City councillors taking leave — without pay — to run for MLA
Melissa Hilton and Bob Doiron must give up municipal duties while running for provincial seat
Two Charlottetown councillors will be stepping away from their regular duties to pursue a seat in legislature — but there are some conditions.
Councillors Melissa Hilton and Bob Doiron are both vying for the District 11 MLA seat. Hilton is running for the PC Party, and Doiron is running for the Liberals.
They'll both have to take a leave of absence — without pay — to run provincially. The rules around this are determined by the Charlottetown Area Municipalities Act.
Section 11.1 of the act states that: "Any person holding the office of mayor or councillor shall be granted, for the purpose of running in a federal or provincial election, a leave of absence without remuneration, beginning when the person has filed nomination papers with the appropriate election official, and continuing until the end of the election."
City laptops, cell phones not permitted
Councillors have to submit a formal request for a leave of absence to the CAO.
While on leave, the councillors are not allowed to do their city council jobs. They will no longer be permitted to use their city laptops, city cell phones and other devices.
They also have to cease accessing municipal information. That means they'll no longer have access to electronic databases or city email.
The city said Hilton and Doiron have submitted their formal requests, and are in the process of meeting all of the conditions around their devices. They still need to schedule a meeting with council to make the leave official.
Council meetings can still go ahead
Hilton and Doiron's departure leaves council down three members. Eddie Rice is currently on medical leave.
The quorum for Charlottetown city council is the mayor and half of council — five members. So even with three councillors on leave, meetings can still go ahead.
The District 11 Charlottetown-Parkdale byelection is set for Nov. 27.
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS | Much ado about acting: Islander accepted to Stratford Festival prep school
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS | P.E.I. chief touts new water plan for First Nations communities