Alec Neil has replaced Sir Kerry Burke as chair of Environment Canterbury.
Councillors voted 8-6 to oust Burke in a no-confidence motion.
Alec Neill has been voted in as the new chairman, 8-6 with Jo Kane retained as deputy.
Neill was a lawyer in Oamaru until he entered parliament as MP for Waitaki in 1990. He lost the seat on election night 1993 but was returned after special votes were counted – putting National back in government by one seat.
When Waitaki became part of the bigger Otago seat under MMP, Neill was beaten in the candidate selection by Gavan Herlihy who wont the new seat in 1996. However Neill was the next one on the list and returned to parliament later in the term. I’m hazy on the details, but it must have been when a sitting list member resigned. (I’m sure David Farrar will know).
By then he had moved to Christchurch and set up his own law firm. He continued in law after he left parliament and won a seat on Ecan in 2003.
An urban-rural divide which Burke was unable to bridge was one of Ecan’s problems. I hope that Neill, a former MP for the southern part of Ecan’s area and a Christchurch resident, will be more successful.
Homepaddock 
“I’m hazy on the details, but it must have been when a sitting list member resigned”
I think it may have been when Simon Upton got the job in Paris.
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Thanks Rob, I think you’re right.
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Alec subbed on twice once in the 1996 to 1999 term and then again in the 1999 to 2022 term he was know as Super Sub. He was very badly treated by list ranking in 2002 but stood in Wigram. He and Nicky Wagner both won seats on E Cans in a bye Election in 2003.
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