Mitton calls for data centre moratorium, but Holt Liberals say no

Posted on June 17, 2026 by brucewark

Anti-data centre protesters march at NB legislature. Photo: Facebook

About 150 protesters gathered at the New Brunswick legislature last week to protest against a proposed 390-megawatt AI data centre in an expanded industrial park near Lorneville outside Saint John.

They were also supporting Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton’s resolution that was being debated in the legislature calling for an immediate moratorium on the development of big data centres with warehouses full of computer servers designed to handle requests from millions of users at once.

“This plant, the plant for Lorneville, would emit 750,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, making it the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the province after the Irving refinery and the Belledune coal power plant,” Mitton told the legislature after introducing her resolution.

It called on the Holt government to stop the development of big data centres until it passes legislation to ensure they don’t increase the price of electricity, hurt communities or harm the environment.

Megan Mitton calling for a moratorium on data centres in the legislature last week

“We have to stop and pause and ask, ‘should we even build hyperscale data centres? Should we build those in New Brunswick? If so, how big and where?'” Mitton asked in her 20-minute speech.

“We should definitely not be building a 190 megawatt gas-powered plant that is going to harm the people who live near there, is going to cause air pollution and will negatively impact all New Brunswickers because it continues to contribute to the climate crisis,” she said.

The proposed Lorneville data centre is currently undergoing a provincial environmental impact assessment.

The project would be a joint venture between the U.S. firm VoltaGrid, which burns natural gas to generate electricity and its partner Beacon Data Centers of Calgary.

The VoltaGrid gas plant would generate 190 MW of electricity, but the data centre would also need an additional 200 MW from the NB Power grid.

“The environmental impact assessment for the project shows that 3.5 hectares of old-growth forest would be permanently lost during construction. On top of this, roughly 27 hectares of wetlands would be cleared and infilled to create space for the data centre,” Mitton said, adding the project would also affect a peat bog and salt marsh that are important for wildlife habitat.

“There’s also the concern of the noise for the people who live near these data centers. There’s a loud hum that comes from them. And the people who live near them have trouble living there,” she told the legislature, adding that the facility would increase the demand for power on a grid that is already under strain.

No moratorium

“This motion calls for a moratorium on the current and future development of AI data centres in New Brunswick. Mr. Speaker, this government’s approach is different. We believe in thoughtful, deliberate progress,” Liberal cabinet minister Luke Randall told the legislature after Mitton had finished speaking.

Among other things, Randall is the minister responsible for Opportunities New Brunswick, the province’s business development agency.

Luke Randall, the minister responsible for Opportunities New Brunswick

“We recognize the importance of carefully assessing every investment to ensure it delivers real economic value, respects our environmental commitments, and builds a stronger future for New Brunswick. That’s exactly how we’re approaching the issue of data centres,” Randall said, adding that it is both a necessary step and a strategic move to store Canadian data within the country’s borders.

He went on to say that Opportunities New Brunswick has been discussing the Lorneville project with Beacon Data Centres and although he acknowledged that questions have been raised about its use of water, he said he wanted to put the issue in perspective.

“The Beacon Data Centre would initially require the equivalent of the amount of water that would fill the Saint John Aquatic Centre pool one and a half times, and that’s the opening amount. After that, demand would drop to just 6,500 gallons of water per day, which would be roughly the equivalent of what a 100-seat local restaurant would use, or the amount of water needed to maintain a two-acre field,” Randall said.

He added that hyperscale data centres present economic opportunities in a new global industry as the demand for artificial intelligence, cloud-based technology and digital services continues to gather speed.

“Digital transformation is critical for businesses of all sizes and across all sectors,” Randall said.

“Embracing technology is no longer optional. It is foundational to whether businesses can compete, whether workers can become more productive, whether our economy can keep pace with the changes happening all around us.,” he added, while stressing, however, that any project would have to undergo rigorous environmental, energy and financial reviews.

‘Province should not rush’

Ian Lee, the Progressive Conservative MLA whose riding includes Lorneville, said he supported Mitton’s motion on behalf of his constituents who would be directly affected if the Beacon/VoltaGrid project gets built.

PC MLA Ian Lee

“New Brunswick has an opportunity to learn from the experience of other jurisdictions rather than repeating their mistakes,” he said, referring to Maine where lawmakers passed a bill in April halting the development of data centres over 20 MW for 18 months. Maine’s governor later vetoed the bill, the first of its kind in the U.S.

“While there is a continual promotion of AI as the future of innovation and economic growth, citizens are increasingly skeptical,” Lee said citing polls that he said showed a majority of Canadians and Americans do not view artificial intelligence as a force for good in society.

“The province should not rush into approving energy-intensive developments without fully understanding the long-term consequences for citizens, infrastructure and sustainability,” he said, adding that governments must listen to what people are saying.

“instead of just dismissing people, they need to listen to the communities. People want a voice in shaping the future of their regions,” he said.

Mitton asks for vote

When the time for the debate ran out at 6 p.m., Mitton asked for unanimous consent to extend the sitting so that the House could vote on her motion for a moratorium on new data centres.

When the Speaker asked, “Do we have unanimous consent?” several Liberal members shouted “no” and the house adjourned without voting. The next day the legislature began its summer recess.

To read an in-depth report from The Narwhal on the proposed Lorneville data centre, click here.

For a CBC report headlined “What’s behind the growing backlash toward AI data centres?”, click here.

To read a letter to Premier Holt opposing the Tantramar gas plant from doctors at the Sackville Memorial Hospital, click here.

Posted in NB Power, New Brunswick politics, Town of Sackville | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Festival organizer questions Tantramar tourism strategy; town confirms no tourism plan yet

Posted on June 14, 2026 by brucewark

Levee on the Lake artistic director Shelley Chase

A prominent Tantramar music festival organizer challenged the municipality’s approach to tourism promotion last week, arguing the town lacks a formal tourism strategy, has left advertising dollars unspent and has failed to pursue federal tourism financial support.

Shelley Chase, artistic director of Levee on the Lake, raised the concerns during a presentation to Tantramar Town Council last Tuesday.

