Doug Ford 'won't be shy' to use notwithstanding clause again, and he's getting support for that

Premier Doug Ford's government will for the first time in Ontario's history use the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override a court ruling, and his supporters will be cheering him on today.

Among many grassrootsconservatives, there has long been a current of angerabout "activist judges" whom they believe are overstepping their roles by shaping laws and policies through their decisions.

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Ford tapped into that sentiment Mondaywith his criticism ofJustice Edward Belobaba'sruling that found the government's move to slash the size of Toronto city council during the campaign for next month's election violated the Constitution.Ford called the decision unacceptableand said,"I was elected. He was appointed."

This view of judicial overreach helps form Ford's justification for his next step. Today, when the government reintroducesthe bill, his government willinvoke the notwithstanding clause, stopping the court from striking it down.

"That's exactly why the clause is in the charter and provinces should feel free to use it ," saidRachelCurran, director of policy forformer prime minister Stephen Harper, in an appearance on theCBCNews Network programPower and Politics.

"Who are we actually governed by?" askedCurran."Are we governed by our elected representatives or a small cabal of largely left-leaning judges?"

Curransaid she isglad an Ontario premier has finally decided to use the power of the notwithstanding clause.

"I think this is whya lot of conservatives are cheering [Ford's]decision," said political strategist Jason Lietaerin an interview with CBCNews on Tuesday. "He's taken the sword that is at his disposal and he's actually used it."

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Ford's additional threat to use the clause again should his government's agenda be thwarted in the courtsindeed, that he "won't be shy" about it is music to the ears of his political base.

Lietaer saidthe PC premier was firinga shot across the bow to his opponents, telling them that if they're going to try to stop him in the courts, he has ways to fight back, and he's playing for keeps.

"There's a lot of people that want tofrustrateDoug Ford's agenda, and I think he was sending a message to all those people," said Lietaer, a former adviser to provincial and federal Conservatives, now with the public affairs firm Enterprise Canada.

Conservative strategistGinny Roth believes there is widespread support among the people who voted Progressive Conservativefor Ford's use of the notwithstanding clause in this case and at this time.

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"Newly elected, with a majority government and a fresh mandate to make change, and the flavour of this change in this instance is about reducing the size and cost of government, so Ithink people are sympathetic to him," said Roth, a senior consultant with the firm Crestview Strategy.

Roth saidusing the notwithstanding clause, something that no prime minister and few Canadian premiers have ever done, makes sense for a politician like Ford.

"He wasexplicitlyelected to make change, and I think akey part of his mandate is to do politicsdifferently," she said in an interview.

There is of course plenty of opposition out there to Ford's move, but it appears to come almost exclusively from people who didn't vote for him.

The Opposition NDP, Greens and Liberals are calling on Progressive ConservativeMPPsto vote against the bill invokingthe notwithstanding clause.

Ford saidthis will be a free vote for his caucus, but it wouldbe an absolute shockto see any PC membersnubbing theleader publicly by voting no.

If there were any significant dissent, Ford would have not risked a free vote. With the PCs fresh in power, and MPPswanting to be in the premier's good books, Ford made a clever calculation that he's bound to get unanimous support.

The same goes for the move to invoke the notwithstanding clause in the first place: Ford wouldn't have done it if he felt he wouldn't get widespread support for it among the voterswho sent him to the premier's office only three months ago.