Guirguis election complaint unresolved
A complaint by George Guirguis, an unsuccessful candidate in Somerset Ward in the recent municipal election, has not yet been resolved.
The challenge concerns a complaint by Guirguis that the winning candidate, Diane Holmes, encouraged her supporters to vote multiple times on Nov.13 at several different polling stations.
“A city clerk responded to Guirguis and indicated what his options are,” says Shane Kennedy, the chief electoral officer for the City of Ottawa. “So the next move is really his.”
However, Guirguis maintains that the city has not adequately responded to his complaint and plans to take his challenge to court. Guirguis wants the election nullified.
The Municipal Election Act states that anyone wishing to challenge an election result has 90 days to do so. This deadline arrives next week.
— Alice Ervin
Concert hall needs longer funding deadline
Supporters of the Elgin Street Concert Hall asked the city to extend its funding deadline to the fall while the federal government decides if it will contribute to the project.
The city has already approved funding of $6.1 million and the province has said it will contribute $6.5 million. The federal government is being asked to provide another $6.5 million, with the remainder of the funds to come from donations solicited by concert hall supporters.
City funding was contingent on the project receiving federal and provincial funding by last fall. That deadline passed, without Ottawa having made a decision.
— Alice Ervin