With it now looking like two Belleville city councillors will be among the candidates looking to replace former Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith at Queen’s Park, there are questions about what will happen should one of them be elected to the provincial government.
Tyler Allsopp is the confirmed candidate for the Progressive Conservatives and Sean Kelly is expected to be officially named the Liberal candidate on Friday.
Hastings Prince Edward District School Board Trustee Amanda Robertson is running for the NDP while the Green Party has yet to declare a candidate.
City CAO Matt MacDonald says generally, candidates on city council will take a leave of absence during a campaign for another level of government.
MacDonald says their absence should not have any effect on council meetings.
“All things considered, if the rest of council members are able to attend, there is no effect. So quorum, which is the number of council members we require to conduct business is generally half-plus-one. We’ll still be able to conduct business in their absence. There is no concern there.”
There are two council meetings between now and the September 19 by-election day.
MacDonald says they’ve had some preliminary discussions with Councillor Allsopp about his intentions, however, there have been no talks with Councillor Kelly yet as his candidacy has yet to be officially confirmed by the Liberal Party.
Should one of the city council members be elected, they would immediately forfeit their municipal office seat.
Council would then have a decision to make on how to fill a vacant seat.
“Obviously have to declare a seat vacant if that happens. And then there are two choices that council faces that they can freely choose. They can appoint the next highest vote-getting member or any member, any resident who is an eligible elector and those are the two choices. Or they can run a by-election.”
Margaret Seu was the next highest vote-getter in the 2022 municipal election.
MacDonald says if council chooses that route, they would have to confirm that they still fit the criteria for sitting on council.
