Ryan Kiedrowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The World-Spectator
The RM of Rocanville and a former councillor found themselves in unfamiliar territory recently—a King’s Bench court case in Regina.
The Feb. 4 case centred around whether or not the RM of Rocanville proceeded fairly in disqualifying Tim Wushke as a councillor.
From public court documents, a resolution was passed during the RM’s July 11, 2024 meeting to disqualify Wushke, citing two sections of the Municipalities Act regarding failure to disclose a conflict of interest and non-authorized expenditures. The resolution further included that Wushke —who had been a councillor for Division 3 since 2013—not be eligible for nomination or elected in the municipality for 12 years after the date of disqualification. As such, Wushke was not able to participate in the recent municipal election, in which he intended to seek re-election.
“It’s normal for people on council to have conflicts of interest, [it] happens all the time,” said RM of Rocanville Reeve, Melissa Ruhland. “The only thing is you need to know what to do when it occurs, and you need to follow the guidelines that are in place for that. So it’s not a problem to have a conflict of interest, it’s how you handle it.”
The court case was not about the details leading up to Wushke’s disqualification from council, rather if the RM of Rocanville had proceeded fairly in removing him.
“That means the actual allegations were not addressed in any way in this court case,” Ruhland explained. “It was only determined based on whether the RM was procedurally fair in how we removed him from council.”
During a previous council meeting on June 13, 2024, an invoice for the removal of a beaver dam in the amount of $677.25 was presented and approved for payment by the RM.
“Mr. Wushke advised council that the contractor, Edge Excavating, had issued the invoice to the RM by mistake,” Judge S.M. Sinclair explained in his decision. “Mr. Wushke asserts that he missed that the expense was among those being approved at the meeting and, thus, also mistakenly did not recuse himself.”
Ultimately, Judge Sinclair ruled in Wushke’s favour on the question of procedural fairness.
“For the reasons set out above, I find that the RM acted in a procedurally unfair manner,” he said. “Given this determination, I am not making any determinations on the many other issues raised in this case. It is for a future court to interpret the sections of the Act with a proper foundation having been laid in the initial instance.”
While the decision didn’t favour the RM of Rocanville, Reeve Ruhland stressed the importance of the case as a learning opportunity for not only their council, but for other municipalities.
“We’re obviously disappointed in the verdict, but we’re chalking it up to a learning experience,” she said. “I think that it’s an important case for municipalities, because I can assure you this is not the only place that things happen that councils don’t know how to deal with. The Municipalities Act is very black and white, but there’s no ‘how to’ guide out there. If we had known how to properly handle this, we would have done it that way the first time.”
The resolutions were also deemed ‘void ab initio,’ which is a legal term noting something as invalid from the beginning and cannot be changed, therefore, Wushke would be able to run for council in the next election if he so chooses. As per the ruling, the RM of Rocanville was ordered to pay for the cost of Wushke’s application.
“We did feel that it was a nod to justice that the judge only asked us, the RM, to pay a fairly insignificant amount, which was just the court costs and not the legal fees,” Ruhland said.
The RM had consulted a SARM lawyer with some questions, as well as the Municipal Advisory Board.
“It’s not that we had gone into it blind either, but unfortunately, this scenario is somewhat uncharted territory right now,” Ruhland said. “I hope that it’s a learning experience for other councils, because there’s other councils out there that are looking at this decision, wanting to know what was going to happen. I hope that it’s not a deterrent to other councils to handle situations where there are conflicts of interest happening in their councils and their municipality.”
In hindsight, Ruhland noted hiring a lawyer to handle the case on behalf of the RM might have been the more optimal route.
She also explained how people seeking a position with council are usually not professionals, rather motivated through how they can better serve their municipality. In smaller centres such as the RM of Rocanville, those around the council table are also long-time neighbours and friends.
“Honestly, it’s usually citizens who just want to do what’s best for their community and want to be there to help improve their community,” she said. “You see a difference when you’ve got good people that are there to move things ahead and to make good decisions for the community.”
