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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
They don’t have to resign
Oopsies.
I told you recently that the department of education had told me that when incumbent school trustees declare an intention to run for mayor and city councillor, that they must resign their school board seat before turning in their nomination papers at city hall between Sept. 15 and 21.
Hold on, time out, let’s have a do-over.
After a sharp-eyed shall-remain-nameless bureaucrat at Winnipeg School Division read that, he/she checked the legislation and got back to me. I, in turn, got back to the provincial civil service.
The provincial civil service now allows that it "may have been hasty."
Turns out that if it’s a by-election, then the candidate has to resign.
In a general election, the trustee stays on the school board to the end of the term.
The difference is that in a by-election, say for instance a trustee running for a vacant council seat, then if the trustee wins it thereby triggers holding a second subsequent by-election at additional cost. To avoid that hassle and financial waste, the trustee must step down immediately upon deciding to run for council, and the by-election for the thus-vacant school board seat is held concurrently and without additional cost.
Council and school board terms end and start simultaneously, so the sitting member is not required to step down while campaigning for a different office.
To date, this means that WSD trustee Cindy Gilroy-Price and River East Transcona trustees Brian Olynik and Rod Giesbrecht, council candidates all, may serve on school board to the end of the term.
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About Nick Martin
Nick Martin is the old bearded guy at the back of the newsroom, the most experienced reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press, having started his career in Ontario in 1971.
He’s been covering education for the Free Press since the spring of 1997, after decades primarily covering municipal politics, including a four-year stint at the Ontario legislature for the London Free Press.
Nick moved to Manitoba in 1988 with his Winnipeg-born wife, who is a professor at the University of Manitoba. They have two kids, both of whom graduated from Grant Park High School: son Chris and daughter Gillian.
Nick has won a national journalism award from the Canadian Association of University Teachers, two Manitoba Human Rights Journalism awards, and the Ontario Reporters Association investigative award.
Nick is a long-distance runner, having finished and survived 18 marathons and 15 half-marathons and 30-kilometre races, and having (barely) survived 10 years as an outdoor and indoor soccer coach.
Nick became a soccer referee in 2007, delighting in his 60s in outrunning 16-year-olds and keeping his distance from obstreperous coaches and parents.
Nick and his wife have discovered a mutual love for kayaking at their Whiteshell cottage, and are both regulars at the Reh-Fit Centre. They hold season tickets to both the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Warehouse, and as empty nesters, have rediscovered the joys of an active winter vacation.
A native of Jarrow-on-Tyne, England, Nick is a member of the Toon Army as a Newcastle United supporter, and a proud citizen of Leafs Nation.
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