City Hall moving quickly to fill newly vacated council seat
With newly elected London West MP Arielle Kayabaga moving to Ottawa soon, it leaves her Ward 13 seat on London city council vacant.
However City Hall already has wheels in motion to fill the void and possibly the seat.
“In anticipation of all contingencies the ever-ready clerks in our office have put together a number of options,” says London Mayor Ed Holder. “The seat will be declared officially vacant and then we will consider the options like anything from a byelection to appointing someone to leaving the seat vacant.”
The seat could also be given to the man who came in second to Kayabaga in the last municipal election, John Fyfe-Millar.
“It has been a passion of mine, I would absolutely take it,” says Fyfe-Millar. “I’ve wanted this job for a minimum of seven years, I ran in 2014, came second, I ran in 2018, came second and I personally believe I’m a logical choice.”
In 2014 city council did appoint a former politician who didn’t plan on running again to fill a seat. This after former mayor Joe Fontana stepped down due to criminal charges. Councillor Joni Baechler was appointed mayor and her ward was given to the late Russ Monteith.
The matter now goes to the Corporate Services Committee and the next meeting for that is slated for October 12. However council could decide to make a decision sooner.
“Personally I don’t think there’s an appetite for a byelection simply because we just had an election,” says Holder. “I just don’t see that the electorate justify nor could I justify the expense of putting people through that.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.