Candle Lake seeks legislation to combat ethics and privacy issues

Jan 10, 2019 | 3:04 PM

The Resort Village of Candle Lake wants to see changes made to provincial legislation.

Next month at the Saskatchewan Association of Urban Municipalities (SUMA) convention, delegates will vote on a resolution brought forward by the resort village’s local government to change legislation governing how problematic elected officials are removed from office.

The mayor of Candle Lake Borden Wasyluk told paNOW legislative changes are needed so that councils can better serve the public.

“We owe it to the public to conduct all business in a confidential manner, not to release information that shouldn’t be released, not to have somebody speaking out on our behalf,” he said.

Candle Lake has been at the centre of controversy recently, after councillor Ron Cherkewich was accused of privacy and ethics breaches. 

Wasyluk said with these previous issues before the courts, he was not able to comment specifically regarding Cherkewich.

The mayor explained the Government of Saskatchewan puts rules and regulations in place for councils to follow in regards to a number of areas, but does not provide all the tools needed.

“We don’t have the teeth to enforce that particular discrepancy or a misconduct,” Wasyluk said.

According to Wasyluk the way the laws currently are, councils are bound by the rules but at the same time are not able to deal with people who break them.

“Why have the provincial government imposed rules that we have to follow, yet we can’t enforce,” he said.

Wasyluck said he feels good about the chances of the motion being adopted by the convention, as many municipalities have similar issues.

“I am quite confident that there’s so many municipalities have this problem that, that resolution will go through,” he said.

SUMA’s convention is scheduled for Feb. 3 to 6 and will be taking place in Saskatoon. 

   

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn