Tantramar council hears sharply divided views on proposed Isthmus gas plant

Posted on March 13, 2026 by brucewark

Tantramar management services consultant Steve Cullen

Tantramar Town Council heard one presentation that tilted heavily in favour of the proposed 500 MW Chignecto Isthmus gas plant on Tuesday and two others strongly against it.

Steve Cullen, a local management services consultant who has worked for various energy companies including Avangrid Networks, suggested Tantramar residents should not worry about the proposed 500 MW gas plant near Centre Village that NB Power has hired the U.S. company PROENERGY to build, own and operate.

Drawing on more than 30 years of experience in helping build oil and gas facilities, Cullen told town council that strong, international quality control standards, strict environmental regulations as well as the environmental standards and policies of the project proponents ensure that the construction and operation of gas plants do no harm.

“Perhaps the greatest concern expressed in media of late is the regulatory and compliance as it relates to wildlife, environment, and things of that nature,” he said.

He added that based on the various projects he worked on, environmental effects are taken very seriously.

“I would assume that following the same standard that would be in place here at this facility, water, wastewater, chemicals, biocide, whatever you want to call it, those are not allowed to be discharged into the environment, period,” Cullen said.

“They have to be either stored on site for containment, taken away later for treatment or treated by a wastewater facility on site.”

Cullen emphasized that he has no affiliation with the proponents of the Tantramar gas plant and no inside knowledge of their plans, but suggested they will have to abide by the strict environmental standards that are in place everywhere else.

Comprehensive EIA

Councillor Michael Tower referred to a slide Cullen presented showing a natural gas compressor station north of Peace River, Alberta.

“Did they do a comprehensive environmental study?” Tower asked.

“Yes,” Cullen answered.

“Members of the public here, council itself, have pushed for this project early on to have a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) from the start,” Mayor Black said.

“We have been denied that opportunity every step of the way,” he added, pointing to the much less rigorous “deterministic” assessment that the province is currently conducting.

Cullen replied that comprehensive assessments are mandatory in western Canada and in the U.S. where the Environmental Protection Agency has very strong standards.

“So of course, those things had to be done before we even broke ground,” he said. “I would think that this would be the same thing here…I would hope that they would do that.”

Respect for neighbours

Centre Village resident Terry Jones

In her five minute presentation, Centre Village resident Terry Jones said the proposed gas plant raises serious questions about public safety, yet the town has no bylaws to protect residents in the former LSDs.

“It is the role of this Council to start the process of drafting bylaws that protect the health and well-being of people, wildlife, livestock, the environment, and limit excessive water draw, provide buffer zones around industrial projects and utility sites for all future development,” she said.

She pointed out that the proposed gas plant would be right next to her home.

“There’s no fence between me and them,” she said. “There’s definitely no sound barrier. I keep being told that it’s going to be very, very quiet, but I’m thinking it’s not going to be,” Jones said.

“I was going to bring a vacuum today and just plug it in over in the corner so we could listen to it for the whole meeting and just see how many people enjoyed a quiet vacuum in their background 24-7.”

She added that construction is underway again at the gas plant site with big trucks tearing up Rte. 940.

“So, it’s destroying the shoulder of the road. The potholes are unbelievable. This is the worst I’ve seen since 1992 when I moved to Brooklyn Road first and then to Centre Village.”

She added she’s not against responsible development that takes neighbours and the environment into consideration.

“I’m just saying responsible use of the land and respect for your neighbours,” Jones said.

“They don’t have either at PROENERGY, nor at NB Power.”

BESS in Tantramar?

Peter Higham of Seniors for Climate — Tantramar

Peter Higham of Seniors for Climate — Tantramar told council that his group is part of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition that is resolved to keep fighting the proposed gas plant until the government finally stops it.

“To repeat, we are fixed in purpose until the gas plant is completely cancelled,” he said.

“It’s not that we don’t want that plant here in Tantramar. We don’t want it anywhere in New Brunswick.”

Higham referred to a document from the Conservation Council of New Brunswick that promotes grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) as an alternative to burning fossil fuels.

First, it enhances the reliability and stability of the electrical grid, ensuring a consistent supply of electricity even during peak demand or unforeseen disruptions,” he said as he read from the CCNB document.

“Second, it facilitates the integration of renewable energy sources like wind and solar by storing excess energy during times of low demand and releasing it during high demand periods. This reduces reliance on fossil fuels and promotes a cleaner, more sustainable energy mix.”

Higham noted that town council had received a letter from the Canadian company NRStor that builds, owns and operates energy storage projects and he urged council to organize a public information session so that the company could demonstrate what it has to offer.

Jeff Taylor, Tantramar’s director of community and corporate services, said he had met with NRStor twice.

“They’re looking at somewhere to site battery energy storage, and they wanted to work with local partners,” he said.

