I don’t like this anymore than anyone else does, but there is an election coming up October 22. The mayor, Louis Antonakos , has been found guilty again for the FIFTH time and it will be brought up at a special meeting again Tuesday evening. Vote for who you please but how many times does this man have to be found guilty for people to understand we need a new captain at the helm.. Do we want the history of Carleton Place to repeat another 4 years?
Why am I the only “new guy” running for council saying anything about this? Why are the other challengers not speaking up? Are they happy with what’s going on and just willing to let all this slide? I have been consistent in my views, and stood up for everything I believe in– as I want the best for Carleton Place. Someone who has been found guilty and disrespects the staff is not who I want in charge. It’s common sense 101.
I’ve had people email me tonight wondering if the mayor should be disqualified for running this time because of this last conviction. Ontario has very firm rules about municipal stuff like that. I just found this in an old issue of a 2013 Now Magazine talking about Rob Ford. “How to get rid of a Mayor”
What can we do about him?
Well, there’s laughing and crying, but you knew that already.
No, I mean, like, to get rid of him?
Ah.
Can council remove him?
No.
Can the province remove him?
In theory, yes – the province can pass pretty much any law it wants with regard to municipalities. But it’s not gonna take the bait here. Needless intervention in politically charged municipal shitshows isn’t really this government’s thing
So you don’t lose your seat if you’re convicted of a crime, but you do lose your seat if you go to jail?
A member of council is disqualified from holding office if, at any time during the term of office of that member, he or she” would not be eligible to vote if a municipal election “was held at that time.” (The Municipal Act, which applies to all other Ontario municipalities, has the same clause.) The moment you cease to be an eligible voter, you’re disqualified from holding office and your seat is declared vacant.
Because people in jail can’t vote?
Exactly. Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act specifies that “a person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution” is barred from voting in municipal elections
Huh. Well, what if the mayor, say, gets arrested in a bar fight and is kept in a cell until morning?
Nope. It has to be imprisonment “pursuant to a conviction,” says Mascarin. “Not just jailed overnight because they’re holding you.” He offers the example of the G20. “If you had a council member out there and he was put in a holding tank with everybody – that wouldn’t qualify, in my view.” It has to be imprisonment as a sentence that flows from a conviction.
What now?
Linda says- We wait for the conclusion of the vote October 22, 2018
And until then?
We go back to laughing and crying.
Linda says: If you can’t fix stupid you Vote it Out!
lindaseccaspina 
While the mayor of my town hasn’t been found guilty there are hhmmm moments. The media isn’t a help either as they seem to want to be on their good side. I groan at the grovelling of our so called “local” reporters when they give them air time. They just won’t dig deep and listeners know it. Keep on the fight Linda!
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He has been found guilty cheryl a few times ( Found guilty on three counts of contravening council code of conduct found guilty on three counts of contravening council code of conduct)and this report has found him guilty again this time of harassing staff. It comes out Tuesday night and the Citizen is covering it this week. No one will say anything and I just do not understand. This is tragic for our town. Love you Cheryl.. BUT you are so right.. no one wants to go the full route.. HUGGG
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