Cornwallis deserves a byelection

Opinion

Readers of yesterday’s Brandon Sun will have noticed two reports regarding vacant positions on elected bodies in and around Brandon, and the issue of byelections to fill those vacancies.

In the first report, readers were told that seven individuals are running to fill a vacant seat on the Brandon School Division Board of Trustees, and that the byelection is scheduled to be held on Oct. 16. The vacancy was created when Ward 1 trustee Blaine Foley resigned in late March of this year.

Subsection 26(5) of the Public Schools Act says that a byelection to fill a vacancy “must” be held “as soon as reasonably practicable.” In choosing the specific byelection date, however, the subsection says the senior election official must consider voter participation, as well as “the availability of persons to serve as election officials, and facilities to be used as voting places.” That likely explains why the byelection date was not set for sometime during the summer.

In the second report in yesterday’s Sun, readers also learned that a byelection has still not been called to fill the vacant reeve position in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis. The seat has been vacant since April 7, when the previous reeve, Sam Hofer, resigned.

The contrast should be obvious. Foley resigned in March and a byelection is scheduled for weeks from now. Hofer resigned days after Foley, yet the byelection to replace him isn’t even on the horizon. That’s a serious problem, given that the subsection 105(1) of the Municipal Act says that “a council must hold a by-election to fill a vacancy on the council as soon as is reasonably possible.”

The only exceptions to that requirement are where the vacancy occurs less than six months before the next general election, or where the vacancy occurs in the 12 months before the next general election and the remaining council members “are a majority of the number of members comprising the council, and decide not to hold a by-election.”

Neither of those exceptions apply here. Hofer resigned 18 months before the next general election, which is scheduled for Oct. 28 of next year. As a result, the law is clear — a byelection to fill the vacant reeve set “must” be held “as soon as reasonably practicable.” Given the amount of time that has already passed since Hofer’s resignation, it is arguable that the RM is already in breach of that law. That is up to a court to determine, however.

Why hasn’t the Cornwallis council called a byelection by now? What is their excuse?

Yesterday’s report indicates that the delay is related to the fact that the RM has been without a chief administrative officer since June of 2022 — before the last council election. Acting Reeve Terry Ross (no relation) told the Sun that the “top priority” is to get a new CAO in position first, and then hold a byelection for the vacant reeve position. He indicated that the byelection could happen in November or December, but admitted that he’s “dart-boarding” the timeline.

That’s not good enough, and it isn’t a valid excuse under the law. That conclusion is echoed by a response received by the Sun from a Manitoba government spokesperson on Thursday, who said: “While ‘as soon as is reasonably possible’ is not explicitly defined by the act, this section of the act is meant to balance the right to democratic representation with any extenuating circumstances, such as a state of emergency, that may affect the time and resources required to conduct a byelection.”

There are no extenuating circumstances that prevent a byelection from being held in Cornwallis. There is no flood, no fire — no crisis of any kind — that would prevent candidates from campaigning and voters from voting.

Ross and his fellow councillors may feel that hiring a CAO is more important than having an elected reeve, but shouldn’t the reeve be involved in the selection and hiring of the CAO? Given that the reeve is the elected official who will work more closely with the new CAO, doesn’t that just make sense?

Those are valid questions, but an even more serious question relates to the rights and expectations of Cornwallis taxpayers. They have endured all the turmoil surrounding the resignation of the previous CAO, a bungled hiring process, the resignation of their reeve, several months having passed without that vacancy having been filled, and no byelection in sight.

They have every reason to wonder when the gong show they have endured will finally end.

Right or wrongly, fairly or unfairly, there is a growing perception that Ross and his fellow councillors have no genuine intention of calling a byelection anytime soon; that they are delaying the byelection call as long as possible, with the intention to eventually argue that it makes no sense to incur the expense and inconvenience of a byelection when the general election is just months away.

If that perception is wrong, there is an easy way for Ross and his council colleagues to dispel it. Follow the example set by the Brandon School Division. Call a byelection.