Minister apologizes to former chair of Souris West, promises to review new act

P.E.I. Minister of Communities, Land and EnvironmentRichard Brown arrived unexpectedly at a grocery store in Souris on the weekend to offer an apology to a municipal leader he recently fired.

Brown fired chair Pat O'Connor along with the entire council from the tiny community of Souris West on Sept. 28 for not complying with the province's Municipal Government Act specifically, for failing to prepare for municipal elections taking place Nov. 5.

The Federation of Municipalities could set up a central office to handle calls for communities that don't want to have an office in their own community. Richard Brown

According to O'Connor, the new requirement that communities like Souris West hold full-day elections with paper ballots and paid staff is just one way the new legislation asks too much from small communities.

Up until this year, elections in Souris West and similar tiny communities were held at community meetings, with nominations from the floor and a show of hands to certify who gets in.

Minister's response 'didn't get mailed'

Back on Feb.14, O'Connor wrote to Brown on behalf of five municipalities in the area looking for help from the province to explore municipal restructuring.

But Brown's reply mistakenly didn't get sent until Oct. 12 eight months later, and two weeks after he fired O'Connor and his fellow councillors for failing to follow the new act.

"I apologized on behalf of the department that apparently it didn't get mailed," Brown told CBC News on Monday.

"My message to Pat was, 'Lookit Pat, there was some miscommunications here, I'm for Souris West, I think it's a great community and is there any ways we can mend our ways here and move forward?'"

O'Connor said Brown arrived without any warning and delivered his apology in front of the bakery at MacPhee's Save Easy, where O'Connor is the manager.

He said his council had decided to "take a stand" by delaying any move to meet the requirements of the new act until they received a reply to their letter.

Act will be reviewed

"I think there needs to be a proposal out there to review some of these things, and adapt them to the categories of communities," O'Connor said Monday. "The same rules for cities, the same rules for us it doesn't make sense. We need amendments to the act."

Brown said he has received similar comments from other municipal leaders, and is promising a review.

"It is a sore point on a lot of municipalities and we are reviewing those sections of the act," Brown said. After municipal elections Nov. 5, Brown said it will be a priority to open up talks with new municipalities, especially on requirements foroffice hours and elections.

"They could join together a few areas and go under one office," suggested Brown. "Or ... the Federation of Municipalities could set up a central office to handle calls for communities that don't want to have an office in their own community."

O'Connor said he believes things would have been very different had his council received the minister's response sooner.

"It would have changed everything. Then we would have looked for co-operation to get by these regulations," O'Connor said.

Brown said with municipal elections now underway, it's too late to reinstate O'Connor and the other councillors, but said he will consider O'Connor's request that the former councillors receive a written apology.

He said his trip to Souris was partly to convince O'Connor to run once again for the position from which Brown just fired him. The former Souris West chair said he has notyet decided on that. Nominations close Friday.

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