure it passed anyway, no matter that the issue by which he’s going to use the seldom-used provision on is of dubious merit, and has all of the appearances of enacting a political grudge (while all of the “reasonable” members of his Cabinet who were supposed to keep his worst impulses in check cheer him on). It’s a full-blown tire fire.

For starters, here’s a bit of context about just what the Notwithstanding Clause actually is, and some history of its use. But what is perhaps more alarming are the number of voices who are calling on the federal government to invoke the defunct constitutional provisions around disallowance as a way of thwarting Ford – and some of that has been fuelled by Toronto mayor John Tory meeting with prime minister Justin Trudeau last night. I can pretty much guarantee you that Trudeau, however, won’t touch the disallowance powers with a bargepole, because a) the powers are defunct for a reason (in that the issues that disallowance was used on are better dealt with through the courts), and b) it would stir up such a shitstorm of epic proportions that it would be difficult to contain the political damage, and I’m not sure that Trudeau is willing to expend that much political capital for something that is really not his political ambit, and he’s likely to win most of Toronto’s seats again regardless. But if you also look at the message that Trudeau’s minister of intergovernmental affairs, Dominic LeBlanc sent out, the not unsubtle language in there is that this is a fight for the political arena, and Ontario voters will have to deal with the mess that they created, which is pretty much how it should be. It’s not going to be easy if we’re having these kinds of issues three months in, but people shouldn’t expect another order of government to swoop in and save them. That’s not how democracy works.

Meanwhile, Emmett Macfarlane walks through what’s constitutionally dubious about the court ruling, while Andrew Coyne invokes some high dudgeon about use of the Notwithstanding Clause and Ford’s thuggish populist tactics. Chris Selley reminds us that so much of this episode is because Ford is all about chaos, and he brings more of it with these tactics. Susan Delacourt, rather chillingly, wonders which will be the next premier to decide that the Charter is inconvenient for their populist proposals. And University of Ottawa vice-dean of law Carissima Mathen both writes about why Ford’s comments are so offensive to our system of laws and governance, plus offers some more context about the Notwithstanding Clause in this video segment that you should watch.

Good reads:

• At a women’s summit in Toronto, Justin Trudeau said that fighting sexual harassment helps women advance in the workplace.
• Trudeau has also opted not to address the UN General Assembly this year.
• Chrystia Freeland returns to NAFTA talks today, then heads for the Liberal caucus retreat in Saskatoon, and may return to Washington Friday.
• Saudi Arabia is cutting back on the number of LAVs they’re buying from Canada, but that may be because of their own financial situation than the diplomatic spat.
• The Clerk of the Privy Council admits they can do more about harassment in the civil service, especially around reprisals when people report it.
• Here’s a look at the government’s public opinion research spending, the bulk of it being done by Health Canada.
• In case you missed it, Andrew Scheer shuffled his shadow cabinet last week.
• Pierre Polievre has been sending out householders claiming there were no Phoenix problems under the Conservatives – except it wasn’t implemented until 2016.
• The NDP are also planning their caucus retreat in Burnaby, BC, this week.
• Soon-to-be former MP Kennedy Stewart admits to campaigning for Vancouver mayor while still getting paid as an MP, but says there’s “overlap” between them.
• Kevin Carmichael looks into the most recent jobs data, and the temptation for politicians to play games with the topline numbers.
• Colby Cosh looks at how the return of old-school labour tactics in Newfoundland has horrified a generation who views “doxxing” as violence.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at the legal black hole that Maxime Bernier’s fundraising exists in before his party is registered.
• My weekend column looked at the growing list of dumb ideas – and authoritarian rhetoric – that is lining up in defence of the Trans Mountain expansion.

Odds and ends:

Here is the strange tale of a Mexican political party that ripped off the name, logo, and even a few tactics from the Canadian Alliance.

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