Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 17, 2007

HAY RIVER - Hay River has reshaped its municipal council following a Dec. 10 by-election.

In all, five new councillors were elected, and only three members were returned from the council ousted by a court decision in October.

The new councillors are former mayor Diana Ehman, Pat Burnstad, Sandra Lester, Ken Latour and Beatrice Lepine.

Returning from the old council are Vince McKay, Michael Maher and Kevin Wallington, who topped the polls with 779 votes out of the 1,064 ballots cast. Voter turnout for the election, which had 2,301 registered voters, was 46 per cent.

Four councillors elected in October 2006 - Dean McMeekin, Ron Karp, Peter Maher and Tom Hamilton - were not returned.

"We have a more representative government right now," Ehman said. "I think it's diverse enough that we have representation from all parts of the community, male and female, youth, Metis and the aged. I think it should be at least entertaining for the next two years."

Ehman said Hay River residents wanted change.

"I think it's quite dramatic the change that came forth," she said. "I think that this time there were enough people with 16 people running that they really did feel they had a choice and they exercised that right to choose."

In the 2006 election, Ehman was the only female candidate and lost in her bid for re-election as mayor.

The byelection was necessary as a result of a court ruling on Oct. 31.

NWT Supreme Court Justice John Vertes overturned the 2006 vote for council mainly because the ballots were counted by scrutineers for candidates. Mayor John Pollard was not removed from office because the ballots for mayor were counted as required by the returning officer and deputy returning officer.

Latour said he believes the new council is a good blend of people and views, although he said it is unfortunate the former councillors lost their seats when the election was overturned.

"But it's just the way it went and we have to move on from that," said the first-time councillor.

Karp, who lost in his bid for re-election, said he believes his chances were hurt by his support for the court case which resulted in the election.

"I think a few people were pissed off at me because of the money it cost to run another election," he said.

However, he doesn't regret his decision to support the court challenge.

"Would I do it again? Absolutely," he said.

Karp said there needed to be change on council.

"Boy, did we get change," he said. "It cleaned me out, too."

Karp is happy with the number of women elected.

The four elected women were successful primarily because they were very strong candidates, he said, although he also believes women in the community want an equal say on how the community is being developed.

The new council will serve until the next regularly scheduled municipal election in October 2009.

Karp observed the voting process on Dec. 10 and was pleased with the way the by-election was conducted.

Wayne Keefe, the man who launched the court challenge of the 2006 election, also observed the process at the community centre as a scrutineer for Burnstad.

"The process was done just fine this time around," Keefe said, adding he would not be filing any kind of complaint.

"I think the SAO and everyone involved did a bang-up job in the conduct of the election," he added.

Terry Molenkamp, the town's senior administrative officer (SAO), acted as returning officer.

Mayor John Pollard also thought the election was run extremely well.

"We redeemed ourselves as a community to conduct a municipal election," he said, adding Molenkamp carried out the role of returning officer in a very professional way.

The election was observed by a representative of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Pollard hasn't analyzed the by election results to determine what message, if any, voters sent.

"I'm not one of those pundits that sit around on The National," he said.

The mayor said he is going to work with the new council, and welcomed the addition of women councillors.

"I think that's going to bring a new perspective to council and that's healthy," he said.

The new council was sworn in on Dec. 11.