Toronto's City Clerk continues to say a fair and democratic election may be impossible given the short time period to prepare for it.
Last week during a special meeting of Toronto City Council, Ulli Watkiss expressed she was at a "tipping point," no longer sure she could carry out an election with integrity on October 22nd.
It's unlikely her declaration could result in a candidate successfully challenging the election results, though.
The province's lawyers have made sure of it.
In Bill 31, Efficient Local Government Act 2018, there is a clause that precludes a candidate from disputing the votes.
"The province, I think, was looking forward saying 'I can see a whole bunch of people being confused and then everyone challenging the election results," says municipal lawyer Jim Mascarin. "I'll be honest, I thought the first thing that is going to happen if Bill 31 goes ahead is that everyone and their brother is then going to bring a controverted election application. I was wrong because they precluded that."
Even if the province is granted a stay of the previous court ruling by the Court of Appeal, thus not bringing Bill 31 to a vote, a candidates challenge is still unlikely to be successful because of a clause in Bill 5, Better Local Government Act, 2018.
"In Bill 5 it's a little different. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing is given regulatory authority to implement a regulation to do that very thing but it doesn't specify exactly what Bill 31 says. It says a regulation may limit the circumstances in which an order under Sec. 83 under the Municipal Election Act may be made. That's the wording that's in Bill 31 but not as direct," explains Mascarin.
Minister Caroline Mulroney would not need to amend Bill 5 to implement the regulation. "You wouldn't need to make an amendment to Bill 5 which would require all three readings and so on. It could be as simple as the minister saying she's going to pass the regulation and it's going to look very much like the actual wording in Bill 31 but it will be a regulation and she's entitled to do so under Bill 5," he further explains.
Normally, election results can be challenged if something goes terribly wrong with an election but Mascarin says that authority has been firmly displaced.
The Court of Appeal will announce its ruling on the province's request for a stay tomorrow at 10 a.m.