YK councillors allow mayor to miss meetings during election

Yellowknife councillors have agreed to let Rebecca Alty miss city council meetings as she runs to be the territory’s next Member of Parliament.

Alty announced her candidacy under the federal Liberal Party banner on Friday.

The City of Yellowknife has said she is on an unpaid leave of absence from her role as mayor during the federal election, with election day set for April 28.

If elected, Alty will have to resign as mayor and either council will appoint a sitting councillor to fill the role, a by-election will be held, or the position will remain empty until the 2026 municipal election.

Monday’s council decision means Alty’s unpaid leave remains in place. If her federal election campaign is unsuccessful, she may finish her term as the city’s mayor.

Councillors agreed on Monday evening that Alty can miss council meetings during the election period. Under territorial and city laws, the mayor and councillors require approval to miss more than three consecutive regular council meetings. (If council had voted not to allow Alty to miss meetings, she had said she would resign to stay in the federal race.)

Only Tom McLennan opposed the motion.

“I understand there’s established precedent. However, I’ve never been in favour of elected officials getting leave to run for other elected office. I think it’s great that many jobs give this leave. However, it’s my belief that this should not apply to sitting elected officials,” McLennan said.

“As an elected official, you already have the privilege of working for your community and have made a commitment to a set of residents to represent them. I do not feel leave should be granted to pursue other job opportunities while already in this sort of position serving your community.

“This objection is to the practice and not the person. Rebecca has shown laudable and longstanding commitment to Yellowknife. Any organization would be lucky to have her.”

Also at Monday’s meeting, councillors agreed to appoint Garett Cochrane as acting mayor for this week in Alty’s absence. Cochrane was until recently the city’s deputy mayor, a role now held by Ben Hendriksen.

Hendriksen, who appeared virtually at the meeting, is out of town on vacation until the end of the week.

According to city staff, when both the mayor and deputy mayor are unavailable, it is best practice to appoint an acting mayor.

Cochrane will act as mayor until Hendriksen returns to Yellowknife, at which point Hendriksen will fulfill the mayor’s duties while Alty is on leave.

This is not the first time a member of Yellowknife’s city council has asked for permission to miss more than three meetings – or has run for office in a higher level of government.

Late last year, Ryan Fequet withdrew a request to take four months’ unpaid leave from his role as a city councillor after other councillors appeared unsupportive of the proposal. Fequet is currently out of the country with his family but has continued to virtually attend and actively contribute to council meetings.

Fequet’s request did raise the need for a leave policy applicable to mayor and council at City Hall. The city has said it plans to develop such a policy before the next municipal election, slated for October 2026.

“It will be great to get clarity written down about the best practices for councillor and mayoral leave,” Fequet reiterated on Monday evening as council approved Alty’s request.

At the territorial level, Stacie Arden-Smith stepped back from her role as city councillor while she ran in the 2023 NWT election. Rommel Silverio and Niels Konge ran for MLA in the NWT’s 2019 election while they were sitting councillors.

Under territorial legislation, sitting councillors are not required to take a leave of absence while they run in a territorial election. They are, however, required to vacate their council seat if they win.