A local business owner wants Councillor Guy Boutilier kicked out of office. Robert Vargo owns Alberta Motor Products, and he says in court documents, that he was a long time friend of Boutilier’s.
Vargo filed an affidavit Nov. 7, to disqualify him from office. He claims Boutilier didn’t live in Ward 1 for six consecutive months leading up to last year’s nominations for the municipal election. Vargo says in the aftermath of getting booted out of the Conservative caucus in 2009, Boutilier was rarely in town until in 2012, when he was running provincial for the Wildrose party.
“One day during that campaign, I was visiting with Guy at the dealership and I told him that he should move back to live in Fort McMurray—that he couldn’t be representing us residents of Fort McMurray, if he didn’t live here in Fort McMurray. His answer was that he would move back,” states Vargo.
According to Vargo, Boutilier kept Edmonton as a home base where he shared a home with his wife. The long-time politician ran for a seat as a municipal councillor in 2013.
“After he won that office, we had a falling out: I felt that he was trying to dominate council so that he could become mayor, and I told him so. I said that he hadn’t been living in Fort McMurray for years, so he should sit back, listen, and be more cooperative on council,” states Vargo.
The documents say Boutlier was never eligible to be nominated and contravened a section of the Local Authorities Election Act.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. Boutilier is scheduled to appear in an Edmonton courthouse Dec. 15, 2014.
