McDonald accepts call to be new East Kent Councillor
Morena McDonald can’t wait to take her place at the horseshoe, accepting the opportunity to fill the vacant Ward 3 East Kent seat on the Chatham-Kent Council.
The Ridgetown native will be sworn in before the Monday, May 26 Council meeting and will finish the remaining 28 months of the 2022-26 term.
McDonald is replacing Steve Pinsonneault, who was in his fifth term representing Ward 3 when he successfully ran for the vacant MPP seat in the Lambton Kent Middlesex riding earlier this month.
McDonald placed third in Ward 3 balloting in the 2022 Municipal Election with 1,161 votes, finishing behind incumbents Pinsonneault, who had 2,049 votes, and John Wright, who won a second term with 1,727 votes. Matt Marsh finished fourth with 315 votes, and Martin Fisher fifth with 216.
McDonald said she is excited about the opportunity to represent the residents of her community.
“I’m excited to hear what residents have to say, obviously in Ward 3, but across Chatham-Kent as well,” she said. “There is a lot to learn and things to get caught up on.”
After officially declaring the East Kent seat vacant, the Council’s first option to replace Pinsonneault was to approve the candidate with the next highest vote total.
If the candidate were not interested, a by-election would be called.
Judy Smith, CMO Director and Municipal Governance Clerk said the options presented to the Council follow the guidelines outlined in the Municipal Act.
Wright, however, added an amendment calling for a by-election rather than appointing a replacement.
Wright said comments from Ward 3 constituents were overwhelming in favour of a by-election.
“The people of East Kent would really like to have an election to choose who they want,” Wright told Council. “It’s getting to be a popularity contest to appoint someone instead of having an election.”
“If we wanted to have somebody come in on popularity, we should have East Kent voters decide that,” Wright said.
Councillors Ryan Doyle of Ward 2 South Kent and Rhonda Jubenville of Ward 4 North Kent both commented that appointing a Councillor instead of holding an election was not the proper democratic avenue.
“Getting a seat on council without being elected isn’t democracy,” Doyle said.
Ward 6 Chatham Councillor Brock McGregor disagreed.
“The most democratic way to approach this is to respect the results of the 2022 election,” McGregor said. “There was a third-place finisher very close to the second-place finisher.”
Wright’s motion failed by a 10-5 vote, as Michael Bondy, Allyson Storey, Wright, Doyle, and Jubenville voted to hold a by-election.
The vote to offer the vacant position to McDonald passed by an 11-4 vote, with Wright, Doyle, Bondy and Jubenville the dissenters.
“I was only listening to the residents,” Wright said about bringing his by-election motion forward.
Wright said he is looking forward to working with McDonald.
“I think she’ll be all right; she’ll do a good job,” Wright said.
McDonald admitted it was a little unsettling hearing the three deputations all calling for a by-election and the comments from Councillors during the debate.
“I think anyone would be uncomfortable in that situation, (but) everyone has the right to give their opinion, and that’s what happened,” she said.
But she was very pleased to hear other Councillors provide glowing endorsements.
“It is nice to have that support,” she said.
McDonald’s appointment was not precedent-setting as two appointments were made during the 2003-05 Council term.
Chatham Ward 6 Councillor Ann Coulter stepped down to take a job with the municipality and was replaced by Doug Arbour, who finished seventh in the 2023 Municipal election.
Arbour, however, died unexpectedly in December 2005, and Don Clark, who finished eighth in the election, was appointed to fill out the rest of the term.
Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