She said she began examining the town’s tourism efforts after seeking information about external marketing that could help promote this year’s festival which is being held at the Sackville Music Barn from September 10-13.

“I reviewed the 2025 tourism project budget,” she told council based on figures she received from Treasurer Michael Beal.

“Of approximately $52,000 in spending, nearly $14,000 went to the highway tag signs,” she said referring to promotional signs placed along provincial highways to direct travellers to local events and attractions.

“The total advertising that reached beyond Amherst was only $7,000,” Chase said, adding that 22% of Tantramar’s tourism advertising budget went unspent.

She also questioned why Tantramar did not apply for an Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency tourism grant similar to one received by Salisbury and argued the municipality still lacks a formal tourism strategy three years after amalgamation.

“I would ask the department to explain why there is no tourism plan and how they measure their goals, expenditures and growth without one,” she said.

Town’s response

Jeff Taylor, Tantramar’s director of community and corporate services said he is responsible for coming up with a formal tourism plan.

“The tourism plan is set to be dealt with as part of the economic development plan,” he told council, adding that the Southeast Regional Service Commission has hired “a very expensive firm” to produce their economic development plan.

“So we’re waiting to get the results of theirs so we don’t have to spend a bunch of municipal taxpayer money on information that is in there,” he said.

Tantramar manager of tourism and business development Ron Kelly Spurles

Tantramar’s manager of tourism and business development Ron Kelly Spurles also responded by reading a long list of tourism-related activities carried out by his department including operation of the Visitor Information Centre, production of the annual visitor guide, tourism advertising, highway event signs, social media initiatives, tourism videos and participation in regional tourism organizations.

Kelly Spurles said tourism is only one part of his responsibilities and that he spends roughly half of his time on tourism and business development activities, with the remainder devoted to climate change initiatives, local food projects, grant applications and other municipal responsibilities.

Follow-up on Chase’s questions

Tantramar’s communications officer Sara Ericsson responded in an e-mail to questions from Warktimes.

She wrote that the 22% of the tourism advertising budget that went unspent refers to $3,847.50 that was allocated for a Tantramar tourism video project.

“The producing company hired for this project did not complete the video in time for these ad dollars to be spent before end of year. Rather than spend taxpayer dollars on a rushed project, Tantramar ended the year with that surplus,” she wrote.

“As the new communications officer, I am now collaborating with the team on a thorough review of advertising opportunities.”

Ericsson also confirmed that the town did not apply for an ACOA tourism grant.

Screen capture from Hub City Foodies video promoting Song’s restaurant in Sackville

“Tantramar is part of the Destination Southeast destination marketing organization, which uses significant funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) to run advertising programs for our region,” she wrote.

Ericcson said that Tantramar measures the effectiveness of its tourism promotion by gathering figures on how many people arrive at the Visitor Information Centre and where they are from; from the numbers of Visitor & Events Guides taken from the VIC; how many guides are distributed across New Brunswick and how many staff hand out at events.

“For the tourism-related social media content we create, we measure post engagement,” she writes. “This has been high on tourism videos, including on the 10-video series partnership with Hub City Foodies, which continues to generate reach for Tantramar.”

Chase responds

While town officials defended the municipality’s tourism efforts, Chase maintains that the central issue is the lack of a coordinated strategy aimed at promoting the new Town of Tantramar after amalgamation in 2023.

Jeff Taylor has been in his role for eight months and Sara Ericsson for a matter of weeks. This issue predates both of them,” Chase writes in an e-mail to Warktimes.

“A new tourism plan would be wonderful, no one is negating that, but it won’t be in effect until 2027,” she adds.

“Counting VIC visitors is foot traffic, not a measure of advertising effectiveness. Advertising is measured on reach and frequency, using cost-per-point and gross-rating- point analysis. It is because of my background, and working with other tourism departments and municipalities, that I started looking at our own,” she writes.

“I was disappointed to find no media mix. Highway signs on our own doorstep, memberships, a VIC and social media are not fulsome enough to achieve a measured return.

“Tantramar speaks about tourism as a strategic priority, but it is resourced apparently as a half-time responsibility. I would respectfully ask council to reconcile this and determine what level of commitment Tantramar’s tourism function requires, but more so deserves,” she concludes.

Town of Tantramar

Posted in Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

NB Power wants to fast-track another multibillion-dollar gas plant

Posted on June 12, 2026 by brucewark

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: Telegraph-Journal
June 11, 2026

Brad Coady and Lori Clark answering questions at the legislature’s public accounts committee

NB Power’s CEO says her Crown corporation will build at least one more gas plant almost as soon as the controversial one in Tantramar is up and running. And she wants approvals to move quickly.

Lori Clark told reporters on Thursday that the public utility was still facing future electricity shortages. If billions of dollars more capacity isn’t added to the electrical grid, she warns that New Brunswick could be faced with brownouts and rolling blackouts.

“I do expect we will see more combustion turbines required in the future,” the executive said, adding that an additional 400 to 500 megawatts would likely be needed, the same amount as the Tantramar plant is going to produce.

“This is not unique to New Brunswick.”

Green opposition MLA Megan Mitton and other environmentalists are angry about the multibillion-dollar plants, warning they will spew out more greenhouse gases that threaten the world with climate change. They also worry they will pollute the air and water.

But Clark said New Brunswick’s neighbours, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, are all considering building combustion gas plants to handle their growing electrical needs.

“There’s not a lot of options that can give us the reliable capacity that we need in the short term. So, gas is what we’re calling the transition fuel,” she said, a nod to NB Power’s commitment to have a net-zero electricity system by 2035, one that generates and supplies electricity with zero greenhouse gas emissions, unless they are cancelled out by certified carbon offsets.

Clark and another NB Power senior executive, Brad Coady, were grilled before the legislature’s public accounts committee for three hours Thursday.

Auditor General’s report

Politicians from all three parties demanded answers after receiving a report last week from the auditor general.

It found that NB Power executives had made critical choices without addressing the

significant financial and contractual risks of building a 500-megawatt plant in southeastern New Brunswick by 2028.

