‘Right smack dab’: Wildlife advocates warn gas plant threatens Isthmus migration route

Posted on March 27, 2026 by brucewark

CCAC Chair Doug Bliss

Tantramar’s Climate Change Advisory Committee (CCAC) is suggesting the town take steps to protect sensitive wildlife corridors on the Chignecto Isthmus when it adopts a new municipal plan in the next few years.

“There has been a lot of controversy in the last six months as you know about a gas turbine plant,” CCAC Chair Doug Bliss told town council during a presentation this week.

“We want to talk to you about why wildlife corridors are important and why the two, development and wildlife protection, can happen at the same time,” he said.

“It’s all a matter of where you put things.”

During the presentation by Bliss, Adam Cheeseman of Nature NB and Melanie Jellett of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, members of council looked at a map showing wavy blue bands marking the corridors where moose, other animals, amphibians and insects move across the Isthmus between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Canadian Geographic map showing Chignecto Isthmus that the magazine describes as “a pinch point of wetlands, forests and shoreline areas interwoven with transportation corridors, industry and communities. And as the human footprint here grows, the integrity of natural spaces and the connections between them are being whittled away.” Illustration: Canadian Geographic, August 2025

When Councillor Allison Butcher asked where the proposed gas plant would be in relation to the wildlife corridors, Melanie Jellett replied: “Right smack dab in the nice blue band where the wildlife are moving.”

“Where it says ‘New Brunswick,’ look at the bottom of the I or around where the I is,” Doug Bliss added.

He reminded council that the Nature Conservancy of Canada has purchased land on the Isthmus (2,200 hectares or more than 5,400 acres) to protect migration corridors and that residents of Tantramar are very familiar with the annual sandpiper migration at Johnson’s Mills as well as Shep, the giant sandpiper statue in Dorchester.

“Which just goes to show you that in our municipality, there is already a lot of attention to wildlife habitat protection,” Bliss said.

Adam Cheeseman also reminded council that well over 20 groups are working to protect wildlife on the Isthmus.

Melanie Jellett of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

Jellett pointed out that in 2008, the Town of Amherst worked with the Nova Scotia government to protect its drinking water supply by designating watershed lands as a provincial wilderness area.

“This past February the town purchased an additional 120 acre parcel of forest land,” she said, “so they’re really building on their conservation lands within their municipality.”

She also pointed out that in 2018, Cumberland County introduced bylaws in their Municipal Planning Strategy to protect the wildlife corridor.

Closer to home, she said, the Southeast Regional Service Commission is developing a regional land use plan and is also working to identify the best location for a wildlife crossing underpass or overpass on Rte. 15 between Moncton and Shediac.

She suggested that Tantramar could include conservation zones in its municipal plan to protect sensitive wildlife areas from development.

After the presentation, Councillor Michael Tower thanked the CCAC.

“I always love to get this information that helps build our battle up to protect this area from things that should not be planted around here,” he said.

“Meaning the gas plant.”

It appears that PROENERGY Canada President John MacIsaac ran into stiff opposition on Wednesday as he attempted to give a presentation on the proposed gas plant to residents of Elsipogtog First Nation. To read the report from the NB Media Co-op, click here.

Posted in Amherst, NB Power, Southeast Regional Service Commission, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

‘I’m not ducking the thing’: LeBlanc faces questions on proposed Isthmus gas plant

Posted on March 24, 2026 by brucewark

Federal MP Dominic LeBlanc (L) listening to Peter Higham in the lobby of Convocation Hall

Groups opposed to the proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village presented information to Beauséjour MP Dominic LeBlanc today explaining why they’re so strongly opposed to the project.

During a brief exchange on the Mount Allison University campus, Peter Higham of Seniors for Climate — Tantramar suggested that as minister of international trade, LeBlanc should be concerned that NB Power has awarded the gas plant contract to an American company at a time when the U.S. is threatening Canada economically.