Taylor added he had put the company in touch with the Southeast Regional Service Commission’s planning department as well as the town’s Climate Change Advisory Committee to help identify sites that might be suitable locations for battery storage.

“That type of project is mushrooming everywhere and usually in connection with wind and solar power,” Higham said.

“So that is just another example of where the fossil fuel technology is old-dated and we’re in a new era now and we better get there like everybody else is doing.”

Posted in NB Power, New Brunswick government, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Tantramar council votes to release Montana fire dept. recommendations

Posted on March 11, 2026 by brucewark

Councillor Barry Hicks

Tantramar Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize the public release of the recommendations in the Montana report on the Sackville fire department.

Councillor Barry Hicks moved the motion, seconded by Deputy Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell, to authorize release of the 20 recommendations “pending legal advice.”

Hicks’s motion also requires CAO Jennifer Borne to provide an update on the actions the town has taken to implement each of the recommendations.

The vote came after council met in closed session for about 15 minutes at the end of its regular meeting.

The town of Sackville commissioned the Montana Consulting Group to conduct a workplace assessment of Sackville Fire & Rescue in April 2021 after Warktimes published articles about allegations of persistent bullying, harassment and favouritism that had led to the resignations of at least 17 volunteer firefighters over a five year period.

After the town had received the $31,500 Montana Report in September 2021, the consultants gave oral briefings on the recommendations behind closed doors to volunteer firefighters and to members of town council.

When Warktimes attempted to get a copy of the report, the town refused to release it under provisions of the Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (RTIPPA).

Section 20 of the Act states that the town clerk “shall refuse to disclose information that would reveal…the substance of records made by an investigator providing advice or recommendations of the investigator in relation to a harassment investigation or a personnel investigation.”

Warktimes appealed the decision to the New Brunswick Ombud arguing that:

I feel the town is violating the spirit of RTIPPA, which is that information should be public with specific exceptions. In this case, the town is refusing to release any part of the Workplace Assessment including any of its 20 recommendations. This is a matter of considerable public interest since local taxpayers pay almost a million dollars per year for the fire protection provided by volunteers. Aside from the complaints from the firefighters themselves, there are safety implications for the town, especially when firefighters are quitting the department. The town CAO has said all of the recommendations will be implemented, but it won’t be possible to judge that if they are kept confidential. The CAO is also in a potential conflict of interest since several current and former firefighters complained that neither he nor his predecessor responded to their concerns.

Timeline

  • April 2022: Ombud Marie-France Pelletier sides with the town’s refusal to release the Montana report and its recommendations. To read her letter, click here.
  • August 2023: The town denies Councillor Bruce Phinney’s request for a copy of the report and its recommendations.
  • October 2023: Town council votes against Phinney’s motion calling for release of the Montana report.
  • March 2024: Phinney takes his case for release of the 20 recommendations to the Court of King’s Bench arguing that: “Sackville Town Council did not authorize the hiring of Montana Consulting to conduct a harassment or personnel investigation, but to investigate complaints about how the town’s fire department was being managed, especially to understand the environment and circumstances that had led to the resignations of so many of its volunteer members.”
  • April 2024: Mr. Justice Jean-Paul Ouellette rules against Phinney saying the town could not release the recommendations because they were part of a personnel and harassment investigation.
  • January 2026: 12 firefighters turn in their pagers at town hall.
  • January 2026: The town announces it has hired a Saint John law firm to investigate the fire department workplace:

For a report on what we know about the Montana recommendations, click here.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 2 Comments

Proposed Tantramar gas/diesel plant derails NB Power’s request for 4.75% rate increase on April 1st

Posted on March 9, 2026 by brucewark

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: Telegraph-Journal
March 9, 2026

EUB Chair Christopher Stewart

NB Power won’t be allowed to impose a steep interim rate hike to electricity prices on April 1 in spite of its warning that the money is needed to avoid long-term financial risks.

The New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) rejected the stopgap request for a 4.75%  increase Monday morning as the first order of business at a hearing in Fredericton to decide if the rate should rise sometime later this year.

“The motion is denied,” EUB Chair Christopher Stewart said. “The board has held that it should exercise its discretion to grant such relief requests only in exceptional circumstances.”

The board also dismissed NB Power’s plea to impose a special charge, or rate rider, on the bills of more than 400,000 customers, both residential and commercial, dating back to April 1 if it eventually gets the green light to raise prices later in 2026.

The decision does not mean prices won’t go up. With the timing of the hearing, it’s more likely now that any changes to bills for all customer classes won’t happen till June or July, giving them a temporary reprieve.

Stewart said that while it was true his three-member panel wouldn’t decide on rates for several months, the Crown corporation had only itself to blame for the big delay.

After NB Power failed to persuade the EUB last fall that it did not require its approval for the gas/diesel plant, it asked for the hearings on the project to be held in February. That delayed the hearings on its application to raise rates.

