Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 12, 2007

HAY RIVER - A byelection to fill eight vacant seats on Hay River town council will be held Dec. 10.

The eight councillors were removed from their positions on Oct. 31 as a result of a court ruling which found numerous irregularities in the Oct. 16, 2006 municipal election.

Only the election of Mayor John Pollard was judged to be valid.

Pollard and Michael McLeod, the minister of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), considered several options for proceeding in light of the unprecedented situation caused by the court ruling, which left the town unable to pass bylaws or deal with other matters requiring council approval.

McLeod said holding a byelection as soon as possible is the best way to ensure the town can continue to run as a fully-operational municipal government.

"This way, we can move forward and have a council in place without possible further disruption to the municipality," he said.

In the meantime, the mayor and senior administrative officer will handle the day-to-day requirements of the town, McLeod added.

"The pressing thing was the budget," Pollard said, adding council would have already begun budget deliberations by now. "This is the crucial time for putting a budget together."

The town begins a new fiscal year on Jan. 1.

Pollard, who is suggesting the new council be sworn in Dec. 11, said it will still be a challenge for it to tackle the budget deliberations. "We're still going to be pressed for time here."

McLeod expects the town will pass a budget in time.

Nominations for the byelection opened Nov. 7 and will close Nov. 21.

The term of the new councillors will last until the next regularly-scheduled municipal election in October 2009.

McLeod said the byelection period has been condensed from the normal seven weeks to a little more than a month.

"The act provides the discretion for the minister to vary the time period," he said, referring to the Local Authorities Elections Act.

MACA, through the chief municipal electoral officer, will provide training and full support to the returning officer.

While responsibility for the byelection rests with the town, McLeod said MACA will stay on top of how the process is proceeding.

The town's senior administrative officer automatically becomes the returning officer for the byelection, although someone else may be appointed to that position.

The court decision resulted from a civil action by Wayne Keefe against then returning officer Selena Pukanich. Keefe's court challenge sought that the 2006 election be overturned because of numerous irregularities.

NWT Supreme Court Justice John Vertes overturned the election because of one glaring irregularity - the ballots for council were counted by scrutineers for candidates instead of by the returning officer and her deputy.

"If I examine the irregularities individually or cumulatively, I would not be inclined to set aside the election save for one deviation from the statute: the counting of the council ballots by the scrutineers," Vertes wrote.