New arrivals and pending departures all part of City Hall theme tonight

Tonight's City Council session provides a variety of themes for Rupertites to watch for, as the City gets set to enter a new era of Administration.

Taking up his duties this evening will be the City Manager, Robert Long, who has been on the job since May 15th, tonight marks the first Council meeting under his watch.

One of the first items of the night would seem to be the announcement of a replacement for the recently departed City Financial Officer Dan Rodin, who left the City on the same day that Mr. Long arrived. 

From Council's agenda for this evening, we learn that Ms. Corrine Bomben will be getting the move upwards on the city's staffing roster,  set to take on the duties (if approved by Council tonight) as the Acting Financial Officer.

As Ms. Bomben moves up, the City Administrator appears set to move on, as Robert Grodecki will be leaving that post shortly, we're not sure of the timeline on that planned departure, but the search for his replacement is already on.

And while the upper ranks of civic administration continue with what now appears to be a fairly major overhaul, we still have yet to learn the intentions of the newly elected MLA for the North Coast, Councillor Jennifer Rice.

The Councillor who won her bid for provincial office on May 14th, hasn't offered up much in the way of what she plans to do regarding her current seat on City council.

She has provided some feedback to both the Northern View and the QCI Observer as to her thoughts on her success at the provincial level and what she may be taking on when in Victoria.

But her plans for her council seat, and where we go from here, is a topic that is still in development it would appear, her current thinking being that she will remain on Council for the time being.

Prince Rupert Councillor, MLA-elect addresses dual positions

MLA elect promises strong advocacy

Not that she hasn't been offered up some timely advice from the local media.

The Northern View had two editorials in last weeks opinion pages, offering the new MLA some guidance.

Time to live up to election promises

Now is the time for Rice to step down

And if that's not helpful towards her planning, there are some interesting thoughts from other new MLA's, who like Ms. Rice also hold municipal office.

Some points to ponder that might give her some research material for the decision ahead.

As we outlined earlier this month on the blog, The Councillor has much in the way of company when it comes to making a decision on what to do about the twin positions of municipal and provincial office.

Among the more notable of thoughts from those in the same situation.

Mayor Dan Ashton of  Penticton who has reportedly offered to cover the cost of the byelection required for his departure from civic office, the newly elected Liberal MLA has said he would be willing to pay for the cost of a byelection, something which could set him back some 35,000 dollars.

It was an offer that Langley's Mayor Peter Fassbender wasn't particularly thrilled to hear about, suggesting that the Mayor of Penticton wasn't doing any favours for the remainder of the elected of the migrating municipals.

Fassbender intends to step down from Municipal office, but doesn't seem inclined to cover the cost of the by-election process. 

Globe and Mail-- Penticton Mayor to pay for by-election

Penticton Western News-- Dan Ashton takes Penticton riding for BC Liberals

Maple Ridge News-- MLA elect could stay on Pitt council

CBC-- Byelections expected in several BC municipalities

Vancouver Sun-- Civic politicians who won seats in Victoria face tough decisions about their council posts

Vancouver Sun-- Municipal leaders a big factor in B. C. Liberal election shocker

In Delta,  Scott Hamilton faces a similar decision as Ms. Rice, though he would seem to be leaning towards staying on as a councillor if possible, as he puts it to save the community the cost of an election.

Delta Optimist-- Councillor Not certain he'll vacate seat 

However, he does state that he would not be taking on two salaries should he decide to stay as a member of Delta Council, providing perhaps what may be the best guiding statement for anyone in a similar quandary.

In his comments to the Delta Optimist Hamilton stressed that "he wouldn't take both salaries if he remained in both jobs, saying he'd happily give one to charity", adding "that would be the ultimated in double-dipping and I wouldn't do that"

That could provide a variation of Councillor Thorkelson's recent thoughts on how the City needs to "work smarter".

Whatever decision Ms. Rice may make, the need to declare her long term intentions has arrived. 

There's much work ahead for her on the provincial level and as we learned through the emotional budget discussions many challenges for the City moving ahead.

In her recent media interviews both in Prince Rupert and on Haida Gwaii she seems clear as to her ambitions for and the challenge ahead with her new duties with the NDP, which perhaps should suggest she may wish to concentrate on those looming tasks.

With all the introductions and farewells of the last few weeks it seems like a timely moment for an announcement. 

And while it's not on the Agenda for tonight's council meeting, tonight's session may provide the perfect venue for Councillor/MLA elect Rice to declare her intentions, providing some closure to a topic that has dogged her and City Council since she secured the NDP nomination in January. 

Cross posted from the North Coast Review

Councillor Rice just one of many to make the jump to Provincial Politics

Putting aside the oversight by the CBC in NOT listing her among the other ten municipal politicians that have been elected to the Legislature on Tuesday, Councillor Jennifer Rice will have an interesting club to join when she arrives in Victoria.

