The Toronto municipal election that happens in just a couple of weeks has been a trainwreck.

The chaos that erupted last month after the Court decision to rescind Bill 5 reverberated not just in Toronto, not just in Ontario, but across the entire country.

Bill 5, introduced by new Ontario Premier Doug Ford just hours before the closing in July of nominations for this month's Ontario municipal elections, effectively halved the size of Toronto council (and the school boards, something that has been lost in the fire and fury around city hall) and cancelled four Regional Chair elections.

Toronto council appealed to the courts which upheld their position when the judge agreed that the timing violated the freedom of expression rights of both candidates and voters.

Joy at city hall.      

Hours later, Premier Ford stunned constitutional experts and political observers by announcing he would reintroduce the bill but this time with the notwithstanding clause which gives provinces unique authority to override a court decision. It was the first time in Ontario's history that any government had announced it would use that power.

Disbelief and shock at city hall.

One assumes at this point that the staff in the City Clerk's department who run the election have headed for the bar. Rightly so.

Then another head-spinning reversal Ontario's top court ruled that almost certainly the original Court decision would be reversed on appeal and "there is a strong likelihood that (the trial judge) erred in law."

Joy at Queen's Park.

More disbelief, shock and anger amongst many not all at Toronto city hall.

The upshot is the nomination period was extended for a couple of days, there will be 25 Councillors elected in Toronto this year instead of 47, and the face of municipal politics in Toronto and arguably in Ontario has changed forever.

The Prime Minister, when questioned, wisely decided to sidestep this controversy. Constitutional scholars weighed in. Big city mayors were pretty much united in their condemnation of the process. Candidates and voters are still bewildered by the roller-coaster ride and what ward they are in. Some candidates pulled out. Chaos. Anger. Resignation. A truncated campaign is drawing to an unhappy conclusion.

YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED

If you are inside the City of Toronto boundaries, these extraordinary actions have disrupted and threatened your municipal election for council and school boards. That is unacceptable. If you were a candidate, your already hectic life and election planning had a grenade thrown in the middle of your campaign. Also unacceptable. We need good people to run for public office, but there is no rationale for such a disruptive process to occur.

If you are an Ontario resident, the Premier's unilateral actions should make you nervous about potential future dictatorial steps concerning your own local government. Ford made it clear that he would not hesitate to use the notwithstanding clause again. This opens an ugly door in Ontario politics.

And if you are a resident of another province or territory in Canada, you should rightly be concerned about the precedent this sets. Will this embolden other Premiers?

More importantly, perhaps, is the stark reality that Canadians need to face: provinces have virtually unfettered power over their towns and cities. That needs to change.

I have argued for years that such power in today's urban society needs to be modified, and a new relationship amongst and between our six orders of government needs to be developed. With the economic, cultural and social power that municipalities have today, they need to be able to reach their potential and that won't happen with the handcuffs imposed upon them by this 150-year old legislation written when Canada was a vastly different nation.

Municipalities need to become much more aggressive in their arguments with federal and provincial authorities.

As an Ontario resident and former city councillor, my own observation about Ford's actions are that they appeared to be petulant and personal after his (and his brother's) tumultuous time at city hall. That is a bad way to govern.

It smacks of another person in power. The one in Washington, DC.

Is this what politics in Canada are becoming?

Is this what candidates and voters want?

Is this the best we can do?