Skip to content

Duke's up in by-election bid

John Duke says he is pleased to be one step closer to filing his papers to run in the upcoming by-election for the Ward 2 city council seat.

John Duke says he is pleased to be one step closer to filing his papers to run in the upcoming by-election for the Ward 2 city council seat.

Duke's disqualification from filing papers in the by-election was overturned today by a Superior Court Judge.

Duke said he is pleased with the decision.

“I am excited to run again and be a strong voice for residents in Ward 2. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Duke.

He added, “I will be filing tomorrow afternoon. That should give them time to receive the decision in the morning.”

The case was heard this morning at 10 a.m., with the decision coming sooner than Duke expected.

Duke has until December 3 at 2 p.m. to file his financials from last year's municipal election.

Duke had been disqualified from filing because he of a failure to file his financial papers by the 2 p.m. deadline on March 27, 2014.

His lawyer, Bruce Willson, said the Municipal Elections Act provides if a candidate doesn’t file on time, they cannot run in the next election. 

He added, ”[Duke] was only a few minutes late to file them.”

Willson said Superior Court Justice Ian McMillan thought Duke had a particularly strong case to grant relief and allowed him to file.

“He ordered that [Duke] be allowed to file his financials by next Wednesday at 2 p.m. and the clerk of Sault Ste. Marie shall accept the filing,” said Willson.

Willson noted the Municipal Elections Act does not discriminate between a late filing and not filing at all, but there is room to challenge a late filing.

“It’s an oversight by the legislature not to write it in there that you can do this,” said Willson.

Presented with Duke’s case was an email from the city clerk stating the deadline to file was 4:30 p.m., when in actuality the deadline was 2 p.m.

”He thought when he walked in that he was on time, but he wasn’t. He honestly thought he was in on the time limit,” said Willson.

Duke said he began the legal process to compelling the city to accept the financial documents in early summer 2014, not as a reaction to Terry Sheehan’s recent election to parliament.

City council voted unanimously on November 9 to accept a motion that Sheehan’s Ward 2 seat be considered vacant, as well as voting unanimously on a by-law calling for a by-election to fill it.

The by-election will be held February 1, 2016, with the call for nominations closing December 18 of this year.

Duke finished third behind Sheehan and fellow Ward 2 councillor Susan Myers in the 2014 municipal election.

(FILE PHOTO)


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.




Kenneth Armstrong

About the Author: Kenneth Armstrong

Kenneth Armstrong is a news reporter and photojournalist who regularly covers municipal government, business and politics and photographs events, sports and features.
Read more