Higham also seemed to question why LeBlanc hasn’t said anything so far about a project that was announced more than eight months ago.

“I’m not ducking the thing,” LeBlanc said as he suggested that the federal government is not about to tell NB Power what it can and cannot do.

Penny Mott, also of Seniors for Climate, presented LeBlanc with a letter outlining a number of reasons why she believes the project should be of concern to a federal minister including international recognition that the fragile ecosystem on the Chignecto Isthmus needs protection; that burning fossil fuels in a gas/diesel plant hastens catastrophic climate change and that in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, Indigenous people should have been asked first for their consent.

Mt. A. Religious Studies Professor Barb Clayton from the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition presented LeBlanc with a petition signed by 130 scientists and academics opposing the gas plant and suggesting alternatives such as renewable energy sources combined with battery energy storage.

In each case, LeBlanc promised to read the materials, but declined to answer questions from Warktimes.

Anti-gas plant demonstrators

Demonstrators at Mt. A. Photo: Juliette Bulmer

Earlier, demonstrators gathered at various locations on York Street where they knew LeBlanc would see them on his way into Convocation Hall.

The federal minister was guest speaker at the installation ceremony for Moncton lawyer George Cooper who is the university’s new chancellor.

One of the demonstrators, Logan Atkinson, said in spite of repeated attempts, groups against the proposed plant have not been able to talk directly with LeBlanc.

“He hasn’t talked with us since the beginning of our protest. We haven’t heard a word from his office in months,” he said.

“We’ve tried several times by e-mail, by phone calls, his office has either not responded or responded weakly or put us off, so it’s not good enough. We did have a meeting in Shediac  with his assistant early on in the fall, that’s it, nothing since.

“So, it’s not good enough for our MP to be ignoring us like this. We need his help. We need the help of every politician we can get and it’s just not coming from him.”

Posted in climate change, Mount Allison University, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 7 Comments

‘Remember Us’: New book brings Upper Sackville’s past & people to life

Posted on March 22, 2026 by brucewark

Upper Sackville Methodist Church around 1895 with nearby Upper Sackville School on the right.. Photo: “A History of Upper Sackville, N.B. Vol. 1”

About 140 people attended a book launch Saturday for a two-volume set outlining the centuries-long history of Upper Sackville, the village whose beauty the book says “stems from both the lake at its heart and the Tantramar Marsh on its east flank.”

“I was born here and lived most of my first 17 years here, but it was only by writing this book that I learned what the village truly was,” author Kathryn (Kathy) Fawcett Lewis told the crowd gathered in the Upper Sackville United Church on Pond Shore Road.

“We produce everything from world-class hay to senators and beauty queens with a few thieves and murderers thrown in,” she added.

“This history of our village will tell you those tales, how the people came and struggled to gain a foothold, struggled through hard times with the tough land, struggled through epidemics, depressions, and even two wars on their doorstep.”

‘Vagaries of time’

Book launch audience in the Upper Sackville United Church [click to enlarge]

Lewis’s book outlines the history of the area from the first Mi’kmaq inhabitants through successive waves of European settlement including Acadians, New England Planters, Yorkshire immigrants and the American Loyalists.

“Those of us who come from Upper Sackville enjoy a common bond,” Lewis said.

“We come from enduring stock. Our ancestors didn’t just come here. They took root in the earth, sprang forth, and multiplied,” she said as she mentioned the many family names in her book including Estabrooks, George, Hicks, Fawcett, Sears and Wheaton.

She also spoke about how Upper Sackville “was born of the Baptist faith and born of Methodism” in close proximity to the first Baptist and Methodist churches in Canada.

“Old John Fawcett, who came from Yorkshire in 1774 as a seven-year-old boy, who gave his life to Methodism and who lived next door to this church, died an unhappy man,” she said, adding he felt betrayed in 1818 when some town Methodists chose to build a new church in Sackville without consulting the parishioners in his village.