NB Power gave priority to the gas plant hearings because it said it had signed a contract with the U.S. company PROENERGY to build and run the new facility with specific deadlines.

Its contract for the project originally stated that regulatory approval was needed by April 1 and if that didn’t happen the American company could walk away from the deal.

NB Power’s lawyer Leanne Murray said last week in a special hearing that it was like making a choice “between your children.” But the board chair said that wasn’t enough to convince the panel that the proposed gas plant was a bigger priority than the general rate application.

Stewart pointed out that NB Power had made a business decision to sign a contract with an April 1 cutoff. He suggested the public utility had only itself to blame for running out of time and asking to switch the hearing dates.

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News with files from Bruce Wark.

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Advocacy group seeks relief for the poor as NB Power pursues 4.75% rate increase

Posted on March 8, 2026 by brucewark

Human Development Council warns that one in four households that heat with electricity can’t afford their payments

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: Telegraph-Journal
March 6, 2026

Researchers Heather Atcheson & Liam Fisher. Photos: Human Development Council

Energy poverty in New Brunswick is deepening, just as NB Power is heading into hearings to ask for another big hike to people’s electricity bills, warns an advocacy group.

The Human Development Council has released its annual energy poverty report just ahead of the public utility’s general rate application hearings that begin in Fredericton on Monday.

“Even though electricity rates remain among the lowest in Canada, incomes are also among the lowest, and they are not keeping pace with rising energy costs,” states the report, written by council researchers Heather Atcheson and Liam Fisher.

“As a result, many New Brunswickers are unable to afford essential needs, from heating to running medical devices, and are pushed into arrears or face the risk of disconnection.”

NB Power is seeking a 4.75% increase to the rates of its more than 400,000 customers, both residential and commercial. It is a jump much higher than inflation and following three years of successive rate hikes that totalled 23% — increases that have led to an outcry from the public and businesses alike.

If granted, the latest hike would tack on $10.90 a month to the average household bill, or a little over $130 a year.

Energy poverty

The regulator overseeing the hearings – the New Brunswick Energy & Utilities Board – must examine thousands of pages of evidence filed by NB Power and listen to testimony from its executives, who will also be formally questioned by intervenors such as the Human Development Council during hearings in Fredericton.

The council relies on a formula to calculate how many people in the province are “energy poor,” widely used by researchers and advocacy organizations across Canada. Energy poverty is defined as households spending 6% or more of their after-tax income on home heating.

By the council’s measure, one in four New Brunswick households (26%) that rely only on electricity for heating, spend more than 6% of their income on energy – the second-highest rate in Canada. Only Newfoundland and Labrador is worse at 29%,  the Canadian average is 11%, less than half of New Brunswick’s energy poverty rate.

It’s a problem that’s been getting worse. Taxfiler data shows that the average increase in family income in New Brunswick has been about 3% annually from 2015 to 2023, the latest year for which data is available. NB Power rate hikes have far outstripped those increases.

Strictly speaking, the Energy & Utilities Board cannot legally do anything to help poor people on their own. It can advise the provincial government about policy concerns, but its primary duty is to ensure NB Power, a monopoly electricity provider, is doing everything it can to keep rates affordable for everyone, without jeopardizing reliability or safety.

Affordability program

The council has been demanding that the provincial government create a permanent low-income electricity affordability program, which so far has fallen on deaf ears.

The Holt Liberal government says it provided relief to all of NB Power’s residential customers by providing a 10% rebate on bills, a move the opposition Green party criticized for helping some of the richest customers, such as upper-income households that have the biggest houses and often use the most electricity.

“Payment-related distress is now a permanent feature of the electricity system,” the researchers noted. “The introduction of a winter disconnection moratorium is an important step, but it does not resolve the structural affordability gap.”

The report notes that one in seven of NB Power’s customers are behind on their bill payments each month. The Crown corporation disconnected 4,297 customers in the fiscal year 2025 alone, typically after arrears reached levels that were impossible for low-income households to pay, the researchers said.

In March 2025 the average amount owing at the time of disconnection was $1,159.

Interim rate hike on April 1st?

NB Power says it has no choice but to ask for a higher rate.

“Aging infrastructure, an increased demand for electricity and stronger weather systems due to climate change mean rate increases continue to be necessary,” it states about the general rate application.

“As a cost-of-service utility, we only charge what we need to cover the cost of delivering electricity to New Brunswickers. We go to great lengths to ensure New Brunswickers pay the lowest electricity rates possible, and we look at every opportunity we can to reduce our own costs and increase our internal efficiencies before we raise rates.”

The decision on rates is expected to take several weeks, if not months. Last week, in a special, half-day hearing, NB Power asked the regulator to approve an interim rate hike before a final decision is made, warning that it needed the money as of April 1 or risk hurting its finances over the long term. However, the board has since rejected that request.

