Nonresidents not allowed to run for mayor of Toronto, Edmonton, and Calgary, but it's okay in Vancouver

In Toronto, you have to be a resident of the city to run for mayor.

That's according to the candidate-qualification rules listed on the City of Toronto website.

In Alberta, the rules state that you have to live in a city for at least six months before being allowed to run for municipal office. No carpetbaggers are allowed to run for mayor in that province.

Here in Vancouver, on the other hand, Kirk LaPointe can run as the NPA candidate for mayor even though he doesn't live within municipal boundaries. That's stirred up a debate on Straight.com.

Judging from LaPointe's financial-disclosure statement, he wouldn't be qualified to run if Vancouver had rules similar to those in Montreal, either.

Two months before the 2013 Montreal election, candidates must have met one of the following three criteria:

  • have been domiciled on the territory of Montréal and, since at least March 1st, 2013 in Québec, and have resided, continuously or not, on the territory of Montréal, since September 1st, 2012
  • have been the sole owner or co-owner of an "immovable" on the territory of Montréal since September 1st, 2012, and have resided on that territory, continuously or not, since that date
  • have been the sole occupant co-occupant of a business establishment on the territory of Montréal since September 1st, 2012, and have resided on that territory, continuously or not, since that date.

Comments

12 Comments

Doktor

Oct 16, 2014 at 3:46pm

If this is the best that LaPointe opponents can come up with, then they're looking pretty desperate to me. LaPointe is an alien. Spare me.

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Oh please

Oct 16, 2014 at 3:54pm

"That's stirred up a debate on Straight.com"

Stirred up a yawn you mean. Talk about a non-issue... and you've published two separate articles about it!

Doktor

Oct 16, 2014 at 4:23pm

Apparently Charlie sees this as his Woodward & Bernstein moment. That's why it warrants multiple articles. It's as big as Watergate.

Bill

Oct 16, 2014 at 4:28pm

It's not hard for someone from the "Toronto area" to live in Toronto post amalgamation. In Alberta it's even easier because every new Calgary subdivision gets added to the city instead of becoming a separate suburb like Coquitlam or Langley.

It a metro region like Vancouver that's broken into so many tiny pieces it makes more sense to permit people living outside city limits to run.

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Charlie Smith

Oct 16, 2014 at 5:09pm

I'm enjoying the comments. They've put a smile on my face.
Charlie Smith

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cosmicsync

Oct 16, 2014 at 6:18pm

Bill's comment above is correct, and should not be down-voted. I was going to post the same thing about Toronto including surrounding cities. That's a rather large factor in Rob Ford's success.

But it did occur to me that Kirk LaPointe's "Four wheels bad, two wheels good" approach seems really to be playing to voters in Surrey or Langley who commute in by car. They don't get to vote for him because they (also) don't live in Vancouver. If Mr. LaPointe were running for Mayor of Toronto (or Calgary) his approach would be more sound.

I'm actually starting to wonder if he wants to win, or if this is just about increasing his profile for a future run.

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its ok but.....

Oct 16, 2014 at 7:09pm

does he want to ban holding hands and kissing in public like the Burnaby candidate?

Shudder at the thought. lmao

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Mr T

Oct 16, 2014 at 9:48pm

Give me a god damn break. Mayor mctax and spends people have nothing better to come at lapointe than this.

Jeff Lee

Oct 17, 2014 at 10:33am

Charlie, love the dialogue you're creating with these stories. Let's be clear about one thing, though: the rules governing candidate qualifications is a provincial one. Candidates must comply with the Local Government Elections Act or the Vancouver Charter (for Vancouver's elections) (and which are mirror regulations in both). It isn't Vancouver alone that allows candidates to run who don't live within city boundaries. That is permitted of anyone running for office in any B.C. municipality, as long as they comply with the other regulations. Here's the rules, as defined by the province's overarching regulations:
To be eligible to run for office you must:
• be 18 years of age or older on general voting day;
• be a Canadian citizen;
• have been a resident of British Columbia for six months
prior to filing nomination documents; and,
• not be disqualified under the Local Government Act,
or any other enactment from being nominated for,
being elected to or holding the office, or be otherwise
disqualified by law.
I think most people would be more concerned if LaPointe (or anyone else) were to live in, say, Kamloops or Whistler or Spuzzum and be running for office in Vancouver, where they have no affiliation.
I am not shaving points here, but let's not forget that LaPointe has worked in Vancouver (at the Vancouver Sun and CBC) and has many other affiliations here.
This, to me, seems to be no more an issue than, say, Gregor Robertson listing the home he shared with his wife as his primary residence, even though he has an apartment downtown. And we see how Justice Rae ruled on that one yesterday.
Now, if we really don't want someone to run for office in a city in which they don't live (a la Montreal), then the answer is to get the province to amend the legislation.
Goodness, let's not forget that Christy Clark and Bill Vander Zalm tried to run for mayor in Vancouver without actually living here, and that didn't work out so well for them, did it?

BC Parents Federation

Oct 17, 2014 at 11:01am

If Mr. LaPointe lived in Burnaby or Surrey would he MORE traction as a visiting professor with no experience?

No, of course not, he'd get less traction and be seen as an outsider.

For the vast majority of Vancouverites, someone living in the idyllic quiet land of UEL looks to be living a life quite foreign to our siren flavoured, traffic encumbered, more rapidly growing city with all its plusses and minuses.

The day when UEL plays host to camping residents a la Oppenheimer Park or has homeless people sleeping in doorways in the middle of winter or has a losing NHL team we might then consider their life experience similar to ours.

LaPointe is like Michael Ignatieff - a just-visiting professor who will return to his comfy digs in academia and his book publishing business once the voters have decided he and most of his colleagues are not worth the gamble.

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