In a chamber of 85 members, 11 of the new class of 2013 will have made the migration from municipal office with this election, a change on the resume that will leave their various communities on the hook for a by election to fill that now vacant seat.

The nature of Ms. Rice's campaign while a member of council became a bit of a controversy in the early going, but that theme seemed to fade as the election campaign moved into the more active phase of the last month.

There has been some thought in the past, that she might be able to hold both jobs until her Council term comes to an end, but that would seem to be an unwise idea.

Considering the many challenges facing Prince Rupert, having a councillor that can devote all of his or her time to local issues, would most likely be the preference of Prince Rupert residents.

Of the ten other municipal politicians, a few have already indicated that they will be giving up their municipal seats, while others are still giving some thought as to what they will do, now that they've found success at the provincial election.

As the CBC outlines it's an expensive prospect to replace one member with a by election process, a situation that could require some creative thinking  to help defray the cost of continuity.

In Penticton, Mayor Dan Ashton who won a seat in Victoria for the Liberals, has offered to cover the cost of the by election in his community.

A solution that Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender, who also succeeded in his provincial quest, isn't particularly inclined to do, in fact, if anything he sounds a tad annoyed at his Penticton compatriots gesture.
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Where Councillor Rice, now the MLA elect for the North Coast is on the whole theme remains to be seen.

As for the Council seat, should it become vacant, perhaps an option could be to go back to the last election count of 2011 and ask the last candidate at the cut off of six, if he is willing to serve the remainder of this Council session.

In this case that would be Rob Vallee who trailed Judy Carlick-Pearson by 141 votes on election day on November 19th of 2011.

We're not sure whether that's a workable solution within the Community Charter, or if Rupertites are more inclined and dedicated to have another chance to cast a ballot this year.

Maybe Council will just decide to go forward with but five members in the Chamber upon Ms. Rice's departure.

But with another trip to the municipal polls not set until 2014, a city that is looking to work smarter and save money wherever it can, might just wish to use the 2011 election results as a short list of applicants.

Asking Mr. Vallee if he is willing to step in and serve out Councillor Rice's term, could provide a short term  and fiscally sensible solution, to what could for the City be a very expensive farewell to the new MLA elect.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review


Update: A helpful reader to our blog, with some knowledge of Municipal governance, made contact by way of our email address to set us straight on municipal succession. Providing an advisory that our fanciful project to save money isn't allowed under the Community Charter.

So, at some point we imagine we'll let democracy rule and cast a ballot for a replacement, or not...

Thank You for being a ... friend?

Senator Mike Duffy is finding that it's good to have friends, even if your friends, are hand picked, may not be particularly close, but come bearing gifts.

In the case of his new bestie Nigel Wright, 90,000 dollars to help him out of his accommodation travails in Ottawa.

The Senator from PEI (sometimes) has been the eye of an Ottawa hurricane this week, as revelations continue to swirl over the nature of his arrangement with his friend Mr. Wright, who also spends a good portion of his day job helping out his boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Needless to say, the optics of the whole hand off of cash to Mr. Duffy is raising more than a few eyebrows around the Capital and once again, a percolating scandal  is stirring the thoughts that maybe Canada might just be better off without a Senate.

A case against that isn't particularly helped by the recent press generated by Senators Duffy, Harb and Brazeau.

The calls for Mr. Duffy to resign are starting to gain volume as the story continues to spin off in any number of directions, including some questions of the PMO itself.

The lingering question as to the Senate's credibility and efficiency still to be debated we imagine, with the odds declining by the day, as to Canadians resolve on keeping the Chamber of Sober Second thought.

A place where it seems from time to time, some of the residents don't give a second thought to the consequences of their actions.

As for Mr. Wright, if he's going to be dispatched with regular abandon to lend financial assistance, one hopes that he doesn't have many folks listed as friends on his facebook page (if he has one).

Friendship it seems could be a very expensive proposition to keep alive.

National Post-- The only right thing left for Mike Duffy to do now is resign
Toronto Star-- Senate scandal has now reached into the Prime Ministers Office
Toronto Star-- Why Mike Duffy should quit Canada's Senate
Globe and Mail-- Mike Duffy scandal finds the Tories in a moral maze without a compass
CBC-- PM's chief of staff paid off Mike Duffy's Senate expenses
CTV News-- Mike Duffy made secret deal with Harper's chief of staff during audit
Maclean's-- Mike Duffy can't control the story

Electoral Autopsy: North Coast Edition

Wednesday morning has provided for no shortage of shock and discussion on the North Coast, as voters digest the local results and those province wide, the former providing little of a surprise, the latter a seismic shock of political proportions.

