In a decision issued this week, the Honourable Justice Backhouse of the Ontario Divisional Court declined to grant a motion by Doug Ford’s government to quash Ontario Place for All’s application for judicial review, stating that:
“It cannot be said that OP4A’s concerns about governance in defiance of the environmental legislation are frivolous or unworthy of argument before a panel of the court, notwithstanding the passage of legislation which purports to retroactively sanitize the initial allegedly unlawful conduct. Where, as here, the questions are legal issues of first impression, in a context of significant public law interest and concern, the issue is more appropriately dealt with by a panel than by a single judge.”