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speakup

Despite the fact that his name is on the municipal elections ballot for Grand Falls, Mario Pelletier is asking voters in the South Ward NOT to vote for him on May 12.

Pelletier, who served for four years as a councillor with the Grand Falls Town Council and was a candidate for the same ward in the upcoming municipal elections, learned too late from his employer that he could not serve if elected.

"My name was already printed on the ballots and it was impossible to withdraw my candidacy in time, so I am telling voters not to put their X by my name next Monday when they vote," Pelletier told The Victoria Star.

Pelletier, who works as a Customs officer with the Canada Border Services Agency in Grand Falls, was told that he could be a candidate in the municipal elections but that if he were elected, he would have to take an unpaid leave from his job of four years in order to do so.

"I was very surprised to learn that," Pelletier stated. "I find it very frustrating to say the least that after serving my community for the past four years to find out that if elected, I would have to take a leave without pay in order to serve as councillor."

"I called Mike Allen to speak to him about it, but he apparently couldn't do anything about the law which was changed in 2005. Just as in the case of Jim Baird of Perth-Andover, another Customs agent, I had three choices. I could take an unpaid leave from work, resign outright from my customs job or I could still campaign and if elected, serve as councillor, and face disciplinary action and/or dismissal from my employer. The fact that in my job position I am considered to be a ‘peace officer' could be construed as a potential conflict of interest," Pelletier said.

"My wife and I recently purchased a home and we have a 14-month daughter. I can't afford to lose my job or to take a four-year unpaid leave of absence. I hope the citizens of Ward South will understand the predicament I am in. When I first put in my candidacy papers for councillor, I had no idea that I would be facing such a choice. I would have loved to continue serving them for the next four years," he said.