From the coffee shops of the city to its lively chat forums, the topic of BC Election 2013 played out, the conversation  mostly a review of the results of Tuesday night, which saw the NDP hold their grasp on the North Coast, while watching it all slip away province wide. Conversations for some which were ones of shock, for others sheer giddy delight it would seem.

On the local chat forum hackingthemainframe, home for many an enthusiastic local NDP supporter, the various stages of grief seemed to be playing out among the truly devoted to the NDP.

With many a normally verbose and engaged commentator seemingly steeped in shock over the outcome of the provincial numbers on the night.

As we outlined in our post election review of the early hours of Wednesday morning, Councillor Jennifer Rice held this riding in the NDP column.

But she did so with a reduced vote count from her predecessor, as we outlined in our midnight hours review (an electoral theme picked up later in the day by the Northern View) the NDP actually had some 599 less votes this year compared to the 2009 totals.

Ms Rice's plurality at the polls was more than enough to easily secure victory, but surely it was a vote count that will leave many an NDP organizer wondering if a good portion of those former supporters were sitting this one out after the January nomination battle with PRDTF local president Joanna Larson.

Some of those disenchanted voters may have parked their votes with the Green Party as Hondo Arendt added to the Green totals from 2009 by some 129 votes.  A solid improvement for the Greens and not really enough of a gain for the NDP to claim that vote splitting was a major concern for the North Coast.

In fact, where those votes came from will make for much in the way of a project for NWCC's political science classes, one imagines that a few came from those that perhaps didn't find much common ground with the NDP candidate, or her party's policies on environmental matters.

Something that the NDP will no doubt wish to examine for the next electoral cycle.

The Liberal campaign also found numbers down from 2009, not surprising as for all her efforts on behalf of her party, Judy Fraser's campaign was nowhere near as visible as that of former Mayor Herb Pond in 2009.

In that election cycle Mr. Pond was seemingly everywhere and anywhere, the Liberals flooding the region with pamphlets, signs and such. Not surprisingly he had a very strong campaign, but yet, still came up short to Gary Coons at that time. Indicative of the tough road to Victoria that the North Coast presents to the Liberals.

This time around, the Liberal campaign seemed much of a show the flag kind of affair, with little in the way of actual door to door campaigning, or flyers making the rounds. Though she did benefit from a visit from the Premier who made a stop over on the North Coast at the start of the campaign.

Ms. Fraser's campaign also suffered a slow start, owing to some health concerns at the beginning of the election, a situation that required the rescheduling of the candidates debate and seems to have reduced the time she was able to give to the campaign.

With all of that, she collected a core vote of 2,500, which perhaps offers the party something to build on, though clearly the Liberal message will need a bit of refinement in the region to fully register on an election day.

As for the successful candidate, Ms. Rice will certainly have a fascinating learning curve ahead of her.

Provincial politics is truly a much more bare knuckles and dig in kind of venture, than the seemingly collegial atmosphere that Prince Rupert City Council has provided for her.

On Tuesday, we imagine Ms. Rice, like many other NDP candidates was anticipating joining Adrian Dix as part of a new government in British Columbia, the tsunami of results from Tuesday night leaving them once again in opposition, which will require a change of focus we imagine.

That Slogan of "Change for the Better" now destined for the archives of provincial electoral history, soon to replaced perhaps with "Keeping an eye on them" as about the best they can hope for over the next four years.

Councillor Rice, who will soon have to make a decision on her seat on City Council, will join what seems to be a block of Northern BC and Vancouver Island NDP MLA's making up a good portion of Adrian Dix's caucus (providing he's around much longer to lead that caucus).

All will be dividing up the shadow portfolios of opposition.

Whether Councillor Rice, with her limited political experience on the provincial scene will be provided with a high or low profile shadow job remains to be seen.

For those following last nights drama at home, political observers on the North Coast would have learned much about the reaction from Prince Rupert voters last night from social media,  a helpful tool which seemed to provide the best window on the North Coast as to developments in our local races.

There were many contributions of note made to the #princerupert forum on twitter, well worth reviewing for those looking for tidbits of reaction from all of the different supporters and observers on the night.

In the end, for the North Coast, Tuesday night has provided for little change in the political dynamic. From Haida Gwaii and the coast and on into Skeena, a good portion of the vote stayed with the NDP, but rather than anticipating the possibilities of joining a government in waiting, the ridings of the Northwest once again find themselves among the opposition ranks and among reduced opposition ranks at that.

As though to provide a final exclamation point on the historical nature of Tuesday's election, the total seat count at the end of the night of Liberals 50, NDP 33, Independent 1, Green 1 actually means that the NDP lost seats in the Legislature,  having lost three seats from the days of Carole James leadership and her 36 seats of 2009.

