Incumbent councillor Angie Desmarais of Ward 2 in Port Colborne was within the center of having hip surgical procedure when she realized she had misplaced the municipal election — after her opponent’s name was picked out of a box.
“I really feel that it takes the workplace of the municipal councillor or the outcomes of a recount and brings it right down to the standing of a board sport,” stated Desmarais about the best way Eric Beauregard was chosen for the job.
On election evening, Oct. 24, Desmarais and Beauregard have been tied with 342 votes, prompting a recount on Oct. 31. The guidelines are all there in Section 56(1)(a) of the Municipal Elections Act. The votes have been recounted and the numbers did not change. The tie must be damaged by lottery — a name being picked out of a box.
Beauregard’s name was choose to say the second of two councillor spots in Ward 2, alongside Tim Hoyle, who collected 352 votes.
“To be trustworthy, I was fairly stunned when my name was pulled to be the subsequent candidate,” Beauregard stated.
The manner the Ward 2 councillor winner was chosen is not the one quirky municipal moment on this yr’s election in Port Colborne, which has a inhabitants of about 18,000. Bill Steele received re-election over his brother Charles Steele within the two-person mayoral race, which made headlines as a result of the 2 have not spoken to one another in three a long time.
For her half, Desmarais stated the tie-breaking course of wants an replace, and he or she want to see a fee re-examine the Municipalities Act and reform it.
“The recount as a entire — it actually ought to have gone to the voters to make the choice,” stated Desmarais.
Beauregard has a barely totally different view.
“I believe it is a course of that’s truthful… the one different course of I can assume of is that you’ve got a byelection, however a byelection would lead to a lot of additional sources — a lot of cash that might be on the taxpayer — the taxpayer would take that on.”
Reforms and shifting ahead
“The Municipal Elections Act must be up to date 100 per cent,” stated Nicole Goodman, an assistant professor of political science at Brock University in St. Catharines
“The act because it’s at present written may be very prescriptive for supervised voting [in person], however for all unsupervised voting modes that are actually predominant in Ontario [telephone, mail-in, online voting], there is not any written codes or what to do round unsupervised voting, though the bulk of the province is voting that manner,” stated Goodman.
Desmarais stated updating the act on subjects similar to tie-breakers and residency necessities are wanted.
“From A to Z, let us take a look at it. Let’s get there and produce it to at present’s commonplace,” stated Desmarais. “Look at it with equity and fairness, by no means thoughts about economic system, though it is crucial — equity and fairness are extra necessary.”
Desmarais’s marketing campaign centered on decreasing residing prices for native residents and new infrastructure plans, in addition to enhancing residing situations for senior residents.
Beauregard wished Desmarais luck and stated, “I’m grateful to Angie Desmarais, who sadly misplaced with the drawing of the name. She spent three phrases on council and he or she did a wonderful job representing the ward.”