It’s a project that will cost NB Power’s 430,000 direct and indirect customers at least $2.8 billion, leading to future rate hikes for households and businesses.

The American firm PROENERGY will build, own and operate the so-called RIGS plant on behalf of NB Power, under a 25-year deal, subject to environmental approvals.

Auditor General Paul Martin testifying before the legislature’s public accounts committee earlier this month

Among his findings, auditor general Paul Martin said NB Power completed an analysis of alternatives to a gas plant only after the deal was signed.

No supplier quotes were obtained to justify NB Power’s assumption that it couldn’t build the project itself, even though Martin found the utility would pay up to $700 million more for the partnership it had chosen with the money-making firm.

Additionally, there was no backup plan if the provincial regulator had denied or delayed the project.

The report noted that the penalty would have been a US$55-million charge to NB Power, paid to PROENERGY, if the project had been scuttled, a huge risk to the utility’s customers.

In the end, the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) approved the project last month.

Battery energy storage

Mitton, whose riding of Tantramar will be home to the new plant, is adamant it can still be cancelled and replaced with a huge battery project, which she insisted could be done more cheaply and just as quickly.

She warns that building another gas plant by 2030 – a date cited by NB Power officials – would add more fuel to the world’s climate crisis.

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton questioning Auditor General on June 2

“I don’t think this is a done deal,” Mitton told reporters.

“Do I think that Premier Susan Holt wants this to happen? Unfortunately, I do. But there are a lot of New Brunswickers that don’t want this to happen, and that don’t want a gas plant built in Lorneville, either,” she said.

We need to change the way we’ve done things in New Brunswick and actually care about people’s health, actually care about our environment and our water.”

A proposed 390-megawatt data centre in Saint John includes construction of a 190-megawatt modular natural gas plant in Lorneville. The other needed 200 megawatts would be drawn from the NB Power electrical grid.

Risk of blackouts

During the committee session, Coady and Clark explained that they had no other choice but to bypass some of the utility’s normal procedures – such as its investment governance framework – to get the gas plant built quickly or risk rolling blackouts.

The plant will be NB Power’s first new major generator since the Belledune Generating Station went into service in 1993.

NB Power VP Brad Coady

Coady said there was no point in seeking quotes from manufacturers of dual combustion turbines because the “market is so hot” for them that they probably wouldn’t have even responded. Instead, NB Power relied on the expertise of a proven performer like PROENERGY that specializes in building and running such plants.

Clark, meanwhile, emphasized that the project had to be built speedily. The population boom following the pandemic – the province has grown by 11% since 2020 – meant that more people were drawing electricity, leading to all-time peaks for power usage in the province in 2022 and again in 2023 during a vicious cold snap in February.

If the power had failed, New Brunswickers would have been in deep trouble, as most people heat with electricity, she said.

Although NB Power bypassed some of its normal processes, Clark said it still made sure to run everything by the corporation’s board of directors and to seek approval from the EUB.

“When I look back at that moment, when the decisions were made to move forward with this energy security project, standing still was not the safest or best option for New Brunswickers,” she said.

“Doing nothing was a risk we were not willing to take on behalf of New Brunswickers. A safe, reliable, secure supply of electricity in New Brunswick, particularly in the coldest months of the year is non-negotiable.”

Pressed on why NB Power didn’t follow the investment framework, Clark told the politicians it would have added five years to the process.

Lack of public confidence

PC MLA Rob Weir

Rob Weir, a Progressive Conservative MLA on the committee, was willing to accept NB Power’s reasons for building the plant, but not the lack of documentation for proving its case.

He blasted Clark and Coady for hurting public confidence in the utility, already at a low because of rising electricity rates that have pushed residential bills up hundreds of dollars a year. In the last four years alone, prices have risen more than a quarter, well above the rate of inflation.

“So not only did they go around the process,” Weir told reporters afterward. “My problem was with they didn’t document why they did.

“I will accept them and their expertise that they needed to go around the process because of brownouts coming forward, and you’re screwed here. But my problem is, it would have been easy to document why, and that is their due diligence.”

Weir said he wasn’t satisfied based on the responses he heard.

“I’m not sure they did get the message, to tell you the truth, but they heard what I’ve said, and hopefully, it’ll sink in,” the politician from Riverview said. “When people are struggling to pay their bills, they’re going to get upset and I don’t blame them.”

Rules need to change

Given that NB Power has estimated it will need an extra 400 to 500 megawatts by 2030, even after the Tantramar plant is built, Clark said it was obvious the provincial government had to change the rules to allow the utility to spend huge sums for important projects more quickly.

“What got us here will not get us the right answers going forward,” she told Brunswick News.

“Things are happening much quicker than they have happened in the last 100 years. So, our processes need to be adapted, with the right level of oversight and governance included in those processes, but the processes need to be adapted to keep up with the changing environment that we’re working in today.”

Government house leader Marco LeBlanc

A Liberal member serving on the committee was willing to give NB Power the benefit of the doubt.

Marco LeBlanc, the government house leader, said he was glad the executives provided a better explanation as to why they bypassed normal rules on such a major project.

“Was it all the answers that I wanted to hear? Maybe not, but I believe they are going to continue to follow due process.

“I have confidence in NB Power.”

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck.

Posted in climate change, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 2 Comments

NB Power still lacks Indigenous partner for $3.5-billion gas plant, CEO says

Posted on June 11, 2026 by brucewark

NB Power President & CEO Lori Clark testifying before the Public Accounts Committee

The President and CEO of NB Power says there is still no Indigenous partnership in the utility’s proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village.

“They are working hard on it right now,” Lori Clark told the legislature’s Public Accounts Committee today during three hours of testimony.

She was referring to efforts by NB Power’s American partner PROENERGY to secure Indigenous investment.

“I can’t give you a timeline,” Clark said, “and we’ve had several conversations in terms of the timeline, but as you know, as First Nations would tell us, it will take the time it takes to get an agreement.”

She indicated that when the project was first announced, NB Power believed that PROENERGY had formed a partnership with First Nations.

“We found out later that was not the case,” she said.

