How to fill the Kanata North council seat for 14 months

On election night, in the wee hours of the morning Jenna Sudds pulled ahead of her rival by just 1,700 votes in the race to represent the riding of Kanata-Carleton.

With Elections Canada having tallied 95 per cent of the 6,381 special ballots cast for the riding as of Wednesday evening, her victory is definitive.

But as Sudds heads to the House of Commons, what happens with her seat at Ottawa's City Hall?

Council can elect or select

Sudds is the third person to quit before the end of this term. The first was Tobi Nussbaum who left shortly after his re-election in 2018 to become the CEO of the National Capital Commission, and the second was Stephen Blais who became the MPP for Orléans in February 2020.

It's now up to council to decide how the people of Kanata North are represented for the next 14 months and time is of the essence.

First, Sudds needs to resign, which she's expected to do as early as Thursday. Council must then declare her seat vacant at its next meeting.

Council can then opt to elect or select a replacement, a decision it has to make within 60 days of the seat being declared empty. And frankly, neither option is ideal.

Byelection could land in Christmas holidays

Appointing a replacement is not how past councils have usually filled vacancies, but it is the easiest. Ontario law says council can appoint almost anyone who consents to taking the job for the rest of the term with few other parameters.

If council opts for a byelection, which is the usual course, then a very specific schedule that is set out in the Municipal Elections Act kicks in. The clerk sets a candidate nomination day 30 to 60 days from the time council decides to hold the byelection. The voting day must be held 45 days after the nomination day.

Let's look at the calendar.

The next council meeting is Oct. 13. If council declares the seat for Kanata North to be vacant and to move ahead with a byelection on that day, the earliest a new councillor could be chosen would be just after Boxing Day.

And it's not just the timing that's a problem with a byelection. As we've just seen in the federal election earlier this week, it's difficult to find polling stations with so many schools and other usual community spaces being unavailable.

Shortening byelection period

However, Mayor Jim Watson could call an emergency council meeting early next week, for example, so the process could be set in motion sooner.

And the Municipal Elections Act does give the clerk special powers to make an adjustment to procedure that, in his opinion, "is necessary or desirable for conducting the election."

So city clerk Rick O'Connor could, in theory, truncate the campaign period if he thinks there's a good reason. So a byelection date of early December or even late November would be possible.

Councillors appear torn

Responses to an informal survey of council members — about half answered our emailed questions — indicated that many were torn about what to do.

They all say in theory, they prefer byelections. But some wonder what the point is of going to the expense of a byelection this close to the next municipal election in October 2022. Last year's byelection in Cumberland cost about $375,000, although this one would cost more because of restrictions caused by the pandemic.

With typical polling locations unavailable, the City is expecting it would have to rent private-market spaces for advance polls and voting day.

"We know that there is a de facto tools-down period in the last months before the election when most of the work done by council is keeping the lights on," Coun. Jeff Leiper said. "Major files such as the Official Plan and budget will have been dealt with by December."

Those councillors leaning to selecting a replacement want assurances that the person appointed won't run in the next election, which would give them an incumbency advantage. They also want to make sure the selected person isn't "partisan", but how? There is no playbook on where to find individuals to replace elected officials.

And there have been byelections held closer to the next election date than this situation.

"When Herb Kreling resigned his seat from Council in September 2005, the City held a by-election in January 2006 to replace him," Coun. Scott Moffatt points out.

Bob Monette won that byelection in Orléans just 10 months before the election in November of that same year.

"I see no reason why we wouldn't follow that same path today," said Moffatt.

And other councillors want to hear from the people of Kanata North what they'd prefer before deciding to elect or select. Because, after all, they're the ones currently without representation at the council table.