Rally urges feds to veto mergers

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by Kristian Gravenor

It's minutes to midnight for opponents of the municipal mergers and some crafty minds have come up with a last-ditch trick to stop the stagecoach from turning into a pumpkin. Opponents of one-island-one-city are urging the federal cabinet to veto Bill 170 by exercising the little-used disallowance clause.

From Confederation to just prior to the World War II, the federal cabinet blocked over 100 provincial laws. The last time it was used was in 1941, when the cabinet reversed a finance bill passed by Preston Manning's father, then Premier of Alberta. The disallowance clause veto can easily be exercised without a vote in Parliament, yet several insiders surveyed have proven dubious of the plan, admits organizer Jimmy Kalafatidis. "Irwin Cotler, Clifford Lincoln, Paul Martin and Stock Day all say that [the disallowance clause] has either fallen into disuse, could stir up separatist sentiment or that it would be seen as disrespect to provincial jurisdiction. But just as municipalities are creatures of the provinces, provinces are creatures of the federal government."

Kalafatidis says the feds had similar objections to the idea of countering separatism with the threat of partition until a 1996 rally organized by his Equality Party persuaded Jean Chrétien to introduce the concept into law with the Clarity Act. "If we put enough pressure and enough people show up it'll happen again," says Kalifatidis. The rally for the disallowance clause will be held Monday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. at Baie D'Urfé Curling Hall at 20599 Lakeshore.