Clark was responding to questions about a recent report from New Brunswick’s auditor general which points out that if PROENERGY is unable to form an Indigenous partnership by mid 2026, the U.S. company would be allowed to withdraw from the gas plant project.

“We’re working through it, with it (being) a priority right now,” she said.

Costly project

Clark confirmed the auditor general’s estimate that the gas plant project would cost $2.8 to $3.5 billion.

“I know that sounds like a lot of money,” she said, “but again, it’s a least-cost option. When we’re talking about generating facilities in the province, New Brunswick or anywhere,  we’re talking billions and billions of dollars.”

Throughout their testimony, Clark and NB Power Vice President Brad Coady stressed that combustion turbines fired by natural gas or diesel would cost less than alternative technologies such as wind and solar backed up by battery energy storage.

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton pointed out that battery costs had fallen by 40% in recent years and that a battery system that would supply as much power as the gas plant would cost about $2.5 billion.

NB Power VP Brad Coady

“I would disagree on the characterization that it would be lower cost,” Coady replied. “Simply put, batteries are great for the first four hours, then you have to turn around and charge them.”

He added that NB Power needs technology that would supply electricity over extended periods especially during winter cold snaps and he also argued that batteries degrade over time, just like the batteries in older cell phones.

“At the Energy and Utilities Board, we presented evidence to show there’s roughly a 2% per year degradation. Over 25 years, that leaves you with almost no battery power left,” Coady said.

He added that diminishing battery performance over time needed to be factored into their overall cost.

“I do think batteries are part of our energy future,” he said.

“I think we owe it to New Brunswickers to continue to evaluate how do we solve the energy and capacity needs for this province in the most reliable, least-cost way that balances all the things that we need to balance,” he added.

Climate crisis

Mitton pointed to the costs of burning fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.

“One of the major flaws with this whole process is that our health, our environment, the climate crisis is not being prioritized in terms of decision making,” she said.

“The health-care costs, people’s wells being at risk, the damage to the road, all of those things,” she added.

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton

“I want to also emphasize that you do not have social license to build this in my community,” Mitton said.

When Lori Clark pointed out that New Brunswick’s Electricity Act requires NB Power to pursue least-cost options, Mitton agreed that the law needs to be updated to include environmental and other costs.

“Of course people want reliable power; of course they want affordable power,” she said, adding that cheap renewables backed up by batteries can provide the solution.

“The technology exists to do all of this,” Mitton said.

“I’ve been reading this book, Still No Miracles Needed: How Today’s Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air by Mark Jacobson,” she added.

“The technology exists.”

To read a CBC report on today’s testimony, click here.

Posted in climate change, Indigenous affairs, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Advocate urges Tantramar council to act quickly to save Wheaton Covered Bridge

Posted on June 10, 2026 by brucewark

Logan Atkinson

Logan Atkinson, past president of Tantramar Heritage Trust, has called on the newly elected town council to help save the Wheaton Covered Bridge that has been closed for two years for safety reasons.

During council’s first regular meeting on Tuesday, Atkinson pointed to a resolution the previous council passed in January supporting the creation of a citizens’ committee to identify potential funding sources and to work on restoring the bridge so that it could be integrated into municipal trails and transportation routes.

“So far as I’m aware, no formal action has been taken to implement this resolution, so I’m asking council to direct staff to implement this resolution on an urgent basis,” he said during a five-minute presentation.

Atkinson noted that the provincial department of transportation and infrastructure (DTI) had been planning to build a new bridge nearby that could carry heavy farm equipment and emergency vehicles while preserving the existing 110-year-old covered bridge for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

He added, however, that the province has so far, not been able to acquire the necessary land and that soil testing at the preferred location appears to show that the ground is not up to the standards needed to support a new bridge.

Easy to knock bridge down

“So, they’re in a little bit of spot,” he said, adding it would be easy for DTI to knock the old bridge down and put a new one in its place.

“That would avoid any kind of environmental studies they’d have to do. They already own the ground. They know it would support the structure. And it’s a quick fix,” Atkinson said.

“I know that the farmers need that route and emergency services need it. So if I’m DTI, that’s what I’m looking at. And that’s why I’m really worried about it because we have to act right away if we’re going to save the old bridge,” he said.

Atkinson also told council that in the past, DTI has offered financial support to a community group equal to what it would cost to demolish an old bridge as a way of getting a renovation project started.

He said the community group would then raise the balance of the funds that would be needed.

“We have a casual estimate on the Wheaton Covered Bridge. not a formal estimate in writing, but a casual estimate from somebody who does know what they’re doing,” he said.

“They said that they think it would take probably a million dollars to bring it to a state where it could be used for recreational purposes. That’s a lot of money for this community, for anything. But I’m confident that if we put the right people in place, we could get it done.”

Hopeful signs

Town engineer Jon Eppell

Town engineer Jon Eppell said after Atkinson’s presentation that he has been discussing the bridge with DTI over the last several months.

“They are in fact working on a design for an alternate bridge structure,” he said.

Eppell added that he has been collecting information on the Wheaton Bridge including a structural assessment from 2017 and a report from 2024, the year it was closed.

“I am in discussions with a couple of consultants trying to collect information in order to bring an information report to Council hopefully later this month,” he said.

“It won’t have all the answers in it,” he added, but will hopefully give us a sense “of where we go with this.”

Deputy Mayor

At Tuesday’s meeting, council elected Josh Goguen as deputy mayor. He received six votes out of the nine votes cast: Councillors Greene, LeBlanc, Wells, Goguen, Hicks and Mayor Wiggins-Colwell.

Councillor Allison Butcher received two votes: Councillors Robertson and Butcher.

Councillor Tori Weldon received one vote: Councillor Weldon.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 4 Comments

New Tantramar council deals with fire department crisis in its first week on the job

Posted on June 4, 2026 by brucewark

Tantramar Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell wearing her chain of office shortly after Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony

UPDATE: Tantramar Town Council met for just over two hours Friday to discuss recommendations from a Saint John law firm on how to resolve the ongoing staffing crisis within Sackville Fire & Rescue.

