A man was kicked out of a Revelstoke city council meeting Tuesday after interrupting a council debate and asking for someone to throw him out.
Alistair Taylor was thrown out of the Sept. 9 meeting of council following an outburst during a discussion about the Big Eddy Waterworks.
Councillor Tony Scarcella was talking about the importance of addressing the Big Eddy's concerns with their water system. "The Big Eddy is part of Revelstoke," he said.
That prompted Taylor to repeat Scarcella's words, which led to Mayor David Raven asking him to be quiet.
"Excuse me sir, I chair the meeting," Raven said.
"Go ahead Your Worship," Taylor replied. "Why do we call you Your Worship? Why?"
He then asked several times to be thrown out of the meeting. "I pay my property taxes," he said, followed by something unintelligible on our audio recording.
"It's not a public forum. I chair the meeting," said Raven.
Taylor made moves to leave, but he seemed intent on making a scene by being physically removed from the meeting.
"This is your second warning," said Raven.
At this point, Tim Palmer, the chief administrative officer for the city, stood up and tried to escort Taylor from the room. Mike Thomas, the engineering director also got up to help.
"I've been thrown out of better places than this," said Taylor.
Eventually, almost the entire senior staff of city hall got up to force Taylor to leave.
"I do pay my property taxes," he called out as he was being ejected out of the room and the building.
Taylor, who is from Scotland, also made a call for Scottish independence.
Raven called for a five minute break in proceedings, while staff made sure Taylor didn't try to come back in.
The council meeting resumed without further incident.
David Rooney of the Revelstoke Current, who has covered Revelstoke council for more than a decade, remarked it is the first time he had ever seen someone get thrown out of a meeting.
The Times Review has contacted Taylor to ask him about his actions. We are awaiting a reply.
Earlier this summer Taylor e-mailed the Times Review saying he wanted to run for council, however he is ineligible because he is not a Canadian citizen.