Still, the council warns that energy poverty affects “everything from respiratory illness to household food security. Reducing it will improve quality of life and strengthen household financial stability,” it states.

“New Brunswick must implement a program, such as a low-income electricity rebate or a percentage-of-income payment plan, that ensures bills are affordable based on what people can actually pay.”

To read the Energy Poverty Report, click here.

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

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power, New Brunswick government | Tagged | 4 Comments

Counting culverts and costs: Tantramar councillors question single-source $43K AMP contract

Posted on March 6, 2026 by brucewark

Treasurer Michael Beal

Town Council spent over 20 minutes Monday discussing whether to award a $43,200 contract to a company from London, Ontario to create Tantramar’s first asset management plan (AMP).

Treasurer Michael Beal explained that the federal government requires municipalities to have asset management plans in order to qualify for money from the Canada Community-Building Fund (CCBF) — formerly known as the gas tax fund.

The CCBF provides more than $2.5 billion each year to over 3,700 communities across the country to help pay for capital projects such as roads, bridges and culverts, drinking water facilities, storm and sanitary sewers and parks.

This year Tantramar is getting $606,709 from the fund as its share of the more than $50 million that New Brunswick municipalities are receiving.

Beal said that asset management plans are a tool that helps municipalities calculate the value and costs of their assets, keep track of how much they’re depreciating and figure out how much money to set aside to maintain, repair and replace them.

He recommended that at its meeting next week, council award the $43,200 contract to PSD Citywide, the firm that created Sackville’s first asset management plan in 2018.

He noted that Dorchester’s plan was created by Crandall Engineering that same year.

More quotes

Councillor Barry Hicks

“I’m wondering whey we didn’t get three quotes on this,” Councillor Barry Hicks said. “I know we had them do it last time, but we don’t know what the prices are coming in at from other companies if we don’t get extra quotes.”

“We chose them again because we selected them in 2018 to implement it,” Beal said.

He added that it’s unlikely that other quotes would be any cheaper.

“They have all our data, our data is in the cloud with them already and that’s why we chose them,” he said.

“They had written Sackville’s AMP, which does make it cheaper because out of all the assets that we have within the software, Sackville’s represents 80 to 90% of the assets that are in play.”

Councillors Matt Estabrooks and Bruce Phinney also expressed concern about the lack of multiple quotes.

Beal pointed out that it’s not required under provincial rules to get multiple quotes for procurement contracts under $134,000, but said it would be council’s prerogative to ask for more quotes.

Plan needed by fall

Municipal assets that would be included in PSD Citywide plan

Beal said,  however, that the London, Ontario firm had agreed to start creating the plan in March and have it completed by the end of August when it will be needed to help draft the capital budget for next year.

He said he wasn’t sure the August deadline could be met if there’s a delay while he solicits other quotes.

At council’s suggestion, he agreed to seek information from other municipalities on the recent costs of their asset management plans and present the information to council at its meeting next week.

During the public question period, Beal explained that the plans need to be redone every three years because the cost of maintaining and reconstructing assets changes over time as does the asset mix.

He noted, for example, that in 2018, Sackville did not have the water retention ponds that are now in place for flood control.

“They were a brand new asset,” he said, “that would need to be included in future asset management planning.”

‘Fingers on the pulse’

Mayor Andrew Black

Mayor Black acknowledged that the federal government forced asset management plans on municipalities.

“I would argue that the asset management plan is a good thing,” he said, “in the end because it shows us what we have, what is depreciating…so kind of keeping our fingers on the pulse of what we should be addressing as far as infrastructure replacement within the community.”

To read Beal’s written presentation to council and the proposed AMP contract, click here.

For previous coverage in 2018, click here.

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

Mayor rejects council meeting with sidelined firefighters as investigation continues

Posted on March 3, 2026 by brucewark

Councillor Bruce Phinney (L) and Mayor Andrew Black discussing why council won’t meet with 12 Sackville firefighters

Tantramar Councillor Bruce Phinney quizzed Mayor Andrew Black for more than six minutes on Monday about why a dozen Sackville firefighters, who turned in their pagers on January 5th, will not be allowed to meet with town council.

“I’m asking on behalf of the residents and the 12 firefighters and maybe some of the councillors that don’t know exactly your reason for not wanting to meet with the firefighters,” Phinney said.

“What meeting?” Black asked.

“Well, they’ve asked for, requested a meeting as a matter of fact,” Phinney answered. “From your response, it’s ‘no’ and I would love to meet with them. You’ve already heard me saying that and I think a couple of others as well. We would like to meet with the 12 firefighters that have requested to get together,” Phinney said.

Black responded that it was “inappropriate” for Phinney to ask the question because the e-mail from the firefighters requesting a meeting was a private one. He then explained his reason for turning down their request.

