Rural Manitoba council may be dissolved after mass exodus of elected officials: province
A mass exodus of elected officials from a rural Manitoba municipality has put the community in limbo and may force the province to dissolve what's left of the crumbling council.
On April 9, four out of the six council members in the RM of Armstrong – Paul Humeny, Ted Sumka, Pat Stein and Brent Dziadek – sent letters of resignation, effective immediately.
This leaves only the RM's Reeve Kate Basford and one other councillor.
"The Province has been made aware of the situation and we will work closely with them to ensure municipal services continue to be provided," the municipality's interim CAO Nancy Howell told CTV News in an email.
Howell was not able to share the reasons for the resignations, and declined an interview.
CTV News has reached out to the four councillors for comment, but has not yet heard back.
What happens now?
The mass resignation means the rural council has lost its quorum – according to Manitoba's Municipal Act, at least three elected officials required for a council to function.
A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba's Municipal and Northern Relations department is in the process of appointing an administrator who will make sure the municipality's day-to-day operations continue.
But this will also trigger the dissolution of the remaining council, according to the province.
"Under the Municipal Act… if a provincial administrator is appointed, all remaining members of the council and the chief administrative officer are deemed to have resigned," the spokesperson told CTV News in an email.
They said by-elections for all council positions will be planned, "as soon as practically possible."
In response to this, Basford told CTV News she has not been told what this means for the future of Armstrong's council or her position on it.
"I have not resigned. I was elected," she said. "Nobody has told me different, so I am not going to speculate. I am the reeve until somebody tells me different.”
Basford said right now, the RM of Armstrong is 'in limbo' until the province steps in and a by-election is called.
"Unfortunately, that is not something that happens overnight," Basford said. "My understanding is that it can take anywhere from three to six months."
Has this happened before?
This is not the first time a Manitoba municipality has been faced with a situation like this.
In 2019, the Town of Teulon lost quorum after three of five council members resigned. This led to the appointment of an administrator, the dissolution of the remaining council, and a by-election.
That same year, the Rural Municipality of Norfolk Treherne saw four of its seven-member council resign. However, in this case, as three members of council remained, quorum was maintained and a by-election was held to fill the seats left vacant.
Complaint prompted order for mandatory harassment prevention training: province
Basford told CTV News she was not at the meeting last Tuesday when the four councillors resigned, and is not aware of why they've made this decision.
"There is a harassment issue within this municipality and I won't speak more than that until things are sort of taking place," Basford said, adding Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health had to step in.
A provincial spokesperson confirmed Workplace Safety and Health received a complaint, but would not provide further detail about the complaint. They said this prompted an improvement order in late March requiring the Rural Municipality of Armstrong to train its staff on its harassment prevention policy.
Basford said she hasn't spoken to any of the former councillors since their resignations.
"I'm sorry that council has chosen to take this route. These are their choices and, yes, I wish them luck and we will continue to do what we need to do and be an effective municipality."
The RM of Armstrong is located about an hour’s drive north of Winnipeg.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.
What's causing the catastrophic rainfall in Kenya?
The torrential rains and deadly floods that have hit Kenya since March have been some of the worst in the country in recent years. Here's how factors combined to create the deadly deluge.