万锦市没有必要在市政选举前指定一个市议员

 

万锦市的第7选区市议员Logan Kanapathi在6月7日的安省大选中赢得了Markham-Thornhill选区的省议员席位。对于大多数万锦居民来说，即使两个选举之间是时间很短，他的市议员席位空缺将在2018年10月22日举行的市政选举中填补。

Markham's ward#7 councillor Logan Kanapathi won a seat as a MPP for the Markham-Thornhill riding in the June 7 Ontario Provincial election. To most Markham residents, his ward councillor seat was expected to be filled in the upcoming municipal election on Oct 22, 2018 given the very short time frame between the two elections.

显然，万锦市府工作人员却不这么想。他们有“市议员空缺政策”和“安大略省市法”为据。为此，这件事在6月12日的市府总务委员会会议上提出。市府工作人员称，如果6月7日的安省大选非官方选举结果公布后，当选为省议员的市议员就算辞职。市议会必须在2018年6月12日的下次会议上宣布市议员席位空缺。因此，市府工作人员可以建议如何解决市议员空缺的问题。

Apparently, the City Clerk had other ideas based on the City's “Council Vacancy Policy” and the “Ontario Municipal Act”. This caused a presentation item to appear on the General Committee Meeting Agenda for June 12 immediately.  According to the City Clerk, if a provincially elected Councillor resigns following the release of unofficial election results on June 7th, Markham City Council must declare their seat vacant at its next meeting - June 12, 2018. Hence, the presentation supposedly informs the General Committee of possible next steps to deal with the consequences.

 

Logan Kanapathi在竞选省议员时，没有人要他辞去市议员的席位，且他自己也没有提出辞职。从理论上讲，在“安省选举公报”正式发布前，他还不是省议员（见“市政法”第260条）。只有等到“公报”发表的当天，他才被认为辞去市议员一职。为此，万锦市议会必须在下一个议会开会时才能宣布席位空缺。（“公告”的发表日期为，6月9日，16日，23日，和30日）。

The Ward#7 councillor was not required to resign his seat in order to run for Provincial Parliament in Ontario and he had not resigned. Technically, he is also not a MPP until the publication of the election results in the Ontario Gazette (section 260 of the Municipal Act). At that point, the councillor is  deemed to have resigned his seat that day and Markham City Council must declare the seat vacant at its next meeting (the Gazette publishes on the following dates in June: 9, 16, 23, 30).

由于Logan Kanapathi席位空缺发生在市政选举年的3月31日以后，因此市政府必须通过指定一个人替补他的席位而不是通过补选来填补席位。（建市政选举法第65（2）条）。今年的市政选举将于2018年7月28日举行，按规定，万锦市不需要填补2018年市政选举投票日前90天内发生的市议会席位空缺（2018年10月22日）。市议会候选人登记于2018年7月28日下午2点结束。

Since this Council vacancy occurs after March 31 in a Municipal Election year, the City is required to fill the seat by appointment & NOT through a by-election (Section 65(2) of the Municipal Elections Act). The City is not required to fill a Council vacancy that occurs within 90 days before Voting Day of the 2018 Municipal Election (October 22, 2018). Nominations for municipal elections are closed on July 28, 2018 by 2 pm.

 

万锦市议会会议定于6月12日和6月26日举行。如果到2018年6月26日之前安省省选举结果没有正式公布，此问题就得留到下一次，2018年9月12日举行的市议会上解决 。而9月12日离市政选举不到90天。因此，不需要指定一个人补充Logan Kanapathi席位的空缺。

City Council meetings are scheduled for June 12 & June 26. If the 2018 Provincial Election results are not published by the Gazette until after June 26, 2018, the next scheduled City Council meeting is September 12, 2018 – this is within 90 days of the 2018 Municipal Election and therefore no appointment is required.

引述市议员空缺填补政策，市府工作人员建议采用以下两个方案中的一个：

a）任命在上届市政选举（即2014年市政选举）中没有当选的第7替补席位，或

或者，b）任命一个其他合格的人替补空缺（即一个万锦市选民）。

Referring to the Council Vacancy Policy, the City Clerk suggested the following appointment options:

a) Appoint an unsuccessful candidate for the Ward 7 seat in the most recent regular election (i.e. The 2014 Municipal Election);

or, b) Appoint any other qualified person (i.e. a Markham voter).

按照市府的第一个建议（a），4个“没有当选”的候选人中有2个被排除在外，因为他们没有提交2014年选举的财务报表。这使得Khalid Usman（2014年得票第二）和Sothy Sella有资格获得任命。Usman多年前曾担任过市议会议员。

Under option#(a), 2 of the 4 “unsuccessful” candidates are eliminated as they did not file their financial statements for that election. This leaves Khalid Usman (runner up) and Sothy Sella eligible for appointment. Usman once held a ward councillor's seat many years ago.

 

许多居民认为，Usman先生与一些现任市议员有长时间的私交，任命他填补空缺有嫌疑。显然，Usman先生过去的表现证明他不是一个能团结大多数，而是一个制造分裂的人。

Many residents felt that Mr. Usman is a long time, personal friend of certain members of Council and such an appointment could be tainted with the perception of personal bias. Apparently, Mr. Usman has not consistently demonstrated that he is a unifying, as opposed to, a divisive influence in our community.

如果Usman决定参加市政竞选，他将以现任议员的身份竞选，这将严重误导第七区的选民。由于他被任命，他任职的时间会很短，而且他也不说选民选上的，因此他没有权利称自己为现任议员。

Should Khalid Usman chooses to run in the upcoming municipal election, he would be able to campaign as an incumbent, which would be seriously misleading to the voters of Ward 7. Since he would have been in the position for a very short period of time, and would not have been elected, he should have no right to call himself an incumbent.

 

对于许多居民来说，万锦市议会休会（6月27日至9月12日）期间最好不要填补第7选区的席位空缺。市政选举为2018年10月22日，没有必要填补空缺，浪费纳税人的钱。

To many residents, it is preferable not to fill the ward councillor's seat since Council is preparing to adjourn for the summer (between June 27 and September 12) and there will be a very small term remaining when Council reconvenes before municipal election day (October 22, 2018). To appoint someone unnecessarily is a waste of taxpayer money.

 

2018年6月12日，市议会在听取市政工作人员的介绍后讨论了各种可能性。除了以上所介绍的两个建议外，还提出了一个另外的可行方案，将下一次市议会会议延期，用90天的期限的规定来免去替补议员空缺。

On June 12, 2018 members of the Council discussed the options after the City Clerk's presentation. An extra option was tabled in addition to the two proposed by the presentation - Move the date of the next Council Meeting to circumvent the 90-day period so that Council would not be required to appoint an interim City Councillor.

 

目前，在市议会采取任何行动之前，是否填补空缺都将取决于安省大选结果的公告何时发布。取消任命市议员是正确的做法，选区内选民不会有意见，因为这将节省他们的税钱。

Everything now hinges on the timing of the publication of the names of elected MPP's by the Ontario Gazette before the Council members will take any action. Eliminating the appointment is the right thing to do and the residents will support any sound judgment that involves the proper use of their tax dollars.