OPERATION
DISMANTLE

BOX 3887, STATION “Cc”, OTTAWA, CANADA K1Y 4M5
TEL, 613-722-6001

ELEY

2d

T. JAMES STARK, PRESIOENT

AGNES

Nuclear .
question
legal: 8c.

VICTORIA (UPC)
ment: question tbe

answered -in several
B.C. municipalities

during civic elections

Saturday is legal, B.C.
Supreme Court Justice
Patricia Proudfoot
ruled Wednesday..

"Justice “Proudfoot

dismissed a citizen's
attempt. to overturn a

bylaw that had author.

ized a disarmament re-
ferendum in Oak Bay,
B.C., a municipality
adjacent to Victoria.

- Brucs Baird tried to
blork- the referendum,
saying nuclear dis-
‘armament was not an
‘issue a municipality
‘Gouid control, and con-
‘sequently a municipali-
ty should not deal with
it, Co,
‘ However, Justice

Proudfoot said the
issue of nucicar wea.
pons proliferation

affects “not only the

thunicipality, but the

: entire universe.”

Disarmament vote challenge |
rejected by top Ontario court

The Citizen, Ottawa, Saturday,
October 30, 1982
By Denise Harrington

» Citizen staff weiter!

.Ottawans ‘will get’ to vote for or’

against world disarmament Nov. 8
follawing an. Ontario Supreme
Court ‘justice’s refusal Friday to
grant an injunction blocking the re-
ferendum. : .

Mr. Justice Joseph O'Brien rufed

there would be.“‘no irreparable.

harm or damage caused by permit-
ting the city to proceed with the by-
law” that allows a referendum: on
nuclear disarmament to: be held

during the Nov. 8 municipal elec-

tion.

Retired public servant Boris Ce.
lovsky and public servant Merrick.

. Spalding applied for the. injunction
and asked O'Brien to declare invalid
: the bylaw Ottawa council ‘passed in
May authorizing the referendum be-
cause it was beyond the city’s juris
diction. . '
Arguing in court without a lawy-

er, Spaiding said holding the dis-
armament vote at the same time as
city council and school | clece
tions could prejudice the outcome of
those votes.: :

Thousands of taxpayers’ dollars .
would be wasted, he added, if’ a..
candidate challenged the results on’ -
the basis of the referendum and the

elections were declared void.

But O'Brien said divisional court
in. Toronto would normally deter-
mine if a. municipal bylaw is ultra

vires. He concluded the matter was’

not urgent cnough to warrant an

immediate ruling and referred Jit to .

the divisional court, adding it was
unlikely to. be heard there before
the municipal-vote. .

City of Ottawa lawyer Doug °
Wallace argued the city had the °
right to hold the vote under the: so-
‘ called “good government” section of |

the Municipal Government Act,
which permits municipalities to‘ take

21

“actions for the “health, safety, wel-

fare and morality” of théir citizens,
“Tt is hard to think of anything
else which more ‘direstly affects the
health, safety, welfare and ‘morality
of the inhabitants (of Ottawa "
Wallace said; referring to the dis-
armament question; tala

Outside the court,. Spalding and
Celovsky said they did not oppose
disarmament but would not vote in
the referendum because they believe
it should not be heid.. ar

Civic elections have traditionally
low turnouts and: the extra two or
three per cent of voters. who turn
out strictly because of the referen-
dum couid tip the scales in council
and school board races, Celovsky
sai ‘

“I. just ‘hope :no school beard
(candidate) loses by five votes or 30.
because I can use my statistical stu.
dies to help that candidate (chal-
lenge the results),” he said, .

Worto Disarmament THROUGH A GLOBAL Rererenoum

Beebe UE ave takes cae