Minister to dial in on council stuck on hold
Eddie Joyce to discuss lack of co-operation among Witless Bay councillors in conference call
Municipal Affairs and Environment Minister Eddie Joyce is expected this evening to delve into the middle of the fractious Witless Bay town council in a conference call directly to the council chambers.
The four remaining council members — down from seven members originally — haven’t been able to even pass a motion to set a nomination date for next month’s municipal election despite three public meetings called within a week to address that one item.
In fact, no town business has moved ahead all summer.
A statement from the minister’s office states that during the conference call the minister will discuss the lack of co-operation on the council.
The four members of the council are Mayor Maureen Murphy and councillors Vince Swain, Ralph Carey and Kevin Smart.
During a meeting last week, Carey and Smart voted against the motion to set the nomination date because they want outstanding issues concerning former deputy mayor Fraser Paul settled before the town can accept nominations.
Earlier this summer a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court ruling found Paul to have faked his residency in relation to the October 2016 by-election during which he was first voted onto the town council. Paul vacated his seat on council following the court decision.
Carey had informed council he wanted to pass a motion to formally dismiss Paul from council back-dated to the time of him winning the byelection. That, he said, would be for legal protection of the town should any matters arise out of past decisions Paul had voted on.
The second motion Carey wanted passed was to ask police to investigate Paul’s residency issue and to seek recommendations on how to avoid such a situation in future elections.
It is expected Carey will raise those issues with Joyce during the conference call.
In the Department’s statement to The Telegram, it said it is still in the process of determining whether there was a breach of the Municipal Elections Act during the October 2016 byelection.
Witless Bay resident Lorna Yard took it upon herself to challenge Paul’s residency in court after complaints made to the department by her and a number of other people, she said, were not properly investigated.
The court’s ruling against Paul was referred to the province’s Department of Justice and Public Safety, which provided advice to Joyce’s department.
Yard, who has criticized Municipal Affairs for leaving it to a private citizen to take legal action against alleged election fraud, wants changes to the Municipal Elections Act and measures taken against Paul — or anyone else found to be in a similar situation — that includes he not be allowed to run for council for a significant period of time.
In a statement to The Telegram, however, the Department said that, “following a review of the applicable legislation, the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment advises that there is nothing in legislation that precludes Mr. Paul from running in the upcoming general municipal election if he chooses to do so.”
Yard is not happy with that statement.
She said that what the Department is doing is condoning Paul’s actions in the October 2016 byelection when, as determined in the court decision, he provided false information to the returning officer about his residency at the time.
“Surely there must be some repercussions for that,” Yard said. “If they would have declared his seat vacant, according to the Municipalities Act, he wouldn’t be able to run for four years. Basically what they are doing is condoning his actions.”
Yard said she believes the Department is just waiting until the September municipal elections for the situation in Witless Bay to rectify itself so it won’t have to deal with the Paul issue.
“They have a Supreme Court decision. Why are they still reviewing it? They’ve had so many opportunities to address this and they just refuse to,” Yard said. “If Mr. Paul runs again (and wins), he and his associates are going to take control of this town and if you think it was a mess before, wait until then.”
Yard said she is aware of a couple of people who have expressed interest in running for town council, but they likely will not put their names forward with the Paul situation unresolved.
“And they are people who are not tied to any of this, but they say they can’t run while this situation is still up in the air,” Yard said. “So, basically, Municipal Affairs is sabotaging the town by not dealing with this.
“Can you imagine, a Supreme Court judge on the bench said that if Mr. Paul is found not to be a resident, that could open the town up to legal action on every decision he voted on. So for Municipal Affairs to not address this, and to not declare that seat vacant, and to not void that byelection, they are opening up the Town of Witless Bay to possible legal action —and, as a result, sabotaging any progress we can make in this town. It’s time for them to act. It’s time for Minister Joyce to stop holding his hands up and saying I don’t know what to do. That’s why we elected you to do your job.”