Something to think about if you live in Ward 2

It all seems hypothetical right now, but the next federal election campaign will soon be upon us, and with that in mind, how would Ward 2 city councillor Terry Sheehan's council seat be filled if he is successful in his bid to become Sault Ste. Marie's next MP?

Sheehan, who has held one of the two council seats for Ward 2 since the 2003 municipal election, announced earlier this week he will seek the Liberal nomination to be the party's Sault candidate in the next federal election, scheduled for October 19.

If successful in winning the party's nomination, and if elected to parliament, Sheehan would resign his council seat.

The first step in filling the vacancy would be a report from the city clerk's office outlining options for council to consider.

"When there's a vacancy on council, council has to make a decision on how to fill the vacancy, so they either fill it by appointment, and if they fill it by appointment they are not restricted to appoint a runner up from the last election," said Malcolm White, city clerk, speaking to SooToday.

"They can appoint whoever they want, as long as the person is eligible to hold that office…or they would decide to hold a by-election (called a special election in municipal cases)."

An appointee must be at least 18 years old, a Canadian citizen and reside in Sault Ste. Marie.

Sheehan came in first in Ward 2 in the October 2014 municipal vote (3,178 votes), the other ward seat taken by Susan Myers, who was re-elected with 2,481 votes.

John Duke placed third in Ward 2 in the 2014 municipal vote (1,450 votes), followed by Michael Selvers in fourth place (340 votes).

A common practice, used in the past, would involve council asking the third place candidate (in this case, John Duke) if he would be interested in being appointed to the vacant council seat.

However, an interesting aspect is that neither Duke nor Selvers have filed their election campaign financial statements with the city clerk's office in accordance with Ontario's Municipal Act.

Failure to do so prohibits them from running in the next municipal election campaign in 2018, as well as a special election, and also excludes either candidate from being asked to fill Sheehan's place.

"It has happened before where people have gotten a court order allowing them to file their papers, but barring that, they (neither Duke or Selvers) would not be eligible (to fill Sheehan's seat)," Rachel Tyczinski, deputy city clerk, told SooToday.

One thing that is certain is that if Sheehan wins the Liberal nomination, he would be challenging Conservative Sault MP Bryan Hayes, a former council mate, in what would be an interesting contest in the Sault riding.