Mayor Scott Christian tops in campaign donations; some candidates’ disclosures missing

Campaign contribution disclosure forms are missing from the Region of Queens website for some candidates in October’s municipal election. (Rick Conrad)

Mayor Scott Christian got the most campaign contributions of any candidate in October’s municipal election in Queens County.

He received just under $10,000 ($9976.44) from 49 declared donors, some of whom are local small business owners and landlords.

The biggest donation to Christian’s campaign was $1,000 from Chad Clothier, who co-owns Rumclo Developments. They’re behind the already approved housing development The Point on the Mersey. They plan to build up to 146 detached houses and townhouses, as well as 82 rental apartments just outside Liverpool.

Christian told QCCR he believes his campaign raised just over $10,000 in total, including small donations that don’t have to be declared.

“I’m really proud of the amount of money that my team was able to fundraise and it did come from a pretty diverse swath of people. There were a lot of dribs and drabs contributions as well. I think my biggest contribution was $1,000 and my smallest contribution I think was a toonie.”

Christian said Clothier is a friend. He said he and his team began fundraising early, seeking donations first from the people they know, including personal and business connections.

“It shouldn’t come as a suprise to anyone who knows me that a lot of my social network includes a lot of people who are members of the business community. … I didn’t shy away from the notion that I was a ‘grow Queens’ candidate.”

Former Queens MLA Kerry Morash and former Region of Queens mayor Chris Clarke also contributed to Christian’s run.

Clarke gave $250 to Christian and to his opponent Terry Doucette.

Doucette declared $2,550 in donations from seven donors. The largest were $1,000 each from J. M. Reynolds Pharmacy, the company that owns Reynolds Pharmasave in Liverpool, and Mitchell Nauss of construction and consulting company MC Nauss Holdings.

Under Nova Scotia’s Municipal Elections Act, candidates had 60 days after the Oct. 19 election to file their contribution disclosure statements, even if they accepted no donations.

Everybody who runs must declare any donations over $50, or check a box confirming that they received no contributions.

Failure to do that can result in a fine of up to $2,500 or six months in jail.

Also, if candidates don’t submit a disclosure form, they forfeit their $200 deposit.

Disclosure statements from only 11 of the 19 candidates are posted on the Region of Queens website. Christian and Doucette were among the candidates who filed their disclosures on time. All other councillors except Jack Fancy met the deadline.

When QCCR recently asked Fancy about it, his disclosure form was posted the next week. He had no contributions over $50 to declare.

The region says all forms that were submitted have been posted. 

QCCR reached out to the candidates whose forms are missing. Those who could be contacted said they had no contributions to declare, but said they filed the necessary paperwork with returning officer Ian Kent.

Kent is an employee with Elections Nova Scotia, who was seconded to the municipality for the election. He could not be reached for comment.

Paul Deveau, who ran against Fancy in October’s election, said he filed the necessary paperwork and got his deposit back. But his disclosure form is not on the site.

“That’s kind of weird because I found it very professional and I found that Ian took his job quite seriously,” Deveau said.

“We had an exit meeting. And with the exit meeting, we had to return the voter list … and sign a declaration that we were going to remove all of our signs and we had to fill out that contribution sheet.”

Most candidates contacted said they were told they had to submit a campaign contribution disclosure form.

But some said they either couldn’t remember what forms they signed after the election or they didn’t submit a form because they had no donations to declare.

Candidate Gil Johnson said he got his deposit back, so he thought he did everything that was required.

“The reason I didn’t file was because I didn’t receive any contributions and didn’t know I needed to check the box.”

Coun. Stewart Jenkins, who was acclaimed in his district, said returning officer Kent had a checklist of the things he was required to submit.

“I was told to file a form, which I did, even though I didn’t have any contributions to claim,” Jenkins said.

A spokesman for the Department of Municipal Affairs said in an email that it’s up to the municipality to make sure candidates comply.

“It is the municipality’s responsibility to address situations where an elected municipal official is not in compliance with requirements surrounding disclosure statements, and the province expects candidates to comply.”

Under the Municipal Elections Act, the municipal clerk is supposed to keep track of all documents related to the election.

Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR he asked about the missing documentation and was told by now former municipal clerk Pam Lovelace that everything that was submitted to the region has been posted to their website.

He said he was unsure why not all forms are posted, though he added that the region’s deputy returning officer has been on leave for some time. 

Here is a list of the candidates whose campaign contribution disclosure forms aren’t posted yet to the Region of Queens website:

  • Candice Weagle
  • Douglas Bent
  • Susan MacLeod
  • Star Donovan
  • Paul Deveau
  • Alex Gallagher
  • Tina Brown
  • Gil Johnson

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Info session for potential mayoral, councillor candidates planned for Queens Place

The Region of Queens is holding an information session for prospective candidates in October’s municipal election. (Elections Nova Scotia Facebook)

The Region of Queens is planning an information session for anyone thinking of running for mayor or council in this fall’s municipal election.

The session is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Queens Place Emera Centre.

It will explain the process from now until after the election, including the nomination process, candidate requirements, electoral boundaries, position requirements (including time requirements and expectations for council members as well as compensation). Municipal officials will also answer questions. 

To reserve a spot, call Angela Green, the region’s deputy returning officer, at 902-354-3453 or by email at agreen@regionofqueens.com .

The election is set for Oct. 19.

Municipal election takes shape as Queens County councillors, others declare intentions

Three people sit behind wooden desks in council chambers with a video screen behind them that displays a coat of arms and the words Region of Queens Municipality.

Region of Queens councillors Jack Fancy, David Brown and Vicki Amirault have declared their intentions for October’s municipal election. (Rick Conrad)

With less than three months to go before October’s municipal election, incumbents and former councillors in Queens County are declaring their intentions.

So far, three of the seven sitting councillors have said they won’t run again. Three others have declared they will run again. 

District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise could not be reached. And Mayor Darlene Norman hasn’t yet announced her plans.

The region’s electoral boundaries have also been redrawn since the last election. So some people will be running in areas that look different than they did in 2020. (You can see the descriptions and maps of the new electoral boundaries on the Region of Queens website.)

District 6 Coun. David Brown is one of the councillors who won’t be reoffering. District 2 Coun. Ralph Gidney and District 7 Coun. Carl Hawkes are the others. Gidney’s area will be changed to District 3. Former councillor Susan MacLeod, who placed second in the 2020 mayor’s race, will be running to replace Gidney. 

Brown told QCCR that he feels he’s done what he can for his constituents. He represents the areas around Port Medway, Mill Village, Greenfield and Labelle. A newcomer to municipal politics in the 2020 election, he beat Jason Croft by about 130 votes. 

“I feel like I’ve accomplished as much as I can accomplish in council and I’m not really happy with the process, so I’m looking at different avenues for moving on,” he said. “I just feel like we’re a municipal council, but we don’t govern like a municipal council. We still govern like a town council.

“It seems like everything we do is centred around Brooklyn, Liverpool and Milton and any time we try to get anything done outside of that core, it’s a struggle.”

He said he wasn’t criticizing his fellow councillors or municipal staff. And he didn’t want to provide examples of some of the struggles he’s had.

But he said he feels the Liverpool area is over-represented on council, with five councillors who have some part of their district in Liverpool, Milton or Brooklyn. With the redrawn boundaries, that’s down to four. 

“Whoever goes into council from rural areas is just going to have to fight harder to try to get their areas recognized. Maybe if councilors coming in from Liverpool, Brooklyn, Milton, realize that they’re not funding 100 per cent of the cost of what happens in Queens County, but they’re expecting 100 per cent of the expenditures that are happening in Queens County, it’s not a fair and equitable solution for anybody.”

Brown said he was also frustrated with some of the criticism he’s received online and in person since he became councillor. He said he welcomes feedback from constituents, but he said sometimes it goes too far.

“There’s a lot of anger with people, in the public. They seem to think that because you’re a public figure they can say whatever they want to you. And council is not a high-paid position to put up with the amount of hours and the abuse that we’ve been taking from some people. So I’m just not interested in doing another four years of that.”

But Brown is still proud of the work he’s done as councillor, especially helping to save the South Shore Regional Airport in Greenfield and finding more money to support the region’s volunteer fire departments.

