BLACK RIVER-MATHESON - With a Northern Ontario council being ousted, there are still few details about what's happening in the township. Based on legislated timelines for elections, it will be summer before residents head to the polls.
On Monday (April 29), the province stepped in and removed the seven members of Black River-Matheson council. A byelection will be held in the coming months.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra made the rare political move because the council didn't have a meeting for 60 days due to lack of quorum, which requires four members to show up. Hoping to have the minister step in, three of the former councillors boycotted meetings.
A provincial bureaucrat — the ministry's manager of local government and housing — has been appointed to make any decisions that council would make. They must report to Calandra on the 15th and 30th of each month. The Minister will post all reports from the appointee on the township’s website.
SEE: Matheson council seats declared vacant, byelection forced
RELATED: Matheson council kicked out of office, here’s what we know so far
Removing an entire council from office is a rare move and has not happened under the current Municipal Act, which took effect in the early 2000s.
Bianca Meta, press secretary for the Office of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, told TimminsToday a similar situation happened in the '90s.
“According to ministry records, the last time a municipal council was declared vacant was in 1993 in the former Township of Front of Escott, now part of the Township of Leeds and The Thousand Islands,” she said.
The next step is for the township clerk to set a nomination day, which must be 30-60 days from April 29. Voting day is 45 days after the nominations close.
That timeline means that the earliest voting can happen is July 13 (though that's a Saturday) and the latest it can be held is Aug. 12.
The last municipal election was held in October 2022. The council voted in during the byelection will serve until the next municipal election in October 2026.
In the 2022 municipal election, all but one of the Black River-Matheson council positions were acclaimed. The only vote was in Ward 3, with Dave Dyment winning the seat with 133 votes.
Because six seats were acclaimed, of the 2,605 eligible voters, only 155 cast a ballot. The voter turnout was 5.95 per cent.
Three of the acclaimed councillors have since stepped down. Only two of those positions were replaced because the last resignation was when quorum couldn't be met.
According to the Ministry, all questions related to the byelection should be directed to the town’s municipal clerk Cassandra Child at [email protected] or 705-273-2313 extension 311.
