OLDS — Some residents allege Town of Olds councillor Harvey Walsh is not eligible to remain on council because he does not live in town.
They note he and his wife live on an acreage outside of the community.
However, Walsh told the Albertan he has a legal opinion from his lawyer that says he does qualify to serve on council because, although he does live on that acreage part of the time, his “primary residence” is in Olds.
“I spend a lot of time with my wife who owns property in the county and I spend a lot of time in my house here in Olds, too,” Walsh said.
Walsh was asked if he’s checked with provincial officials about the matter.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s all been looked into,” he said. “I’m still qualified.
“I tell people, if they want to know the full story, come and talk to me. But there are always those that look at the sections in the Election Act and say I don’t. They have their own opinion; they don’t have a legal opinion,” he added.
'Not doing anything illegal'
“And you have a legal opinion saying that you were good to go as councillor, you can stay on council,” Walsh was asked.
“Yeah, I have,” he said. “My lawyer has researched it.
“I’m not doing anything illegal. It’s just, if I was living outside and was running for council, yeah, I wouldn’t qualify. But my primary address is still in Olds; has been for the last 33 years.”
Olds chief administrative officer Brent Williams was asked if the Town of Olds has looked into Walsh’s eligibility to sit on council.
“The Town (of Olds) does not have a role in determining councillor eligibility,” Williams wrote in an email.
“The province outlines eligibility criteria and disqualification processes in the Municipal Government Act and the Local Authorities Elections Act (LAEA).”
The LAEA, under Qualification of Candidates, section 21 says, “(1) a person may be nominated as a candidate in any election under this Act if on nomination day the person
(a) is eligible to vote in that election,
(b) has been a resident of the local jurisdiction and the ward, if any, for the six consecutive months immediately preceding
nomination day, and
(c) is not otherwise ineligible or disqualified.”
The Municipal Government, under Division 7, Disqualification of Councillors, says “174(1) a councillor is disqualified from council if
(a) when the councillor was nominated, the councillor was not eligible for nomination as a candidate under the Local
Authorities Election Act;
(b) the councillor ceases to be eligible for nomination as a
candidate under the Local Authorities Election Act.”
Another portion of the LAEA says the following:
Rules of residence
48(1) For the purposes of this Act, the place of residence is governed by the following rules:
- a person may be a resident of only one place at a time for the purposes of voting under this Act;
(a.1) if a person has more than one residence in Alberta, that person shall, in accordance with subsection (1.1), designate one place of residence as the person's place of residence for the purposes of this Act; - the residence of a person is the place where the person lives and sleeps and to which, when the person is absent, the person intends to return;
- a person does not lose the person's residence by leaving the person's home for a temporary purpose;
The MGA list rules if a person is determined to be disqualified.
175(1) A councillor that is disqualified must resign immediately.
(2) If a councillor does not resign immediately,
(a) the council may apply to a judge of the Court of King's Bench for
(i) an order determining whether the person was never qualified to be or has ceased to be qualified to remain a councillor, or
(ii) an order declaring the person to be disqualified from
council,
(b) an elector who
(i) files an affidavit showing reasonable grounds for believing that a person never was or has ceased to be qualified as a councillor, and
(ii) pays into court the sum of $500 as security for costs, may apply to a judge of the Court of King's Bench for an order declaring the person to be disqualified from council.
- An application under this section may only be made within 3 years from the date the disqualification is alleged to have occurred.
Walsh has served about 20 years on the Town of Olds council, including five consecutive terms. He was not elected to council in 2017, but was re-elected in 2021.
Walsh was asked if he plans to run for council again.
He said that depends on the outcome of a divorce from his previous wife that is still underway.
“I really can’t say right now, I wish I could,” Walsh said. “I thought I would, but – yeah, one of those things.”
“That’s the reason why everything is in limbo right now for me to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to running for council. Yeah, I need to have a residence in Olds, that’s the bottom