“I wonder what he would have said if he had known that 200 years later, the beautiful Sackville Church would be razed to the ground and the little Upper Sackville Church would be left standing,” she said as the audience laughed.

“Ah, the vagaries of time.”

‘I could not resist’

Kathy Lewis (L) with artist Sharon Hicks who provided illustrations for the book

“I grew up not too far up the road from here,” said artist Sharon Hicks, “and my Hicks ancestors first arrived in 1765.”

Hicks, who provided illustrations for the book, added that after returning to Upper Sackville 15 years ago, she spent many hours researching, then drawing and painting barns that once dotted the Tantramar Marsh as well as “our beloved covered bridge,” and in more recent years, began recreating local historic buildings.

“Kathy mentions in the book that when she asked if I’d be interested in this project, that I ‘didn’t hesitate to say yes,'” Hicks said, adding that kind of downplayed her actual reaction.

“It was more like: ‘Are you kidding me? You must have read my mind, I’ve been thinking about this for years!'”

She ended her book launch talk with a poem that included the lines:

An artist is what I’ve always been,
Depicting many things I’ve seen…
This project brought a different twist ~
A challenge I could not resist!

‘The land sighed’

Cover design by Kathryn Lewis & Sharon Hicks

Volume I gives a comprehensive history that includes the Mi’kmaq, the settlers and their religion, their education and their way of life.

Volume II gives a detailed, alphabetical listing and history of 51 prominent families.

Here is an excerpt from the opening of Volume I:

The land sighed,
the buildings creaked,
and the olde folk whispered,

“Remember us”

The wind sighs over the land from Cumberland Bay to the Mount View Ridge, waving the grasses on the vast Tantramar marsh and cooling the land between. Long known as ‘Windy Sackville,’ the epithet comes with both a blessing and a curse, depending on the season. If the land could talk, it too could sigh, as it carries memories of both pleasure and despair…

To read a transcript of Kathy Lewis’s book launch remarks, click here.

To read Sharon Hicks’s complete poem, click here.

Note: The first print run of 150 has already sold out. To order a copy of the two volumes for $40, e-mail author Kathy Lewis at: nanny.goat1943@gmail.com.

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

Tantramar Town Council votes against releasing Montana recommendations

Posted on March 18, 2026 by brucewark

Tantramar Town Council reversed itself Monday voting against releasing the 20 recommendations in the 2021 Montana workplace assessment of Sackville Fire & Rescue.

The 6-2 vote came after a closed session in which council discussed a legal opinion from the town’s law firm that said releasing the recommendations could violate New Brunswick’s Right to Information and Privacy Act (RTIPPA).

Councillors Bruce Phinney and Barry Hicks voted against the motion not to release the recommendations while Mayor Black, Deputy Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell and Councillors Allison Butcher, Josh Goguen, Matt Estabrooks and Michael Tower voted in favour. It appears that Councillor Greg Martin was absent.

The reversal came less than a week after council voted unanimously to release the recommendations “pending legal advice.”

It appears from the wording of Monday’s motion the lawyers warned that the penalty for violating RTIPPA could result in fines ranging from a minimum of $420 to a maximum of $10,200 for each member of council.

Instead of making the recommendations public, council instead authorized CAO Jennifer Borne “to release the implemented actions from the workplace assessment.”

In an e-mail to Warktimes today, Borne said that because the motion was discussed in a closed session, she wasn’t able to give further background information, but will be issuing a news release on “the actions that were implemented from the Workplace Assessment” either late this week or early next week.

In 2024 when Councillor Bruce Phinney went to court seeking release of the Montana recommendations, Mr. Justice Jean-Paul Ouellette ruled that under RTIPPA, the town could not release the them.

The motion passed on Monday, which was numbered #26-048, reads:

Moved by Councillor Matt Estabrooks and seconded by Councillor Michael Tower that following receipt of the legal opinion from motion #26-045 and review of Section 82(2) of RTIPPA, council authorizes the CAO to release the implemented actions from the workplace assessment of Sackville Fire & Rescue.

