Ontario mayors ask Doug Ford to use notwithstanding clause on encampments [Video]

Mayors from a dozen big cities across Ontario say they want the province to use the notwithstanding clause to pass legislation that would help them handle encampments and addiction in their communities to ensure their requested measures are “implemented in a timely and effective way.”

Premier Doug Ford may have goaded this response earlier this week, when he questioned if the province’s big city mayors “have the backbone” to use the notwithstanding clause to dismantle encampments in their municipalities. This clause, Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, can grant provincial legislatures the ability – through the passage of a law – to override certain parts of the charter for five years.

“I have an idea – why don’t the big city mayors actually put in writing that they want the province to change the homeless program, make sure we move the homeless along, and why don’t they put in …