CFN – Councilor Glen Grant ate his Wheaties Monday night at council as even he, one of the longest tenured councilors was boggled by the stunt pulled by a sub-committee in changing City By-law 2010-93 which would allow the Mayor/Council to fill a vacancy on council by appointment instead of as is clearly stated in the bylaw passed in 2010; less than two years later!
Council will say one thing in meeting, but what’s on the page are the actual laws. After a series of bizarre emails and calls to Mayor Kilger and Clerk Denise Gelinas Labelle this is what has been pieced together.
Audio from Council Monday April 9th (after the 6 minute mark)
Now that’s a very very clear by law. If a seat need be filled at council you go to the next with the most votes. Here are the results from 2010.
So according to the 2010 bylaw, very clearly, Gerry Samson should be taking Councilor O’Shaughnessy’s seat. If for some reason Gerry can’t or isn’t available you work you way down to Pat Finnerty at the bottom.
Why? Because we don’t live in China or Russia…yet. We live in a Democracy and these are the people that put their names forward for public office in the 2010 election. They paid their fees, stood to public scrutiny and had their names on the ballot.
So why then is Mayor Kilger and Council having a Sub-Committee led by Queen Bernadette Clement, who herself is a lawyer, less than two years later come up with this doozy?
Mind boggling!
Fill the vacancy by appointing a person who has consented to accept the office if appointed; or
Freaking mind boggling! What’s been essentially done is that with some clever cut and paste this committee has clearly changed the intent of the term above to be directed to those who “did not” put their names forward for office instead of those who have. No wonder Councilor Grant was confused?
We don’t have elections so that we can grab that guy with the great smile who buys someone drinks can be appointed and circumvent the Democratic process of an election?
While working on this story the big question was whether this flim flam jam was a canard; ie not about Gerry Samson replacing Leslie O’Shaughnessy, but about Mark A MacDonald replacing Mayor Kilger if he had to step down; a very possible scenario considering Mr. Kilger’s age and health issues. (Stomach Cancer recovery)
By passing this new by law, again, less than 3 years after the last change, the verbiage clearly leaves open the door for an appointment instead of succession as is clearly stated in the current by-law from 2010 at the emergency meeting Monday to decide the fate of the open council seat.
With the Mayor’s health in question with his heavy workload could this be the spin of a council that has spent more time in camera than in open session?
Several City Hall insiders have suggested that the Mayor was looking to step down and take better care of his health with the goal of appointing Councilor Clement to finish his term which would be in violation of the 2010 by-law.
However one of the few offices Councilor Clement did not run for from 2009-2012 was that of Mayor of the City of Cornwall and the two people that did lose to Mayor Kilger were Mr. MacDonald and Nicole Spahich.
This of course arouses many questions?
Why was this by law changed in only a few years?
Who requested it? Why was this committee so secret?
Why the obfustication by the City Clerk to local media?
Why the cloak and dagger?
What do council have against those that legitimately put their names up for office?
Does Council think they know better than the electorate?
Is this sort of Gerrymandering of Democracy even legal? Speaking with one of Mayor Kilger’s team today, when asked if he’s ready for an appointment to council; clearly stated that he felt that the old policy should be in effect; IE those voted for should gain access to open seats. However he did not categorically rule out the possibility of accepting such seat if he were asked by the Mayor and Council to fill it.
It seems the Mayor and some of council, and the Clerk of over 30 years service may have missed reading this fascinating page from the Government of Ontario and the responsibilities and roles of Municipal Council and staff?? LINK
We will be updating as more info unfolds and we suggest that concerned residents contact City Hall and be present for the Council meeting that is to take place at 4PM Monday April 16 in the Council Chambers or Gong Show as referred to by many.
Maybe Pat Finnerty was right????
What do you think Cornwallites? You can post your comments below.
Oh… this is sneaky. Has this by-law been passed? If not, when will it be passed? If it does get passed and Mayor Kilger steps down and Mark McDonald is not allowed to take the seat… I will be the first to picket outside of city hall.
This is a complete abuse of power…. can a by-law of this sort really override the Municipal Act? That seems too easy….
I don’t like Bernadette… my gut feeling tells me to watch out… she may seem sweet and can give a good speech, but there is something fishy with her.
Tin pot politicians all. Our greedy and self-centred head of council and his cronies, installing a puppet mayor and continuing to work from home — or is it from a little retreat funded by a mix of payola and a little taxpayer juice?
Shame and disgusting……a continuous ongoing joke of a city council we have here!!!!!!!!! Oh my God people if Kilgor pulls this one off I will be out with you, but rioting!!!!!!
56.5% of eligible voters did not cast a ballot in the 2010 Cornwall municipal election (see Wikipedia).
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That figure can be confirmed by calling the Returning Officer, Denise [[Elect Bob [Returning Officer in My Pocket] Kilger]] Labelle-Gélinas.
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So, it’s not unreasonable to postulate that a majority of the Cornwall electorate are bedridden, comatose, situationally unaware, or just (to borrow a quote) “politically retarded.”
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Combine that with an astute and/or corrupt circle jerk at city hall and it’s a “corporation over democracy” coup — aka fascist romp.
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That’s what we have in Cornwall, with the prospect that public office can be given out rather than earned — as would be demonstrated through democratically demonstrated choice — i.e. having Cornwall residents and taxpayers vote for a candidate.
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What arrogance by a head of council and cronies, to turn a blind eye to the law and turn against democracy.
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A blatant example of what comes from selectiing politicians rather than representatives.
My personal belief, although just a guess, is that they (council) do not want Mr. Samson due to the issue concerning his actual address. His address prior to and after the election (provincial and federal) is thought to have been from that of his home which is located outside of Cornwall. He used his mother’s address during the municipal election and claimed he lived their to take care of her. However, his licence shows her address as well! Very confusing!
I believe that this rule was simply made to pass him and elect the next in-line because this counci doesn’t want to see any further contriversy and if Samson is elected and then removed this would only add further shame to this council for electing another unqualifed councillor.
Thank You,
Mike Bedard
Ohhh this meat is smelling extremely bad. What in hell is going on with these people? Who do they think they are? Why did we elect these crazies? (If I would have only known!)
Great job reporting about these shinanigans, btw.
i’m just glad we have someone that will report just what is going on in Cornwall Keep up the good work.
we have a couple of good councilers but they are over run
Time for them to stand up for the tax payers
Can anyone explain to me why we have 10 councilors? How is this determined?
“ladida, ladida, ladida” will continue to happen unless the people’s voice speaks up. In my experience Pat Finnerty is mostly right and the “fat cats” need some type of control even in their “ivory towers”. My opinion is that Municipalities all over S.D&G get away with way too much and have no one to answer to. The Liberals have spoken about an Ombudsman I vote yes!!! Make them accountable and if they have done wrong there should be consequence.
I love this dear gentleman Pat Finnerty – every word he said is absolutely right indeed. Yeh! Mr. Finnerty. You cannot be more right than what you said. Thank you.
About a month ago when I was last in Cornwall I had such a mighty good laugh. At the Cornwall Civic Complex there was a sign on the back doors saying: “You don’t have to be rich to live in Cornwall” and I thought right away about Pat Finnerty’s little discussion and what he said about “Fat Cats Run this Town” and that is so mighty true indeed. He said about “many children going to bed hungry in this town” and how mighty true. You can’t even get a job unless you belong to them or have their connections. People become slaves to these jerks.
Pat you never own your house – it doesn’t belong to you but it belongs to the “banksters as in gangsters” which they all are. It is all a scam. I even scouted the net to see that I was right and our Canadian banks are in as much trouble as any other. God Bless You Pat.