ANOTHER BYELECTION?
Would be council's third this term
The City of Ottawa faces the possibility of holding another byelection to fill a vacant seat if a third councillor resigns this term, potentially pushing the tab over $1 million for unplanned votes after the 2018 municipal election.
Kanata North Coun. Jenna Sudds is poised to take an unpaid leave from representing her ward as she runs for the Liberals in Kanata-Carleton in the next federal election.
On Thursday, Reuters cited unnamed sources in first reporting that a federal election will be called for Sept. 20.
If Sudds wins, council will be left deciding if another byelection should be held to fill the seat, or if a member of the public should be handed the Kanata North councillor job.
Five councillors have resigned in the middle of a term since the 2001 municipal amalgamation that created the City of Ottawa.
Two of the resignations happened in first half of the 2018-22 term.
First there was Tobi Nussbaum's departure from council not long after he was re-elected in 2018. He was sworn in that December and within a couple of weeks announced he was leaving council to take the CEO job at the National Capital Commission. Rawlson King won an April 2019 byelection in Rideau-Rockcliffe to become the new ward councillor. The byelection cost $339,000.
Stephen Blais left council in 2020. The former Cumberland ward councillor successfully ran for the Liberals in a provincial byelection in Orléans. Council authorized a pandemic-era byelection to fill the Cumberland seat and the city budgeted about $520,000, which included increased costs attributed to COVID -19. Catherine Kitts won the Cumberland ward byelection in October 2020.
The federal election will ultimately decide if a third councillor leaves this term.
Stéphane Émard-Chabot, a municipal lawyer, university lecturer and former local councillor, said a fair and transparent appointment process might be the best approach, rather than a byelection.
“Democracy should be the goal each time,” Émard-Chabot said, but there's also the “practical issue” of preparing and paying for a byelection, both for city hall and interested candidates.
Émard-Chabot pointed out the “grey zone” this late in the term when trying to decide between the two options.
The next municipal general election is scheduled for October 2022 and the legislative workload typically drops off by the summer as incumbents and other candidates prepare for the campaign. That means there might be only a handful of months of actual policy-making before the municipal government turns its mind to the election.
(And if residents aren't sick enough of elections by that point, there's an Ontario general election scheduled to happen by June 2022).
At the same time, appointing a member of the public to council could give that person an advantage as an incumbent in the municipal general election.
While council might be tempted to appoint someone who vows not to run in the 2022 municipal election, Émard-Chabot said that kind of agreement wouldn't be legally binding.
It's not an ideal time for a community to have no representation at city hall.
Council is scheduled to consider the final version of a draft official plan on Oct. 27. On top of that, the 2022 city budget will go through the consultation process over the fall before a council vote in December.
One of the city's hottest planning files is in Kanata North. ClubLink has an active development application to build over the Kanata Golf and Country Club. The company has appealed to the courts to allow the development plans, even though there's a legacy agreement with the city protecting the green space.
Neil Thomson, president of Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association, said Kanata North might not have political representation during a “crucial window” for the ward.
“The timing couldn't have been worse from that perspective,” Thomson said, adding that the draft official plan also brings development implications for the technology park in Kanata North.
As for Sudds potentially leaving before the end of her first term on council, Thomson said constituents, while concerned, generally understand that good opportunities can come up for a councillor.
Émard-Chabot agreed that constituents might be disappointed when their elected representative resigns during a term, but many also understand that politicians have personal obligations and professional goals.
“Somebody who sees an opportunity elsewhere who is currently holding office will, I would think, give good consideration that leaving their job is not a simple matter,” Émard-Chabot said.
The timing couldn't have been worse from that perspective. NEIL THOMSON, president of the community association, about the prospect of losing a councillor at a time of big decisions for Kanata North