“The response that I gave is that we have an investigation ongoing,” he said, referring to  the town’s announcement in January that it had hired a Saint John law firm to investigate allegations that included workplace harassment and favouritism in Sackville Fire & Rescue.

He  went on to say that CAO Jennifer Borne had responded to the firefighters’ concerns about the limited scope of the investigation; that the Saint John law firm had re-issued letters to the 12 firefighters outlining the investigation’s full scope and that they now seemed satisfied.

Legal concerns

Black also suggested that the town’s legal firm would advise against meeting with the firefighters because if such a meeting had a negative effect on the investigation, someone could sue the municipality at considerable cost to the public purse.

“This is risk mitigation,” the mayor said. “Our legal counsel would say that it [a meeting] is not a good idea or advisable to do so.”

“You said, ‘our legal would probably say that we shouldn’t meet with them or whatever,'” Phinney replied.

“That’s your opinion,” he added.

Phinney argued that a meeting with council would have no effect on the investigation.

“That’s completely separate,” he said.

“The people in the community, they’re asking me every day, ‘why aren’t you guys willing to meet with them’ and I said, ‘I don’t know,'” Phinney added later in the exchange.

“Anyway I asked my question, you’ve answered I guess, so thank you,” he said.

Public safety

Former Sackville councillor Ken Hicks

During the public question period, former Sackville councillor Ken Hicks expressed concerns about public safety now that the Sackville fire department’s staffing is hovering around 40% of full complement.

“To ensure community safety and alleviate the pressure on remaining personnel, it is imperative that leadership initiates an immediate dialogue with the 12 members who have stepped back,” he said.

“Will leadership commit to an immediate sit-down with the 12 sidelined members to negotiate a return-to-work agreement that protects their rights while restoring our frontline response strength? ” he asked.

“I can’t answer that question,” Black said.

“The CAO is the person who is responsible for HR and this case dealing with the fire department members and the investigation. So it would be up to the CAO to answer that question Mr. Hicks. I can get her to send a response to you.”

Montana recommendations

Hicks also pushed for the release of the 20 recommendations that the Montana consultants made when they submitted their workplace assessment of the fire department in 2021.

The mayor said they would not be released during the current investigation, but seemed open to that possibility later.

However, when Councillor Phinney tried to obtain the recommendations in 2024, Mr. Justice Jean-Paul Ouellette of the Court of King’s Bench ruled that under the law, the town could not release the results of a personnel investigation.

Earlier, Mayor Black said the current investigator’s report would not likely be made public either because of the need to protect confidential information from those interviewed.

He did say, however, that the results of the investigation might be made public.

“I’m not sure about that piece if it would be public or not, but I can get the CAO to get back to you,” he said.

NOTE: CAO Jennifer Borne wasn’t present at Monday’s council meeting.

For earlier coverage, click here.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Premier Holt draws a line: money for health care or smaller schools?

Posted on February 27, 2026 by brucewark

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: Telegraph-Journal
February 25, 2026

Trish Wells has started a petition to save Dorchester Consolidated

Michelle Porelle says it would be a terrible mistake for the province to close smaller schools.

The mother of two children, who attend McAdam Elementary School in the village close to the American border, says she had an excellent education at the same modest brick building.

“You know everyone in your class, and the teachers have more time to work with you one-on-one when you’re struggling with something,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “Or if you excel, they have a bit of extra time to give you more to work on.”

The Liberal government is facing a deficit crunch of $1.3 billion, a growing figure Premier Susan Holt says she wants to shrink in the second year of her term.

As part of the discussions in the lead-up to the provincial budget March 17, her government published a document called Difficult Decisions that floats the idea of closing schools with fewer than 100 students.

In a list supplied to Brunswick News on Wednesday, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development showed 33 of more than 300 schools across the province fit the bill.

Most of them, like McAdam Elementary (92 students enrolled) and McAdam High School (88 students), are in rural areas, far away from cities. Shutting those smaller schools would likely mean long bus rides for children to attend schools outside their home communities.

“It would be very hard,” said Porelle, who is the village clerk. “You’d probably have to get your kid on the bus at 6 or 6:30 in the morning, and they wouldn’t get home till 5 in the evening. That’s a long day, especially for elementary kids.”

Dorchester’s school

Some parents have already taken matters into their own hands.

Trish Wells, a parent at Dorchester Consolidated School, has started a petition to save the school on change.org that’s already garnered more than 300 signatures.

“The children will be put into bigger classes and the ones that need extra help will fall between the cracks and their education will suffer,” Wells wrote, adding that she had recently moved her child with a disability to the school in the small community to get more personalized instruction.

“Since transferring to Dorchester, she has been thriving because of lower numbers in the class.”

Susan Holt speaking in the NB legislature in November

Holt told reporters Tuesday at a collaborative care clinic announcement in Blacks Harbour that her government had to prioritize spending.

