I have a dentist appointment this morning so I can't spend long. I'm trying to make up my mind about attending the budget meeting to-night. There's a public planning meeting on Wednesday.
It shows a complete lack of respect for councillors for two meetings to be scheduled the days before Christmas.
The same can be said for committees scheduled on Thursday and Friday evenings during the year. But if Councillors do not indicate unavailability, they have no-one but themselves to blame.
Notice of the meeting indicates the purpose is to approve the draft budget.
A question was asked during the week-end about Mayor Hazel McCallion of Mississuaga being ineligible to run for office after being charged with a Conflict of Interest.
The Mayor was charged after the last election. The next is three years away.
Being charged is not the same as being found guilty as charged. If that happens part of the penalty might be ineligibility to run for office for seven years.
Apparently there have been few convictions under the Conflict of Interest Act.
A former Mayor of East Gwillimbury was charged. He voted for something that would have increased the value of his farmland. The Judge found him guilty but did not impose a penalty because "he didn't mean to do it"
Of course, it may be ineligibility for public office is automatic.The clerk might ask if she has ever been convicted of a crime.If the answer is yes, the clerk might be able to refuse registration. The name would not appear on the ballot.
Such is Hazel's mystique ,there might be people who would write her name on the ballot anyway. But that would just spoil the ballot.
In any case, Hazel's hash has not been settled yet.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if there not enough Councilors in attendance as they all had more important things to do with family affairs. But that would require more backbone than seems to be available.
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