Despite residents' concerns over eligibility, Gaultois resettlement vote will continue
Newfoundland and Labrador's municipal and provincial affairs minister says the resettlement vote in the small outport of Gaultois is going ahead, even as residents express concerns about who can or can't vote.
Martine Blue, who moved to Gaultois 18 months ago and spends six months of the year there, wasn't a resident of the community when the resettlement process began. That makes her ineligible to vote on resettlement or receive a $250,000 compensation package if residents vote in favour of leaving.
She says there are others in the community like her, dubbed non-resident residential property owners by the policy.
"There's actually quite a significant population of non-resident residential property owners who have no say, who were given no information whatsoever," Blue said Monday.
"For people who have stakes in the town and the future of the town in that instance, I would have loved to have had a vote."
Gaultois residents have voted against resettlement twice before, when the threshold to resettle a community was 90 per cent voting in favour. That threshold has been lowered to 75 per cent, and Municipal and Provincial Affairs Minister Krista Lynn Howell says her department was approached in April 2022 to begin the process again.
"This is something that we wanted to support residents in knowing full well that this was a community-driven directive. That the relocation of a community is always a community-driven initiative," Howell said Wednesday.
However, the government's legislation on resettlement votes has caused confusion among some residents.
According to the province's community relocation policy, a person is deemed a permanent resident and eligible to vote for resettlement if they are living in the community full time for one year prior to the beginning of a relocation request — in this case, before Apr. 26, 2021.
Former residents eligible to vote
The designation of permanent resident also includes residents who have moved out of the community since April 26, 2021.
Resident Derek Hunt — who says he did a personal head count to determine the town's current population of around 70 people — believes that could skew the vote.
"Why are people who have already left the community and are living elsewhere still have the right in this resettlement process?" Hunt wrote in a letter to Howell. "Because they have already left, minister, you know and I know that they are not going to turn down $250,000."
Blue said she agrees with Hunt. She wants changes from the government.
"It's very obvious how they would most likely vote, which could bias and skew the vote toward relocation. So I think that's a fundamental flaw with the policy itself that needs to be amended."
Howell defended the policy Wednesday, saying those deemed permanent residents at the beginning of the process are entitled to compensation — and that people leave communities for many different reasons.
"At the time of the expression of interest, they were permanent residents. So it is their right as permanent residents to have a say in the community at that time. And if they have since left the community, I can't assume what their vote would be," Howell said.
"Right now, it's our intention just to support the community [in] whatever decision they make."
Hunt has asked the government to see a list of eligible voters, but Howell points out that would be a violation of privacy under access-to-information laws.
Hunt and Blue want government officials to come to Gaultois to provide residents some clarity.
Howell says a meeting is unlikely, as she wouldn't want her presence in the community to sway people to vote one way or another.
In the meantime, Hunt is anxious about what the outcome will be.
"I'm really worried 'cause I want to stay where I'm to," Hunt said. "I don't want to go."
