Town Councillor Denied Wish To Serve Out Term

PORT HAWKESBURY - The town councilor elected with the highest number of votes in each of the 2012 and 2016 elections will not be permitted to finish his second council term.

Trevor Boudreau's request to serve for six more months until this fall's municipal elections was denied by a majority of the remaining three town councilors, with all three then voting to adjourn a special town council meeting held on April 14 to address the vacancy Boudreau left on council when he and his family moved from Port Hawkesbury to nearby Port Hastings in February. 

Deputy Mayor Blaine MacQuarrie spoke on Boudreau's behalf at the regular Port Hawkesbury Town Council meeting on April 7, bringing his request to the floor and prompting the April 14 special council meeting. At the time, MacQuarrie noted that Boudreau received council's approval in June 2019 to spend the summer months at his family's summer residence in Richmond County, even though the two-term councilor wound up spending the bulk of the warm-weather period in Port Hawkesbury. 

However, councilors Mark MacIver and Hughie MacDougall claimed that the two scenarios did not line up, with MacDougall suggesting that a similar departure by former councilor Jeremy White in 2018 was not addressed in the same manner, with council calling a by-election to replace White in December of that year.

The special meeting ended with MacQuarrie's motion on extending Boudreau's council term being voted down by both MacIver and MacDougall, followed by the unanimous vote in favour of MacDougall's motion to adjourn the meeting.