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More by Tim Bousquet

Bill Karsten

District 3 (Dartmouth South - Eastern Passage)
- by Tim Bousquet
- May 9, 2013
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BREAKING NEWS: Angela Jones asks court to put her name back on ballot

Jilted District 4 candidate gets an emergency hearing this Thursday Wednesday.

by Tim Bousquet

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Angela Jones asks the court for judicial review. See the complete document below.

Angela Jones asks the court for judicial review. See the complete document below.

Thursday, HRM election officer Cathy Mellet declared Angela Jones ineligible to be a candidate for District 4 (Cole Harbour) in the upcoming city elections.

Friday, Jones' lawyer, Matthew Moir, asked the Nova Scotia Supreme Court for a judicial review of Mellet's decision.

Today, Justice Richard Coughlan agreed to consider that review, and an emergency hearing has been scheduled for this Thursday* Wednesday, September 19, at 2pm.

Jones' case is fascinating. She is a lawyer employed by the city, and says she has issued opinions on the very election act that Mellet used to disqualify her candidacy.

The election act mandates that if a city employee is to run for city council, he or she must first take a leave of absence, so that work and election concerns do not become inter-mingled. Jones is currently on maternal and parental leave, which is scheduled through November 16, long past the October 20 election date. She maintains that her parental leave meets both the intent and the letter of the election act.

Moir explained the situation to the court as follows:

Ms. Jones raised this issue with the returning office [Mellet] when she filed, and the returning officer represented that Ms. Jones's maternal or parental leave qualified as "leave" pursuant to the Municipal Elections Act (which we maintain was correct.
The returning officer accepted Ms. Jones's nomination and added her to the list of candidates. However, upon review, the returning officer changed her mind and determined that Ms. Jones was not qualified to run as a candidate, because her maternal or parental leave did not qualify as "leave" pursuant to the Municipal Elections Act, and removed Ms. Jones from the list of candidates and issued a press release advising the same.
We say that the returning officer acted without jurisdiction, that once the nomination papers are accepted by the returning officer they cannot subsequently be rejected, and alternatively that the returning officer was prevented from declaring Mr. Jone disqualified on account of the returning officer's having represented otherwise to her.

Moir goes on to ask for an emergency hearing, noting that "the Jones campaign's ability to function remains impaired."

Read the entire court file below:
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