Mississauga council candidate’s name removed from list after complaint over paperwork

Thestar.com
August 1, 2018
Louie Rosella

A Mississauga woman has had her name removed from the official list of candidates running in this fall’s municipal election after a complaint from her opponent, Carolyn Parrish.

Nikki Clarke, the NDP MPP candidate for Mississauga-Malton during last month’s provincial election, chose to run in Ward 5 for the Oct. 22 election in an effort to defeat Parrish, the incumbent.

Mississauga-Malton NDP MPP candidate Nikki Clarke’s name was removed from the official list of candidates after failing to correct multiple paperwork discrepancies in the allotted amount of time.

Clarke registered as a candidate on Friday, the last day to register. On Monday, Parrish filed a complaint to the city clerk’s office regarding Clarke’s nomination papers.

Later on Monday, shortly after the city released its official list of candidates, Clarke’s name was removed from the list.

City of Mississauga spokesperson Carley Smith said the Municipal Elections Act states the city clerk had until 4 p.m. on Monday to “certify or reject” a candidate’s nomination.

“As part of the nomination, an endorsement form must be submitted, signed by 25 individual eligible electors in the city of Mississauga. In this candidate’s case, the endorsement form was incomplete with eight discrepancies,” Smith said in an email.
“The city clerk (Diana Rusnov) gave the candidate until 4 p.m. on Monday to perfect the information on the endorsement form. No further information was provided by 4 p.m., which resulted in rejection of the nomination.”

In an interview late Monday, Clarke said Rusnov noticed some discrepancies, including spelling mistakes and wrong addresses. But, Clarke said, she was only given three hours to fix the problems, and that included reaching out to eight people on her list and getting them to sign the updated, correct information.

“I’m just confused as to why everything has been so pressed,” Clarke said. “I was declared a candidate Friday. I’m not sure why I was only given three hours’ notice.”

Clarke said she is under the belief that because her name isn’t on the official candidates’ list, she cannot run in Ward 5. But, she is hoping that will change in the coming days.

“I’m at the point where I’m still looking for answers so that everything can be rectified,” she said. “I haven’t thrown in the towel yet.”

Parrish said she doesn’t regret launching the complaint. “Every candidate has to file well-prepared papers that can meet the scrutiny of the clerk and the public,” she said. “She (Clarke) should have been more careful.”

Clarke, a television host and longtime Malton activist, said she isn’t going to let Parrish’s complaint deter her from being a strong voice in the community.

“I’m a person of integrity. I stand by my actions,” she said. “I put myself in the political ring because I want to serve the community.”