“399. When a by-law is submitted for the approval of the members of the municipality and of the residents of the municipality, the vote shall be taken by ballot in the following manner:(a) the council shall fix the date or dates and the place of the poll, as well as the hours during which it will take place; the council may decide that the poll shall last only one day, or two days, consecutive or not, which shall be within a period of seven consecutive days; the date of the poll, or the first of the dates of the poll, as the case may be, shall not be later than 90 days from the date of the passing of the by-law by the council; the poll shall not open before seven hours and the poll shall last not less than 10 hours nor more than 12 consecutive hours; the place of the poll must be fixed at a place of easy access situated within the Category I lands intended for the Cree community concerned or within the Category I-N lands intended for the Naskapi community, as the case may be;
(b) at least 15 days before the day, or the first day, as the case may be, fixed for the poll, the clerk shall give public notice calling upon the persons whose consent is required and who are qualified to vote; this notice shall indicate the date, or the dates, as the case may be, the place and the hours at which the poll will be held, as determined under paragraph a;
(c) at least seven days before the day, or the first day, as the case may be, fixed for the poll, the clerk shall give public notice to the legal persons, commercial partnerships and associations whose approval is required, informing them of the provisions of paragraph d;
(d) any legal person, commercial partnership or association whose approval is necessary shall only have one vote; it shall vote through a representative appointed by resolution of its board of directors; this representative must, at the time of voting, comply with the requirements of paragraph g, and must, as well, be an employee, a director or a member of the legal person, commercial partnership or association in whose name he votes; the resolution referred to in this paragraph must be filed at the office of the clerk at least three days before the date fixed for the poll; this resolution shall be valid so long as it has not been replaced by another resolution for the same purposes;
(e) the poll shall be presided over by the clerk of the municipality or by any other person named for that purpose by the council;
(f) the vote shall be taken by secret ballot;
(g) the natural persons whose approval is required, as well as the representatives of legal persons, commercial partnerships and associations must, in order to be able to vote, be of age, be Canadian citizens and have no legal incapacity;
(h) the following shall be printed on the ballot papers used for the poll, in the French language, and, if the council deems it advisable, in any other language:
_____________________________________________________
| | |
| | 1 OUI |
| Êtes-vous en faveur du |____________________|
| règlement numéro .........? | |
| | 2 NON |
|________________________________|____________________|
(i) the vote on the question submitted shall be given:(1) if in the affirmative, by marking on the ballot paper, with a black lead pencil, a cross in the space marked “oui”;
(2) if in the negative, by marking on the ballot paper, with a black lead pencil, a cross in the space marked “non”;
(j) at the close of the poll, the clerk or the person presiding thereat, as the case may be, shall proceed to count the ballots and make a list of them, counting and separating the yeas and the nays; except where otherwise provided by Act or regulation, if a counting of the ballots shows a majority of affirmative votes, the by-law shall be deemed to be approved by those persons qualified to vote; in the event of a tie in the vote, the mayor shall give the casting vote; such list shall be certified by the clerk or by the person presiding thereat, as the case may be, and must declare whether the by-law has been approved or disapproved, with the necessary particulars; such list shall be laid before the council at the next sitting; the poll book and the list of the votes shall be deposited in the archives of the municipality;
(k) the expenses incurred by the holding of the poll shall be borne by the municipality.