A judge has ruled on the application by a resident of Kamsack to remove two councillors from Kamsack Town Council based on their alleged failure to disclose a conflict of interest.
Justice J.E. McMurtry's decision on the matter, which was heard at the Yorkton Court of Queen's Bench in December, was released on April 20. The justice dismissed the application.
The issue dates back to a year ago when Kamsack Council began deliberations on a number of topics relating to healthcare in the town, including a recommendation to establish a town medical clinic and another to move the community's methadone clinic to the Sunrise Health Region offices.
A group of residents led by Ken Fleet argued that two councillors, Dot Davies and Denise Wishnevetski-Grozik, should have declared a pecuniary interest and removed themselves from any discussion of these matters because of their close connections to local physician Dr. Murray Davies. Councillor Davies is the physician's wife and Councillor Grozik his part-time employee.
The residents' campaign eventually led to the hearing in December. Fleet represented himself in court while attorney Tom Campbell represented Davies and Wishnevetski-Grozik.
In her decision, Justice McMurtry concluded that no evidence exists that the two councillors "had any pecuniary interest in recruiting doctors to Kamsack or in the location of the Methadone Clinic, or in whether the town combined two medical clinics into one.
"It is not sufficient for the applicant [Fleet] to assert that the respondents [Davies and Grozik] are in a conflict of interest when they engage in Council business which may have an impact on the medical practice of Dr. Murray Davies," the ruling continues.
Fleet, wrote the judge, failed to demonstrate specific examples of how Council's decisions would financially benefit Dr. Davies and the two councillors.
Fleet says he is disappointed but not entirely surprised by the ruling. He was glad to have a chance to speak on the issue publicly.
"I think the message has gotten across. It cost us a few dollars to do it, but I think they got the message."
The Kamsack resident says he will leave the matter of the two councillors alone after this, but he plans to continue campaigning for improvements to Kamsack's healthcare situation.
"We'll be focusing on the fact that we still have a doctor problem here, and now we have a hospital problem. We'll still be dealing with that," said Fleet. "We're not going to stop until we get the problem solved."
It was recently announced that emergency and inpatient services will be unavailable at Kamsack Hospital throughout the spring and summer due to a physician shortage.
Speaking for the town, Tom Campbell said he hopes that with this ruling behind it, the town of Kamsack can move past the controversy.
"Hopefully this matter is over now, and it would be nice if the townspeople would rally behind the council and all work towards their common goal, which is to bring more doctors into the community."