“We are double checking and triple checking every dollar we spend, so that New Brunswickers can know that this government is making careful decisions.”

She added that no stone would be left unturned in the effort, underlining that her government’s number-one priority was restoring the crumbling health-care system.

“New money for health care means you got to find it somewhere.”

She added that the province has a long-standing policy of reviewing schools that have fewer than 100 students.

“We’re taking the opportunity to check that, you know, are we on top of reviewing schools at the frequency that we should? And are we making the best use of every dollar and every piece of infrastructure?

“Every single one of them isn’t up for closure. Because some of them were just reviewed a couple years ago, whereas others, including schools in my riding, have seen new schools built around them and haven’t had a review in a while.”

‘Attack on rural New Brunswick’

Ian Lee, the Progressive Conservative education critic, said as a former teacher, he was deeply concerned whenever a government talks about shutting schools, especially with the population growing so much in the last few years.

“Small schools in rural areas tend to be the hubs of their communities,” he said in an interview. “Closing those rural schools would hurt communities and families.”

In his riding of Fundy-The Isles-Saint John Lorneville in southwestern New Brunswick, three schools would be at risk of closure: Back Bay Elementary School (44 students), Deer Island Community School (41) and Fundy Shores School (73).

“You’d have a lot of parents wondering where their kids are going to go. If you have to go to a school farther away, that means more busing and it would impact family activities. Small communities would be up in arms and protest against that.”

The rookie MLA argued the Liberals should be able to slay the deficit without cutting education.

“I see education as an investment, and it should be a priority,” Lee said. “If you look at the previous government, it had balanced budgets, paid down debt, cut people’s taxes, while at the same time, made investments. It comes down to financial and fiscal prudence.”

Megan Mitton at Tantramar Town Hall

The small opposition Green Party was also troubled to see school closures floated as a trial balloon.

“A lot of rural communities are really feeling stressed and wondering what’s going to happen,” said MLA Megan Mitton in an interview.

Dorchester Consolidated School, with 92 students, is in her riding.

“A lot of the items in the Liberals’ document is an attack on rural New Brunswick. We’re seeing the threat of closing small schools, potentially closing smaller heritage tourism sites, ending funding to small nonprofits, and not taking care of certain roads, which would probably be in rural areas. So, I’m really concerned by what they’re floating.”

Rural schools, she pointed out, are often used for other important community events, such as public meetings or recreational activities in the evenings and on weekends.

‘Careful with every dollar’

Holt, however, promised there would be no surprises come budget time.

“We don’t want people to wake up on budget day and go, ‘what just happened?’ without having been part of the conversation.”

The premier said she understood the special place smaller schools had in people’s hearts.

“I love hearing from communities that tell me how special their school is, the history associated with it, the fact that their rural community has fought for the school in years past, and there’s lots of reasons why we’ve invested in its maintenance, why it doesn’t make sense to move students hours down the road to another overcrowded school nearby, but we are being careful with every dollar.”

To read a recent letter from Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black to Education Minister Claire Johnson defending the Dorchester school, click here.

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

Posted in Dorchester, LJI stories, New Brunswick government, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Mt. A faculty union president calls proposed gov’t cuts ‘preposterous’ & ‘ludicrous’

Posted on February 26, 2026 by brucewark

MAFA President Laurie Ricker. MAFA represents about 150 full-time and 60 part-time academic faculty, librarians, and archivists at Mt. A.

The President of the Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) says she agrees with MLA Megan Mitton that the government’s proposals for cutting university and community college budgets are ludicrous.

“I mean it was everything but the kitchen sink thrown into a two-page memo,” Laurie Ricker said Wednesday during an online interview with Warktimes.

“As far as the privatization of Mt. A. is concerned, it’s simply not feasible, not something that would happen overnight,” she said.

Ricker added that as a longer-term proposal, it would not solve the government’s immediate deficit problems.

“So, whether it happens or not, it’s still preposterous and ludicrous,” she said.

“I think the government is grabbing at ideas without any serious study as to how this will work or how viable it will be,” said Geoff Martin, a Mt. A. politics professor who serves as MAFA’s executive director.

He said the university would probably need endowment funds of at least half a billion dollars to generate enough interest to replace the $27 million annual provincial grant.

“And where’s that money coming from?” he asks.

(According to CBC, Premier Holt made comments on social media posts Tuesday indicating that the government would not privatize Mt. A., but Warktimes hasn’t been able to confirm this.)

Gov’t proposes 10% cut

Ricker said that the 10% across-the-board cut for all universities and colleges that the government is proposing would mean a loss of $2.5 million for Mt. A. at a time when the university is already running a deficit.

She also questioned why the government seems to be putting so much emphasis on skills training in its two-page document.

Ricker, who teaches mathematics and computer science, said students at Mt. A. spend their first two years learning how to write computer programs and solve problems.

