Four candidates for vacant council seat
Four candidates for vacant council seat
Special meeting on Wednesday to choose WN's next councillor.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that a candidate must get at least 50% of the votes but the ranked voting process stipulates that a candidate must receive MORE THAN 50% of the votes to be appointed.
The deadline to apply for the vacant council seat has passed and there are four candidates vying to be the new representative for Lavigne.
Christine Riberdy
Christine Riberdy ran in the 2018 and 2022 elections seeking the seat for ward 2 (Cache Bay). In 2022, she amassed 386 votes, by far the highest number for any second place finisher. In her opening remarks at the 2022 election debates, Riberdy stated that she works at the Caisse Alliance in Sturgeon Falls.
Riberdy also put her name forward for the vacant ward 7 seat in 2022. When running for council two years ago she stated her goal was “to restore the credibility of council”.
Georges Pharand
George Pharand has been a resident of West Nipissing for 20 years now but has deep historical ties to the region. He currently owns Île-aux-Chênes, (formerly known as West Hardwood Island) where he chose to retire to last year after a 40-year career in business. Pharand formerly lived in the United Kingdom where he managed a large import/export business.
Dave Lewington
Dave Lewington is a cattle farmer who lives in Lavigne. Him and his wife also operate the online farmers market, ClickFork. Lewington is not new to the political scene in West Nipissing. He finished a close second in the 2022 mayoral race, getting 30% of the votes. In the Lavigne ward and the neighbouring Verner ward, Lewington easily got the most votes in the mayoral race.
Lewington’s stated goal is to bring more transparency to the council table.
Daniel Corriveau
Daniel Corriveau is also a longtime resident of Lavigne. He is well known as an employee at Home Hardware in Sturgeon Falls. Currently Corriveau is on the board of the Centre Communautaire de Lavigne (CCL) along with the former councillor, Jerome Courchesne. After his resignation, Courchesne accompanied Corriveau to his departing municipal council meeting seemingly endorsing him as his preferred replacement.
Special Meeting on Wednesday
Council will hold a special public meeting on Wednesday (May 15th) at 6:30PM in council chambers. At that meeting, each candidate will be given ten minutes to address council followed by a question period.
Council will then proceed to vote in a ranked voting process. The ranked voting process means that a candidate must receive more than 50% of the votes to be appointed. So if the candidate with the most votes does not get at least five votes in the first round, council will then conduct a second round and remove the candidate with the least amount of votes.
The process will continue until one candidate has more than 50% of the votes. If a scenario occurs where a vote results in a 4-4 tie, then a candidate will be selected by drawing a name.
In an odd procedural scenario, according to the bylaw if there is a tie between all four candidates during the first round of voting (2-2-2-2), then one candidate will be eliminated by drawing a name before proceeding to the next round.
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Interesting that the ward went by acclimation in the last election. Now there are candidates. Given the record of this council majority so far I suspect they will choose someone who "go along to get along".
The sloppiness and lack of professionalism will most likely continue. Some politicians seem to have no shame.
Left to a council when it should be the ward. No incompetence here. Unfortunately we have come to the realization that without a true cleaning of these municipal offices and the refreshing of all redundant complacent personnel simply buffering pensions and lining pockets before ultimately leaving the caos they created with their disregard for true leadership. What "qualified" these candidates? Simply to have the money to pay for a spot? Lol That leadership dosen't work anymore just like the current. Clear Mayor Barbeau, give the rest of them the shot to clean up the infection that should have been cleaned up with the last outbreak and maybe they will bounce back and do the jobs that they have been hired to do. Once they do we will consider providing our contribution to their civil servants salaries. Stay safe and good luck folks your going to need it with this bunch I fear.