Aye votes recorded by Mayor Andrew Black, Deputy Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell and Councillors Allison Butcher, Matt Estabrooks, Josh Goguen and Michael Tower. Nay votes recorded by Councillors Barry Hicks and Bruce Phinney. Motion carried.

To read my report on the dismal state of New Brunswick’s right to information law, click here.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Tantramar wins $50K Hockeyville award — amid concerns over Civic Centre accessibility gaps

Posted on March 15, 2026 by brucewark

Graeson Hicks was an avid hockey player at the Civic Centre arena until he suffered paralysis in an ATV accident

Meghan Hicks says it was exciting to hear last night that the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre had won the $50,000 Kraft Hockeyville award for New Brunswick.

“It’s amazing,” she says. “The $50,000 will really help.”

Hicks was one of eight people who nominated the Civic Centre for the award and in her essay, she says she mentioned how her two sons “basically grew up at the rink” where they skated and learned to play hockey.

She also wrote that her 17-year-old son Graeson suffers from paralysis as a result of an ATV accident last year and that the Civic Centre needs money to upgrade its accessibility standards, a point she made forcefully during two presentations to town council in February and March.

This year’s Kraft Hockeyville award went to communities in all 13 provinces and territories. In a second round, the top two chosen as finalists will be announced on March 21st and Canadians will vote on which of the communities will claim the top prize of $250,000 for rink upgrades.

The runner-up will receive $100,000.

“I’m really hoping we come ahead with either second place or the first-place prize,” Hicks says.

No elevator

Meghan Hicks

During her most recent presentation to town council last week, Hicks said Graeson received recognition recently for his achievements in Titans high-school hockey. The ceremony was held on the ice.

“It should have been a moment of pride. Instead, after the ceremony, he had to leave the building and struggle up a steep hill, which was icy and full of slush and snow to reach the viewing level,” she said.

“That is not accessible, it’s not safe and it’s certainly not inclusion.”

She pointed out the town commissioned an independent report on accessibility in 2023 that called for an elevator, but three years later, people who badly need it are still waiting. The report also called for railings in the rink stands, but although Hicks says three sets have been installed, another three or four are still needed.

In her Kraft Hockeyville essay, Hicks says she mentioned how grandparents find it hard to attend games at the arena.

She says Graeson can’t use the washrooms on the viewing level.

“They have accessible washrooms, but they don’t meet the standards. They’re not large enough and the doors don’t swing the correct way.”

‘Community hub’

“Tantramar has had a roadmap since 2023 and the Accessibility Act sets a deadline for 2030,” Hicks told council, referring to the province’s first five-year strategic plan on accessibility.

“Every year of delay is another year of exclusion,” she said.

“This building is our EMO site. It is supposed to be a community hub, yet it remains functionally inaccessible to many of the very people it claims to serve.”

Alyssa Greene

Both Hicks and her sister Alyssa Greene praised Councillor Barry Hicks for introducing a motion on February 10th calling on the town to issue tenders seeking bids on an elevator by March 31st.

The motion passed unanimously.

Earlier, the town received an estimate from an engineering firm that said an elevator would cost $750,000, but in her presentation to council last week, Greene said she called three Maritime elevator companies who estimated it would cost in the range of $40,000 to $100,000.

“Councillor Hicks made a respectable start at the last meeting for the installation of an elevator,” Greene said.

“Tonight I’m asking for each member of council to make a commitment to the very attainable and financially responsible goal of having an elevator fully installed and operational within the next six months,” she added.

Mayor Black acknowledged that council had not acted quickly enough on the independent accessibility report.

“The elevator will be built,” he promised. “We’ll find the money.”

To read the Kraft Hockeyville news release, click here.

To read the nominations submitted on behalf of the Civic Centre, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 1 Comment

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 , | 23 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