“They learn to be resilient in the face of ‘Oh, I’ve never seen this kind of problem before. How do I solve it?'”

MAFA Executive Director Geoff Martin

Martin noted that community college students can complete their two-year computer technology programs and continue their studies at university.

“There are pathways to getting both vocational training and higher education,” he said.

“Education is about being trained, but it’s also about coping with future change and coping with being able to move from one profession to another or one job to another, being able to make the adjustments, having the numeracy and literacy skills and the knowledge of history and things like that, that can help you see patterns and help you adjust and then, not need retraining,” he said.

“At universities, we make decisions based on evidence, studying reports and weighing information,” Ricker says, “and these were two pieces of paper with no evidence behind them or any grounds for making those decisions. Ludicrous.”

Students call for meeting

Meantime, New Brunswick’s seven students’ unions issued a news release on Tuesday calling for a meeting with government officials to discuss the proposed cuts.

The release points out that tuition for full-time undergraduate students is getting close to $10,000 per year, among the highest in the country.

The students add that cuts of $35-$50 million would have consequences for communities across the province:

Reductions of this scale typically lead to tuition increases, program closures and job losses. When a campus shrinks, local housing markets, small businesses, research participants, and community services shrink with it. In a province already struggling with low enrolment and graduate retention, contraction does not solve the problem; it risks hollowing out the very institutions that sustain our workforce, our regional economies, and the future of our communities.

NOTE: Tantramar Treasurer Michael Beal says the province pays municipal taxes on behalf of Mt. A. This year, the town will receive about $2,782,500 from the province amounting to 16.28% of Tantramar’s total tax revenue.

To read the students’ news release, click here.

Posted in Mount Allison University, New Brunswick government, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Green MLA calls government proposals — including privatizing Mt. A. — ‘ridiculous,’ ‘shocking’ and ‘outlandish’

Posted on February 24, 2026 by brucewark

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton in Tweedie Hall at Mt. A. in 2025

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton is speaking out against the New Brunswick government’s suggestions for cuts to universities and colleges.

“I think the idea of privatizing Mount Allison is just one of the many terrible ideas the Holt government is floating right now when it comes to budget cuts,” the Green MLA said today in a telephone interview.

She was referring to a two-page document presented last week to New Brunswick university and college presidents that included a proposal to eliminate the provincial grant to Mt. A., but provide a “transition trust fund” so that it could become “an independent Canadian Premiere University.”

“Not having a profit motive for post-secondary education is one of the ways that public institutions stand out,” Mitton says.

“Ideally, we would be moving to make our public institutions more accessible as is the case in other countries where there’s lower tuition and in some cases, it’s even basically free.”

No final decisions

Post-Secondary Education Minister Jean-Claude D’Amours told reporters in Fredericton yesterday that the government is seeking post-secondary budget reductions of $35-$50 million, but he said repeatedly that no final decisions have been made.

The government’s two-page document says that the province’s priority sectors are health, skilled trades, early childhood education and schooling from kindergarten to Grade 12.

“In addition, meeting the needs of the labour market remain front and centre, as well as increasing productivity, and the important role of research and innovation,” the document adds.

“We don’t need to take away from say, liberal arts education versus more vocational. We can have both,” Mitton says, adding that community colleges need public support as well.

Post-Secondary Education Minister Jean-Claude D’Amours

The government document suggests closing some college campuses and merging others with universities.

“There are 20+ campuses in NB for 860,000 people,” it says. “Do we need them all?”

It also suggests reducing provincial grants for post-secondary education by 10% with no tuition increases and giving student aid only to New Brunswick students.

Mitton says such steps would make things much harder for students.

“We’ve seen a long-term trend of decreasing public financing for post-secondary education quite significantly,” Mitton says.

“Students who are among the least able to be able to pick up that slack financially are the ones doing it, which translates into significant debt for these often, young people who are looking to go out into the world after school and are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt.”

Short-term thinking

She accuses the Holt government of engaging in short-term thinking in its pursuit of big budget cuts.

“Some of the things they’re proposing are going to have very negative impacts on our economy and our society,” she says, “especially on rural New Brunswick where they’re threatening to close smaller schools and things like that.”

Mitton says she finds some of the things in the government document “ridiculous” and “shocking.”

I would almost think that it wasn’t real because some of the things it mentions are so outlandish,” she adds.

“I’d say they really need to back away from this and take more time to really think through solutions at the table with the universities and the colleges rather than sort of springing this on everyone right before the budget’s tabled on March 17th.”

To read the government document, click here.

Posted in Mount Allison University, New Brunswick government | Tagged | Leave a comment

Province considers turning Mt. A. into a private university

Posted on February 23, 2026 by brucewark

Mount Allison convocation procession. Photo: Mount Allison University Facebook

Mount Allison could lose its provincial grant and become a private university under a range of options the New Brunswick government presented last week to university and college presidents.