After the closed-door meeting, Mayor Wiggins-Colwell said that “for legal reasons,” the town wasn’t ready yet to say what steps it plans to take, but suggested an announcement could come this week.

Chief Craig Bowser was not at the meeting. He has led the department as full-time chief for almost 17 years.

****

Newly elected Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell says she is not “a fancy talker, but a good listener and I know right from wrong.”

She made that comment during a two-minute speech to a packed council chamber on Tuesday.

“Our priorities should be guided by impact and need and not convenience,” she added during a festive, swearing-in ceremony for Tantramar’s new council which consists of five new members as well as four who served on the previous council, including Wiggins-Colwell herself.

“I expect our administration to be proactive, responsive and focused on maintaining and delivering the essential services that the people rely on, as safety of the residents of Tantramar is our top priority,” she added in a possible reference to the ongoing staffing crisis within the Sackville fire department, a hot-potato issue that the new council is being asked to handle almost immediately.

Closed-door meeting

Members of council have been called to a special, closed-door meeting at noon on Friday where they are expected to review a report based on a four-month investigation into allegations first raised more than five years ago when Warktimes reported that at least 17 volunteer firefighters had resigned over a five-year period.

After 12 more volunteers turned in their pagers on January 5th reducing the fire department’s active-duty roster to 18 out of a full complement of 43, the town announced the hiring of a Saint John law firm that specializes in labour relations to conduct interviews with 31 members of Sackville Fire & Rescue.

According to a town news release, the scope of the investigation by VanBuskirk Law included:

  1. Any alleged violation of the Workplace Harassment and Violence Policy, whether in writing or verbal, including allegations related to harassment, workplace toxicity, poisoned work environment, psychologically unsafe environment, etc;
  2. Any allegations of favouritism;
  3. Any allegations related to a failure of leadership;
  4. Any alleged inappropriate behaviour that may or may not amount to harassment; and
  5. An overall conclusion as to the assessment of the workplace culture

Personnel matter

In 2021, the former town of Sackville hired the Montana Consulting Group to conduct a workplace assessment, but refused to release the $31,500 report or its recommendations to the public on the grounds that it concerned personnel matters that must remain confidential under New Brunswick’s Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The town promised to adopt all 20 recommendations, but Warktimes has determined that at least some of them have yet to be implemented.

Friday’s closed-door meeting could provide the first indication of how the newly elected council intends to respond to one of the most contentious issues facing the municipality.

With volunteer firefighter numbers sharply reduced amid growing concerns about public safety, residents will likely be watching closely for signs that the long-running crisis is finally approaching a resolution.

Members of Tantramar’s new council. L-R back row: Haidee Robertson, Barry Hicks, Wayne Wells, Josh Goguen. L-R front row: Tori Weldon, Alyssa Greene, Debbie Wiggins-Colwell, Allison Butcher, Kristen LeBlanc. Photo: Jon Wolfe

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Province still backing gas plant despite Auditor General’s warning on costs and risks

Posted on June 3, 2026 by brucewark

Provincial Indigenous Affairs Minister Keith Chiasson speaking in the legislature on Tuesday

New Brunswick’s Indigenous Affairs Minister Keith Chiasson says the province needs the 500 MW gas/diesel plant on the Chignecto Isthmus to help in the transition to intermittent, greener sources of electricity.

“We do recognize the Auditor General’s report on the cost of the project,” Chiasson says, adding however, that “as every province is looking to generate new electricity, the cost of actually putting something in place, a project, is actually very, very expensive.”

He was responding in the legislature Tuesday to questions from Green leader David Coon who pointed out that the Auditor General had criticized NB Power for failing to analyze the risks and benefits of alternatives such as battery energy storage systems.

“Will the premier commission an independent study into the risks and benefits of the alternatives to this diesel gas plant?” Coon asked.

Premier Holt, who was in the legislature, deflected the question to Chiasson who said that Nova Scotia wants to buy 100 MW from the Tantramar gas plant while planning, along with PEI, to install additional gas turbines of its own.

Chiasson added that the Liberal government relies on the Energy & Utilities Board to oversee such projects and to make sure they are cost effective, an apparent reference to the EUB’s approval of the gas/diesel plant last week.

Green leader David Coon raising questions about Auditor-General’s report in the NB legislature

“NB Power and the member opposite are conveniently ignoring the battery revolution that is upending conventional wisdom and electric power planning worldwide, replacing fossil-gas peaking plants and lowering power rates,” Coon shot back before asking Chiasson and the premier to “pause” the relationship between NB Power and PROENERGY, its American partner.

“I keep coming back to the fact that the RIGS project,” Chiasson replied referring to the gas plant, “and the minister of energy says it over and over, if it wasn’t for the RIGS project, NB Power would not be able to actually develop wind power that, obviously, that the First Nations are in on. It’s going to be used as backup power, and it’s actually very beneficial to NB Power and to us moving forward.”

AG answers questions

The question period exchange came a couple of hours after Auditor General Paul Martin told the legislature’s public accounts committee that there were “gaping holes” in NB Power’s analysis of the gas plant project because of the utility’s failure to fully weigh its costs and risks to customers or consider possible alternatives.

“It may be the right decision,” Martin said, “[but] how would you know?”

He said he recognized that NB Power felt its need for new power generation was urgent, but the utility had almost three years to investigate solutions, plenty of time to evaluate alternatives properly.

Auditor General Paul Martin testifying before the legislature’s public accounts committee

Martin criticized NB Power’s board of directors for failing to ask the right questions to challenge management decisions, adding that it’s not a new issue.

“We issued a report on NB Power’s early retirement plan,” he said. “We saw in that case that management actually changed the retirement package after the board approved it and did not go back for any approvals,” he added.

“Here we we see a major project that isn’t following the appropriate guidelines and I believe as a board they’ve got to elevate their oversight and responsibility in those board seats to better understand what is required of them and the oversight they have to bring to the table,” Martin said.

He added that, if for any reason, the project falls through, NB Power would be required to compensate PROENERGY for early construction costs of up to $55.1 million in U.S. dollars.

