gŏđŏ editionap.ca Address non-resident councillor issue: Tessier RICHARD MAHONEY RICHARD.MAHONEY@EAP.ON.CA
There is hope Yes, Hawkesburgers, there is still hope. While you are often slammed for being apathetic, some of you have demonstrated that when the need arises, you can respond to a call for action. Such was the case at the special meeting called April 17 to elect a new Hawkesbury Central Food Bank board of directors. Many were pleasantly surprised to see about 80 people take part in the election, which became necessary when the former board was deemed to be invalid. Most of the directors could no longer sit on the board because they do not live or work in Hawkesbury. That discrepancy was underlined by the Cli- nique juridique populaire de Prescott et Russell, which suggested that the board be dis- solved and new directors be elected. The newboard has eliminated controversial restrictions placed on the number of times a person can seek help from the food bank. In the past, the food bank had attempted to justify the limits by pleading poverty, saying that controls had to be implemented if the service was to survive. However, it turned out that the organization had built up fat financial reserves. A change in attitude is also required, many attending the special session pointed out. “Horror stories” abound about the humiliating reception the needy have received at the Banque alimentaire. One of the goals of the new board will be to ensure that those seeking help are treated with respect. At the same time, the new directors must work on the BACH’s image. Because of all the trouble lately, some prospective donors have expressed reluctance to support the charity. Among the tasks facing the directors is the restoration of the food bank’s credibility, a valuable commodity that cannot be purchased. One of the few positives to emerge from this brouhaha is proof that not all Hawkes- burgers are content to stay at home and gripe. A new sense of optimism Fittingly, this new life for the BACH arrives when it seems that finally, Old Man Winter has relaxed its frosty grip on us, for at least a few months. Unlike last year, when spring arrived out of the blue in the middle of March, this year we are sort of easing into the new season. It is a great time to make plans and prepare to improve yourself, others and your little corner of the world. In the midst of seasonal household chores, it is easy to be distracted. For instance, greenhouses, which were encased in snow and ice just a few weeks back, have sprung to life. Many green thumbs have already purchased seeds. Motorcycles have returned to the open road. As the land switches to defrost mode, roads, and many older vehicles, are heaving. Does it seem that our roads are getting worse every year? This is the time of year when the weaknesses of our “infrastructure” are especially evi- dent. During the spring slalom season, the skills of those who regularly use rural roads are put to the test, as they zig and zag to avoid potholes. Alas, at times, even the most nim- ble cannot avert a jarring encounter with the dreaded “washboard” cavities, the nasty series of crevices that stretch from shoulder to shoulder. Townsfolk are not spared this season of car spring killers, either. Many of the main drags in Hawkesbury, for instance, are riddled with holes. This is not an isolated issue, unfortunately. It does seem that many of our routes have deteriorated dramatically over the last few years. The new season underlines a constant fact: There is never enough money to fix all of their roads and streets that require attention.
for a candidate that actually represents your interest where you actually reside. Therefore, we should also be saying, in a municipal council election, that the elec- tors should be voting for a resident candi- date that will best serve the interest of the residents and will, objectively, represent their interest since there is definitely an “in- terest and interests in common” between the elector and the resident elected official.” A non-resident can be a candidate if he or she owns or is the spouse of an owner of a property within the municipality. There- fore, an individual can also be a “co-owner” of a property and still be qualified to be a candidate. “However, the legislation does not identify or quantify the actual level or percentage of ownership that is required. I can confirm to you that there are currently elected individuals who are “fractional” per- centage owners in order to qualify and pur- posely circumvent the legislation and have been elected to a municipal council,” says Tessier. “Under this present electoral structure we are automatically creating a division of a municipal council. It is not unrealistic to state that non-residents are most likely to have a pecuniary interest in comparison to the actual resident who actually lives in the municipality and wants to make it a com- munity for the residents. The principle is to be able to have “interests in common” and that is immediately impossible by creating at the onset, conflicting interests between elected officials who are residents and non- residents on the same municipal council,” he contends. The division is underlined when negoti- ating inter-municipal service agreements, writes Tessier. A non-resident politician can take actions and not be subjected to them, he adds. “I personally believe that in a truly democratic society that the person or per- sons making the rules and regulations must also be subject to the very same rules and regulations. However, in this situation, the complete opposite is occurring whereby someone else is imposing their values and beliefs on other individuals without having to live with the consequences of these very same rules and regulations. I find this to be truly undemocratic and very offensive in today’s concept of what is acceptable in a democratic environment.” A recurring problem in Champlain Township’s drinking water has again been highlighted in an Ontario Ministry of the Environment report. Elevated total trihalomethane (TTHM) levels, created by disinfectants, have been consistently detected in the L’Orignal and Laurentian Park systems. High levels of TTHM, cre- ated when chlorine is added to water, have been an occasional problem in the Vankleek Hill system. Since the town of Hawkesbury provides water to the three communities, the ministry suggests that Champlain work with Hawkesbury to re- duce the formation of TTHMs and improve the stability of disinfectant residual in the drinking water. There is something in the water
HAWKESBURY | The Ontario govern- ment ought to prevent people from seeking public office in municipalities they do not live in. That is the argument former Hawkes- bury councillor Gilles Tessier makes in a letter to Ontario Municipal Affairs Minis- ter Linda Jeffrey. Tessier has often noted that Mayor René Berthiaume and Councillor Alain Fraser own properties in town but do not live in Hawkesbury. If he had his druthers, non-resident representatives would be prohibited from councils.
File photo
Gilles Tessier
Tessier, who had been a councillor for 20 years, did not seek re-election in 2011, but he intends to run in the November 2014 election campaign, “mainly as a result of “non-resident”electors being elected to the Hawkesbury municipal council.” In the past, council has included non-residents, “and every small urban municipality, to varying degrees, has been subjected to this prob- lematic issue.” Tessier says he believes “that this has a negative impact on small urban municipali- ties and, in my view, is truly undemocratic.” He writes: “Any election becomes a pop- ularity contest, however, it is absolutely important that it be subjected to certain qualifying rules with the issue of actual resi- dency being additional criteria for being eli- gible to be elected to a municipal office. The current legislation needs to be amended immediately in order to allow only residents of a municipality to be eligible to be elected to a municipal council.” He notes that in a school board election, where an individual may own numerous properties within his or her school board jurisdiction, legislation requires that the elector must vote where he or she resides. “Therefore, there is a reason and purpose why the issue of residency is of importance. In essence, it is stating that you should vote
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