I don’t want to alarm you, but Doug Ford has lost another court case. No, really.
The outcome of this one never should have been in doubt since it’s such an obvious rights violation, but it’s hard to predict the courts sometimes.
Ontario court rules Doug Ford’s gas-pump stickers attacking carbon-pricing are ‘unconstitutional’
Hopefully the Doug Ford who tries his best to get along with everyone that isn’t a teacher will let this drop and not throw good money after bad. We have much more important things to spend our way out of at the moment.
An Ontario court has ruled that Ford’s mandatory gas-pump decals attacking federal carbon-pricing measures are unconstitutional.
In a major victory for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Mr. Justice Edward Morgan of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the stickers violated business owners’ freedom of expression.
“A government or political party can, in the words of Ontario’s Minister of Energy (Greg Rickford), ‘stick it to’ another tier of government of political party as a matter of free speech in an election campaign or otherwise,” Morgan wrote in a 17-page decision released Friday.
“But a government cannot legislate a requirement that private retailers post a sticker designed to accomplish that task. The mandatory fuel pump sticker is an unconstitutional attempt to do just that,” the judge continued.Rickford said in a statement that “we respect the decision of the court, but our government will always stand up for the people of Ontario when it comes to matters that make everyday life more expensive for hardworking families.”
“The federal carbon tax makes life more unaffordable and hits the wallets of Ontario families and small businesses hardest when it comes to gas prices and home-heating costs,” said the minister, who did not say whether the government would appeal the ruling.
I almost called this post labels and gags. You know, because Doug Ford owns a sticker company and the courts just muzzled his attempt at forced partisan speech. I might have made the wrong choice, but Carin didn’t react like I hoped, so I went with the other.