“I’m trying to understand how senior people that are in charge of this operation aren’t on top of this and where is the data, where’s the information, where’s the plan?”

Indigenous partnership?

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton questioning Auditor General

When Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton asked about the apparent lack of an Indigenous financial or equity partnership, Martin said he didn’t have any more knowledge about it than she did.

“We do know that PROENERGY can potentially leave, withdraw from the project by mid 2026,” he said, referring to an agreement that would allow the American company to bail out if it can’t find Indigenous partners.

“I’d say we’re darn close to mid-2026 so I’m expecting we should know by this summer what’s going to happen there. Are they finding a partner or is this a dead duck?” he asked.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Auditor General questions NB Power’s $3.55-billion gas plant deal

Posted on June 2, 2026 by brucewark

New Brunswick Auditor-General Paul Martin. Photo: AG report

New Brunswick Auditor-General Paul Martin issued a report today accusing NB Power of pushing ahead with its proposed gas/diesel generating plant near Centre Village without fully weighing the costs and risks to its customers or considering possible alternatives.

The report also notes that NB Power’s agreement with PROENERGY requires the U.S. company to establish a financial, equity partnership with Indigenous communities, yet the Auditor General found during his investigation that no such partnership had been reached.

The report adds that last December, NB Power amended the agreement to allow PROENERGY to withdraw from the project and recover its costs if it does not form a partnership with Indigenous communities by mid-2026.

The Auditor-General’s report discloses financial details that were kept confidential during hearings before the Energy & Utilities Board.

The Auditor General calculated that NB Power’s partnership with PROENERGY would cost roughly $3.55 billion over 25 years.

Under the partnership model, NB Power would not own the generating station. Instead, it would make long-term contractual payments to PROENERGY’s project partnership in exchange for having the plant built, maintained and available to generate electricity. The utility would also be responsible for other costs, including fuel and certain environmental compliance costs.

Using NB Power’s own annual revenue requirement estimates, the Auditor General calculated that the total cost of the partnership model would be roughly $3.55 billion over the 25-year term of the agreement ($142 million average annual revenue requirement × 25 years = $3.55 billion).

The report cites NB Power figures showing that if the utility owned and operated the plant itself, the estimated cost would be between $2.85 billion and $3.125 billion, or approximately $425 million to $700 million less than the partnership model.

Financial risks

The Auditor General suggests that NB Power faces substantial financial and contractual risks including:

  • having to make full monthly payments to the U.S. company even when the gas/diesel plant cannot generate electricity for reasons outside NB Power’s control
  • paying for fuel whether or not it is burned
  • bearing “construction schedule risks associated with delays in the delivery of equipment without financial remedy.”

The Auditor General also criticizes NB Power for treating its agreement with PROENERGY primarily as a supply arrangement rather than a 25-year capital investment.

“As a result, the project did not proceed through the full Investment Governance Framework (IGF) in the way expected for a major capital commitment,” the report says.

It also notes that the agreement with PROENERGY initially required the company to pay NB Power $46 million in US dollars as a “performance assurance payment” to offset construction risks.

“The performance assurance payment was due on August 1, 2025, but was not paid to NB Power,” the report says.

“An amendment to the Agreement was subsequently approved and dated December 31, 2025 to reduce the immediate security requirement to USD $10 million, with the full USD $46 million becoming payable only upon satisfaction of specified conditions. As a result, NB Power’s contractual leverage to enforce ProEnergy’s compliance with construction milestones and the agreed upon schedule was significantly weakened.”

Risks & benefits of alternatives

While the Auditor General accepts NB Power’s forecast that it would need an additional 400 MW of generating capacity by August 1, 2028, his report says the utility did not conduct a rigorous assessment of the risks and benefits of alternatives to dual-fuel combustion turbines until after it had signed an agreement with PROENERGY.

The report refers to NB Power’s list of possible alternatives in its planning documents including:

  • battery storage
  • biomass conversion
  • demand response
  • imported power
  • intermittent renewables (wind, solar)
  • small modular nuclear reactors

In a response included in the report, NB Power said it faced an urgent risk of winter electricity shortages and argued that delays could have increased the likelihood of blackouts.

The utility also disputed some of the Auditor General’s conclusions, saying the partnership model transferred significant construction and performance risks to PROENERGY.

To read the Auditor General’s report and NB Power’s response, click here.

To read a CBC report on the $3.5 billion cost of the plant, click here.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 5 Comments

New Brunswick’s plan won’t help lower power rates, critics say

Posted on May 30, 2026 by brucewark

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: Fredericton Gleaner.
May 28, 2026

Premier Holt speaking at an online news conference on Monday

New Brunswick’s Liberal government has released a plan for NB Power, with a push to make skyrocketing electricity rates more affordable.

But New Brunswickers can’t count on a cap or price freeze.

Both the premier and the province’s energy minister are promising not to meddle in the Crown corporation’s rate setting, as provincial governments have done so many times in the past.

Instead, the Liberals introduced legislation this week to create an independent energy sector consumer advocate’s office, meant to better represent residential and small business customers.

The new advocate will replace the public intervener for the energy sector, who represented all NB Power customers at EUB rate hearings including the one on the proposed Tantramar gas/diesel plant.

It is only one of a suite of NB Power reforms the Liberals promised to introduce before their mandate runs out in 2029.

Opposition parties predicted rates wouldn’t go down any time soon, a harsh reality considering that residential rates have gone up by roughly 26%  in the last three years, costing the average household hundreds of dollars extra in yearly bill payments.

“More than a year ago, we were seeing New Brunswickers experiencing significant increases to their power bills, and big challenges when it came to the cost of living, and specifically, electricity and power in this province,” Premier Susan Holt said at news conference Monday.

“We knew we needed to do something,” she added.

“We couldn’t continue with the kind of nine per cent increases year over year that New Brunswickers had seen…So, we took action and assembled a panel of experts to do a comprehensive review of NB Power.”

Expert report

Energy Minister René Legacy

That three-member expert review panel delivered a report eight weeks ago after nearly a year of consultation and study.

Holt said her government had accepted all of its 50 recommendations, but warned that many would take years to see through and that they had to be done in stages.

