Toronto council backs fight against Quebec’s Bill 21, calling it ‘contrary to the values of Torontonians and Canadians’
The mayor of Toronto was asked if the city would seek to stop other municipalities from enacting similar legislation. Mayor John Tory’s answer was to urge a “referendum” on Bill 21. “There’s nothing in the wording of the bill,” he said in a news conference. He said the legislation is designed to prevent municipalities from acting independently of Ottawa.
His comments came after Mayor John Tory, the leader of the Progressive Conservatives, had earlier told reporters that “there’s nothing in the wording” of Bill 21 that prevents Toronto from passing its own legislation.
“It’s the people’s right to legislate themselves,” Tory said. “I don’t consider it unconstitutional. I don’t consider it an infringement on anybody else. I believe in local control. But if you put it in a referendum, then you really have to have a referendum.”
Tory said he supports “local control” but that it is “the right to decide”. He told the Star that he agrees with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard that Bill 21 is not the way to protect “our values, where people don’t think [a woman’s] body is her own and that women are there to be owned.”
There is a national debate underway about the way certain forms of Quebec government — like Bill 21 — affect the lives of women, LGBTQ and non-conforming people, but I don’t believe that it should be framed as a debate about freedom or privacy. — Mayor John Tory (@mayor4toronto) May 25, 2018
During a meeting with reporters, Tory reiterated his view that Bill 21 is unconstitutional, and he is not seeking to replace or amend the legislation.
Read more:
The mayor of Toronto says he’s ‘completely fine’ with Quebec’s new anti-abortion legislation
Toronto’s mayor says his city is ‘completely fine’ with Quebec’s new anti-abortion legislation
Toronto council could not support Bill 21 against abortion, the mayor says, but doesn’t want to vote against it
The mayor said the people of