FEATURED COMMENT – No reason for mayor not to clarify his intentions

I really don’t get why Peter isn’t forthcoming on telling us and Council what his plan would be, should he become our MLA. Its really no sweat off him to provide that info to help the city plan. Sitting on it like this just creates turmoil that is unnecessary. I think you are right, it is unlikely that he will force a by-election, he’s a smart guy and not about to create a cost and hassle like that. It would also begin his Provincial political career with a riding full of rather peed off people who in effect will be paying $100K to provide him with a promotion. Is it so hard to just say: “When the writ is dropped, I will take a temporary leave until voting day. If I win, I will extend that leave until Oct 20, when I will resign the Mayoralty, so to not force a by-election prior to the next regularly scheduled municipal election.” Was that so hard?

DAVID JOHNSON

Mel’s note: As I understand the process, if the mayor continues on leave of absence until Jan. 1, 2018, and then resigns, a by-election would not be legally necessary, and the resignation would allow the council to appoint its own full-time mayor. One of the issues, of course, is picking someone from among themselves who can do the job full-time until the civic election. This is one of the reasons that alternating deputy mayors month to month wouldn’t work very well.