The key actions include developing a new provincial energy policy, modernizing the Electricity Act, and advancing discussions around greater regional co-operation and integration among utilities in the Maritimes.

The government also believes it can improve NB Power’s performance measurement, staffing reviews, project management, and customer service.

But six of the recommendations won’t be acted on any time soon, or at least not until they are analyzed further. Energy Minister René Legacy said they couldn’t be done right away because other changes had to happen first.

These are glaring omissions, considering how controversial some of them would likely be.

In the near term, the provincial government will not introduce bonuses or performance-based pay for the public utility’s employees, including its senior executive team.

Public feedback showed many New Brunswickers felt NB Power’s 2,600 workers were already well paid to do a good job.

And the province won’t immediately investigate adding more natural gas to replace electrical home heating, another hot-button issue.

Fracking moratorium

There’s been a moratorium on fracking natural gas in New Brunswick for a dozen years, an environmental safeguard the Progressive Conservative opposition wants lifted to create jobs and more wealth in a have-not province.

PC Energy Critic Kris Austin speaking in the legislature last fall

Kris Austin, the PC energy critic, said it was a big mistake to leave an estimated 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the ground.

“These recommendations, whether they do them or don’t do them, it’s very clear, are not going to reduce rates, and in the short term, I don’t even think they’re going to stabilize rates,” he told Brunswick News. “Rates are going to continue to go up.”

Austin argued a better long-term plan would have been to wean households off electrical heat, which is hugely inefficient compared to heating with natural gas. Most New Brunswickers use electrical baseboard heating.

“You’ve only got to look to the U.S. Northeast to see your answer. Electricity rates in New England are high. They’re very high, but people don’t worry too much about it because they only use electricity in the Northeast mostly to turn the lights on and, you know, for some basic stuff. They heat their homes with natural gas. So, there’s your model.”

Nor will the provincial government immediately write down the public utility’s teetering, $6-billion debt, considered far too big for a utility NB Power’s size.

No Point Lepreau plan

The idea of spinning off the troubled Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station into a separate Crown corporation has also been put on the backburner.

Green Party leader David Coon blames many of NB Power’s financial problems on Lepreau, which underwent an expensive refurbishment more than a decade ago, but still breaks down more than it should.

“The action plan is underwhelming,” Coon told reporters. “It’s not going to make one bit of difference to people’s power costs whatsoever. They’re not even keeping up with what Nova Scotia is doing in terms of really being bold with helping to get people’s energy costs down through major energy efficiency programs and a major focus on solar.”

Coon said the public utility should go full-bore into offering smaller, renewable electricity, produced by wind and solar energy, backed up by powerful batteries. He said more New Brunswickers would make their homes more efficient, with heat pumps and better insulation, if they were offered no-interest loans to do the work.

To read the government’s plan for NB Power, click here.

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News..

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power, New Brunswick politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Opponents vow ‘fight is not over’ after EUB approves gas plant

Posted on May 29, 2026 by brucewark

NB Power VP Brad Coady speaking to reporters during online news conference

NB Power Vice President Brad Coady says he understands that many people in Tantramar are angry about the utility’s plans for a 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village.

“I do sympathize with the anger and I commit that NB Power will continue our discussions with residents in the local area and throughout New Brunswick on what our energy future looks like,” Coady told reporters Thursday.

He spoke during an online news conference about an hour after the provincial Energy & Utilities Board announced it had approved the gas plant project as a financially sound investment that would help prevent power blackouts during periods of peak demand.

“I do want to emphasize that this approval today, while it’s important, isn’t the only approval for the project,” Coady said.

“We still have an outstanding environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval or determination that the proponent is required to get,” he added, referring to the U.S. company PROENERGY which would build and operate the gas plant for 25 years.

When asked for an update on the EIA approval process that the province is conducting, Coady replied that the prospects look good.

“My latest update, which came as early as this morning I might add, was that the proponent (PROENERGY) is on schedule to receive a favourable determination,” he said.

“All the work that they had to do for the regulator will be submitted by the end of day tomorrow, but I request that you ask the proponent for a more precise update than that.”

Future gas plants

Coady also told reporters that while NB Power has signed power purchase agreements for about 700 MW of wind in addition to the 400 MW that already exist, the utility also sees the need for additional fossil fuel turbines to meet power needs after 2030 along with battery storage systems and ways of managing demand.

He said NB Power is looking at sites across the province including the Scoudouc industrial park.

“It could be anywhere, including Scoudouc. More to come on that,” he said.

When asked about the EUB’s sharp criticism of NB Power for not filing documents to show the rationale for its investment in the gas plant project, Coady suggested the utility was following its rules for power purchase agreements which are not capital investments.

“All of our fuel purchases and all of our power purchase agreements follow a different track because these aren’t internal investment decisions by NB Power,” he said.

He added that NB Power is prepared to work with the EUB on how to handle the documentation for similar applications in the future.

‘Fight is not over’

Barry Rothfuss speaking at a recent rally against the proposed gas plant

“I’m obviously disappointed with the EUB decision,” says Barry Rothfuss, executive director of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute, which would be only 4.5 kilometres away from the gas plant.

Rossfuss is also one of the founders of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC)) which argued against the gas plant at the EUB hearings.

“The decision was not unexpected because the EUB was only looking at the prudency of economic expenditures and not looking at the actual prudency of this project in terms of its effects on the environment or public health,” Rothfuss says.

“When it pollutes, it pollutes dirty,” he adds. “There is no peaker plant that operates without public health risks, just do a Google search and you’ll see.”

Rothfuss says the PCIC will continue to fight against the gas plant echoing a message in its news release which suggests the Coalition may ask the courts to review the EUB decision.

“We are exploring all available legal options to ensure that this decision does not stand as the final word,” the release states.

“We remain committed to protecting the Chignecto Isthmus, its people, its wildlife, and the generations of human beings not yet born who will live with the consequences of what is decided in rooms like this one. The fight is not over.”

NB Power ‘rushing’ gas plant

CCNB’s Moe Qureshi speaking during EUB hearings

Meantime, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, which also opposed the gas plant during EUB hearings, says approval of the project means New Brunswickers will be stuck paying costly bills.