“I’m happy with what I did. I think council has done the best job that they could for the most people. It’s just most of the work is done in the centre of town and that frustrates me.”

District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton will be trying for a second term. She joins District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault and District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy, who have announced they will seek re-election.

Because of the boundary changes, Charlton will be running in District 2 this time. But it’s essentially the same area as she represents now in District 3, with the addition of part of White Point Road. 

Amirault will still run in District 4, but her area now includes Danesville and East Port Medway. It also has less of Brooklyn. 

And Fancy, who represents the Milton area, has said he plans to run in District 7, which is where he grew up. That area includes much of north Queens, including Caledonia and Kejimkujik National Park.

In 2020, Charlton made history at age 29 as the youngest person elected to Region of Queens council.

She told QCCR that she’s enjoyed her past four years in municipal politics.

“Although it has certainly come with challenges,” she said.

“I have certainly learned a lot over these last four years and I really think that younger representation at the council table is important.”

Along with bringing a more youthful perspective, she says she’s proud she’s been able to advocate for better access to council meetings for the public. She pushed for a regular evening meeting to make it easier for people to attend, as well as the upgrades necessary to livestream meetings.

Charlton says she believes that council’s communication with the public has improved.

“That was one of things that as a resident before I ran was something that was really obvious there was a bit of a disconnect there. There certainly have been improvements. And those are some that I’m really proud of as well. Besides the standing evening council meetings, I championed audio and video upgrades because people couldn’t hear when they tuned into the meetings. And I think it’s really important that residents can do that and access those meetings and listen to those meetings if they can’t be in the room. So I would say that’s still not perfect. But I think it has gotten better.”

Charlton said that communication breakdowns were partially responsible for the controversies over a new library. 

“I would say that we need to slow down before we speed up. … We hit the gas too fast and different information was evolving over cost and I think if we would have just slowed down, we could have pieced things together in a more sensible way to then confidently make a plan that we could endorse going forward.”

David Brown says he regrets that council didn’t commit to a new library. They decided instead to move the library, at least temporarily, to the business development centre on White Point Road.

“I would have liked to have seen a library built. Having an actual brick and mortar standalone library built and not having that happen and the way the process worked out was one of my biggest frustrations in the last term.”

Charlton says that if she’s re-elected, she’d like to advocate for more youth programming and recreational opportunities. And she says she hopes other young women take a crack at council this time around.

Brown says he’s not sure what he’ll do next, but he’s going to enjoy his free time. His advice for people who want to run for council? Do your homework and be prepared to stick up for your district.

“Just to be prepared it’s not going to be the happy smiley place that you think it’s going to be,” he says.

“You’re in for a fight every day. If you want to get your area recognized and you want an equitable amount of expenditures for all areas of the county, it’s not going to go smoothly. There’s a fight involved with it. There’s a lot of argument. You have to do your research, know the policies, know what you want going in and know what your consittunts want going in because you’re representing those constituents, you’re not representing your own personal interests. … You have to know what all those constituents want so you can make the best decision for the most people.”

The municipal election is Oct. 19. This year, for the first time, Queens County voters will be able to vote in person or online. 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Queens County voters one step closer to electronic voting option

Queens County voters may get an electronic voting option in October. (Elections Nova Scotia Facebook)

Queens County voters are getting closer to having the option to vote online or by phone in this October’s municipal election.

Councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry in January to prepare a report on the feasibility and costs of introducing electronic voting to Queens, while keeping the traditional paper ballot.

Twenty of 49 Nova Scotia municipalities offered an electronic voting option in 2020. Elections Nova Scotia used electronic ballots in the July byelection in Preston. And it plans to allow e-voting in the 2025 provincial election.

Joudry says in a report to council this week that more than 40 municipalities are expected to offer electronic voting as an option this year.

Joudry recommends that councillors vote to keep the traditional paper ballot, while also introducing online and telephone voting. Joudry estimates that adding an e-ballot option would cost an extra $20,000, for a total of $70,000.

Joudry also recommended that Ian Kent be appointed the new returning officer for the municipal election. Kent was recently hired by Elections Nova Scotia to replace Ted Bulley as the provincial returning officer for Queens, after Bulley’s retirement. The province’s returning officer has traditionally performed the same role in municipal elections.