Something no one, whether on the North Coast or anywhere else in the province probably imagined when the polls closed last night at 8 PM.

You can review the campaign from our Election Desk archives, which we will update with further items as they develop over the next few days.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review

NDP Claims North Coast, Liberals Claim the Province

Election night, was an evening of mixed emotions for local NDP supporters, while the local NDP organization mounted an effective and successful campaign to get their candidate Jennifer Rice elected to the Legislature.

Across BC it wasn't quite the night of celebration that would be found on the North Coast.

Ms. Rice, the City Councillor who claimed the NDP nomination in January, took off to an early lead in the first poll reports and never looked back.  Holding a 1,500 plus vote margin over her nearest challenger on the night, the BC Liberals Judy Fraser.  

Third place finisher, Hondo Arendt of the Green Party filled out the ballot for the day, receiving close to 800 votes when the counting was complete.

In percentages, the NDP claimed 56.61 percent of the vote, the Liberals 33.12 and the Green Party 10.26 of those that cast their ballots in this years election.

For the two main parties, Tuesday night provided for a drop in their totals from the last election of 2009, While the Green party increased their vote count from four years ago.

NDP     2013 Jennifer Rice    4,341       2009 Gary Coons  4,940

Liberal  2013 Judy Fraser       2,500      2009 Herb Pond    2,981

Green   2013 Hondo Arendt     787       2009 Lisa Girbav     658

The NDP dropping 599 votes and the Liberals shedding some 481, would seem to indicate that either the number of voters has dropped in the riding, or that more than a few of the more reliable of voters for both parties chose to  sit this one out.

With her election to the Legislature, Ms. Rice will soon have to make a decision regarding her seat at Prince Rupert City Council and whether she will attempt to hold the dual positions through the summer, or step down from Municipal office and send Prince Rupert residents to a potential by-election race.

That however is probably a conversation for another day, for now the Councillor will have many other things to concentrate on, joining a depleted NDP caucus in Victoria and one in opposition.  A most un-anticipated thing we imagine heading into election day on Tuesday.

While the NDP clearly got out their vote on the North Coast, the same could not be said for the party in a good number of ridings that they most likely felt safe about heading into Tuesday morning.

In one of the more remarkable election nights in B. C. history, the front running NDP were sideswiped on polling day, their anticipated majority disappearing shortly after the polls were closed and the counting began. A night which many believed would end with a celebration instead, took on the features of a wake as the NDP numbers never came in.

While NDP leader Adrian Dix held his own seat, the NDP at the end of the night had actually lost seats in the Legislature, as the Liberals took seat after seat in key swing riding's of the province, surprising most pundits and pollsters with a seat total of 50 by the end of the evening, up two from when the Legislature last held session. 

The NDP claimed 33 seats by the evening's end, while the Green Party elected their first MLA to the Legislature with a representative from Victoria. One Independent was also returned to the Legislature.

The Final results making for a stunning political comeback for Premier Christy Clark, who while not finding success in her own riding of Vancouver-Point Grey, delivered the vote for the Liberal party in many riding's across the province.

The nature of the Liberal comeback left many a pundit looking a little sheepish on the various political broadcasts of Tuesday night, some of the print contributions from the aftermath of election night can be found below.

Vancouver Sun-- Vaughn Palmer-- Everyone was wrong- except for the Liberals and the voters

The Province-- Michael Smyth- Clark made this election all about the economy, and Dix let it happen

Globe and Mail-- Turnaround after 'full on battle' surprises even B. C. Liberals

Victoria Times Colonist- Les Leyne- NDP watch election victory fly by their eyes

Initial numbers on the voter turn out provided a disappointing report of 48 percent, that total however was revised after Midnight, with the number of voter participation trending towards 52 percent, compared to 50.9 percent in 2009.  

Still not a resounding endorsement for political participation, but decidedly better than those early returns in the upper forties. But a result that indicates that much work remains to be done to have British Columbians become more involved in their political process.

You can review the results of the campaign from a variety of sources.

Elections BC

CBC-- BC Votes 2013

CTV BC-- Election Coverage

Global BC-- Decision BC

Globe and Mail-- BC Votes 2013

Times Colonist-- Election coverage

Vancouver Sun-- Election 2013

Vancouver Province-- Election 2013

The Tyee-- The Election Guide

Notes on the local campaigns on the North Coast and Skeena can be found below:

The Northern View-- Jennifer Rice elected North Coast MLA

CFNR-- Rice wins North Coast 

CFTK-- Rice Holds North Coast Seat for NDP

CFNR-- Close race in Skeena

CFTK-- New Democrat Robin Austin Declares Victory in Skeena

Terrace Standard-- It's Official. Austin holds Skeena seat

Cross Posted from the North Coast Review