“The decision will expose residents to higher power bills, more pollution, and decades of dependence on fossil fuels,” says Moe Qureshi, CCNB director of climate research in a news release issued shortly after the EUB decision.

The release says the plant would be one of the province’s top polluters producing toxins linked to cancer and respiratory diseases.

It accuses NB Power of failing to consider more efficient and cost-effective options such as battery energy storage systems while rushing ahead with the gas plant project to avoid stricter controls on carbon dioxide emissions.

“The federal government published the Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) in 2025, which limit the CO2 emissions fossil fuel generators can produce,” the CCNB release states.

“Planned units that have started construction by 2027, however, will not be subjected to the CER until 2050. That means this plant could avoid stricter emissions requirements for decades.”

EUB avoids blame

Jim Emberger of the Anti-Shale Gas Alliance. Photo: Deborah Carr

In an e-mail to Warktimes, Jim Emberger of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance questions why the EUB approved the gas plant in spite of the Board’s conclusion that NB Power had abused the hearing process “by filing applications and evidence at the last minute thus unfairly limiting review time needed by both the Board and interveners.”

He suggests that the EUB felt it had to grant regulatory approval on minimal evidence from NB Power.

“One suspects that the EUB, lacking really decisive evidence, acted out of a worry that if the project were denied and a serious blackout occurred later, they would be blamed,” Emberger writes.

“So they accepted NB Power’s questionable arguments as minimally ‘prudent’. But it was obvious that they felt like they were forced into a position and a decision with which they were not happy,” he adds.

“If this project proceeds, the province will be tied for over two decades to fossil fuels and their high costs, supply and price volatility, and climate damage — just as the rest of the world moves away from them.”

Posted in climate change, Environment, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

NB Power wins regulatory approval for Tantramar gas/diesel plant despite harsh EUB rebuke

Posted on May 28, 2026 by brucewark

EUB Chair Christopher Stewart

The New Brunswick Energy & Utilities Board has approved NB Power’s plans for a 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village that would be built and operated by the U.S. company PROENERGY for 25-years.

In an oral decision, Board Chair Christopher Stewart endorsed NB Power’s argument that it needs additional power by 2028 to avoid the risk of blackouts, especially during periods of peak demand.

“NB Power is not required to show that the proposed project is the only reasonable solution,” Stewart said.

“It must, however, provide sufficient evidence to satisfy the Board that after careful consideration of plausible alternatives, the chosen project is reasonable,” he added.

Today’s decision approved the eight combustion turbines NB Power says it needs to quickly generate 400 MW of peak power.

“Each turbine will be capable of ramping up to full power in six minutes,” Stewart said, adding that the turbines will also “be equipped with a synchronous condenser” to provide grid stability as more intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar are integrated into the system.

The Board also approved two additional turbines that would generate 100 MW of power for Nova Scotia’s Independent Energy System Operator for an initial 10 year period.

Higher costs justified

The EUB noted that contracting the project out to a private operator would cost NB Power between $82 and $221 million and possibly even more than operating such a plant itself.

 But it said the arrangement is justified because it transfers significant financial risks in constructing, operating and maintaining the plant to the private developers.

“NB Power contends that the chosen delivery model secures eight combustion turbines at a locked-in price in a market where such turbines are in high demand and prices are not decreasing,” Stewart said, “and shifts responsibility for planning and managing the facility from NB Power at a time when its resources are stretched and would be more adequately focused on other large projects.”

The Board also accepted evidence that the multi-billion dollar project could increase power rates by 5% in 2029 and that since NB Power is supplying the fuel, it must shoulder the risk of fluctuating fossil-fuel prices.

The Board rejected evidence from energy consultant Toby Couture that renewables coupled with battery energy storage systems (BESS) would be a cheaper alternative to the gas/diesel plant.

“The evidence presented by the intervenors regarding BESS was general in nature and did not address the specific conditions, costs, and system requirements in New Brunswick,” Stewart said.

“Based on all of the foregoing, the Board is satisfied that meeting the need for at least an additional 400 megawatts of capacity by 2028-2029 with a combined turbine facility in southeastern New Brunswick is technically sound and likely less costly than an adequately sized BESS solution,” he added.

Harsh words for NB Power

Although the EUB approved the project, it rebuked NB Power for how it handled the process suggesting that the utility’s failure to provide needed information could have led the Board to reject the gas plant project.

“In the Board’s view, the summary nature of the evidence initially filed by NB Power with its applications did not lend itself well as to full, transparent, and as rigorous a process as New Brunswickers in general and ratepayers, interveners, and the Board in particular, should expect,” Stewart said.

“The process was rushed by deadlines imposed upon itself by NB Power that were exacerbated by what the Board views as the unnecessarily late filing of the application,” he added.

Stewart said NB Power failed to file key documents until prodded to do so by Board staff and interveners shortly before the EUB hearings began and did not subject the project to its mandatory investment governance framework which ordinarily would have required investment rationale documentation (IRDs).

“NB Power’s failure to apply its investment governance framework and the resulting absence of IRDs at key decision points is and was regrettable,” Stewart said.

“It denied both NB Power’s Board of Directors and this Board the structured, documented analysis of need, plausible alternatives, risks, and costs that all New Brunswickers and ratepayers are entitled to expect before a multi-billion dollar, 25-year commitment is made,” he said.

“But for the fact that the board was able to satisfy itself based on the evidence that it had before it of the need for an additional 400 megawatts of capacity, that the combustion turbine solution is technically sound and will provide the required dispatchable capacity and synchronous condenser capability, and will likely cost no more than a BESS project with equivalent attributes, the Board could not have found the current project prudent,” he concluded, adding that the EUB will start a process for identifying minimum filing requirements for similar applications in the future.

Note: Today’s EUB decision brings the project one step closer to approval. It is also subject to a provincial environmental impact assessment.

To read a Warktimes report about NB Power’s late filing of documents, click here.

This is the first in a two-part series. In Part II, reaction from NB Power and gas plant critics.

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