“There is nothing specifically on the table,” Post-Secondary Education Minister Jean-Claude D’Amours told CBC today, adding the government’s ideas are a subject for discussion.

Other possibilities include merging St. Thomas University with the University of New Brunswick and closing Université de Moncton’s satellite campuses in Edmunston and Shippagan.

Mount Allison President Ian Sutherland sent an e-mail today to students and staff seeking to reassure them that the government hasn’t made any final decisions.

“To be crystal clear, to date, the government has not communicated any specific decisions, budgetary or otherwise, to Mount Allison, nor any other post-secondary institution,” he wrote.

Noting media reports about the province’s $1.3 billion deficit and possible implications for public education, Sutherland added: “should the government wish to discuss significant budgetary, policy, or structural change, such discussions cannot be responsibly carried out with short notice, a few weeks before the Government presents its budget.”

That budget will be brought down on March 17th.

Mount Allison’s latest financial statements show that the university received $27.5 million from the provincial government in 2025 with an additional $3.9 million in federal grants.

Student fees totalled $43.9 million.

Last year, Maclean’s magazine named Mt. A. the #1 undergraduate university for the 26th time.

A university news release in October credited Mount Allison’s continued success to its “small class sizes, close-knit community and hands-on learning opportunities.”

To read CBC coverage, click here.

Brunswick News has published a screenshot of the two-page document presented to university and college presidents listing questions for them to consider. Among other things, it asks whether the province could provide a “transition trust fund” to Mt. A. so that it could become “an independent Canadian Premiere University.”

Posted in Mount Allison University | 13 Comments

Tantramar council approves $3.3m tax breaks for housing projects

Posted on February 23, 2026 by brucewark

Councillor Bruce Phinney voted against tax incentives for two planned housing developments

At its meeting on February 10th, Tantramar Town Council voted to approve more than $3.3 million in tax rebates for two planned housing developments.

Council OK’d Artie Kenny’s application on behalf of Salem Properties Inc. for a rebate of $1.5 million. The company is planning to build a total of 87 residential units on its property at 112 Queens Road at an estimated value of $20 million.

Council also approved Eric Tusz-King’s application on behalf of Freshwinds Eco-Village Housing Co-operative for a rebate of more than $1.8 million. The co-op plans to build 68 residential units on its property at 64 Fairfield Road with an estimated value of $24 million.

Under the incentive program adopted by Sackville Town Council in 2020, developers pay half of the property tax they would otherwise owe over a 10-year period.

Phinney votes no

Councillor Bruce Phinney voted against the tax breaks explaining later that the program is far too generous.

“We need to review it and tone it down,” he said. “It’s much too extravagant. Do we need to give them that much?”

Phinney pointed to the $1.1 million rebate that developer John Lafford received for his six-storey, 72-unit apartment building at 131 Main Street and the $1.5 million Lafford and partner Mike Wilson received for a building currently under construction at York Street and Ford Lane with a total of 97 apartment units and about 10,000 square feet of commercial space.

“They’re going to develop anyway whether we give them an incentive or not,” Phinney said.

Stable rents

Freshwinds Eco-Village Co-op co-chair Sabine Dietz

Earlier, Sabine Dietz, co-chair of the Freshwinds Co-op, told council the tax breaks were justified for non-profit housing because they decrease operating costs.

“That means the rents for the co-operative can remain way more stable for 10 years,” she said.

“It’s not the same for a for-profit developer,” she added. “You will not know what this money is going to, you’re simply decreasing the tax income for the community.”

Dietz said the co-op is planning to start building this summer and hopes to complete the Freshwinds project by December 2027.

Co-op seeks changes

Meantime, Freshwinds is seeking council approval for an increase in the number of housing units it plans to build on its 21-acre site from 62 to a total of 68.

A planning report from the Southeast Regional Service Commission says that among other things, the co-op is proposing to add another apartment building while shifting from semi-detached to townhouse dwellings and changing the layout of the site.

Planner Sam Gerrand told council earlier this month that the co-op will provide more affordable housing including three-bedroom units suitable for families as well as some barrier-free or more accessible units.

Councillor Barry Hicks

“I’d like to say that I fully support this development, but I do not agree with adding any more units unless this has a proper street into it that is up to municipal standards and taken over by the municipality once the street is done,” said Councillor Barry Hicks.

He added he feels the roadway is too narrow for that number of units making access for fire trucks a safety issue.

Town Engineer John Eppell said he and the fire chief noted about a year ago that the site has an additional emergency exit.

He added that staff will examine the plans in more detail when the co-op applies for building permits.

In the meantime, town council will hold a public hearing on March 10th to hear any objections to the changes in the Freshwinds plans.

To read the background report on the tax incentives council approved for the two housing projects, click here.

Posted in Housing, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 2 Comments