Mayoralty candidates & moderator. L-R: Sabine Dietz, Carol Cooke, Debbie Wiggins-Colwell, Terry Jones
The three Tantramar mayoralty candidates — Sabine Dietz, Terry Jones and Debbie Wiggins-Colwell — took part on Friday in a one-hour radio forum at local radio station CHMA, 106.9 FM.
The forum was organized by Warktimes and moderator Carol Cooke and recorded by CHMA station manager James Anderson.
The candidates discussed a wide range of topics including how to deal with the turmoil in Sackville Fire & Rescue, what the municipality should do to prepare for climate change, property taxes, poverty issues, public engagement at council meetings and heritage protection.
In part one of the forum, the candidates introduce themselves and discuss the proposed 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant in Centre Village.
Here is the audio, followed by a lightly edited transcript:
Tantramar Mayoralty Candidates Radio Forum, Friday April 17, 2026 at 2 p.m. at CHMA 106.9 FM.
Introduction & Question One
Moderator Carol Cooke: We’re going to start with an opening question because the people that are listening would like to get to know you. And so, here we go. I’d like to start by asking each of you to talk a bit about your background and why you think that you’d be a good mayor for Tantramar. And we’re going to rotate the order of questions, but we are going to start this question asking Sabine to tell us a bit about herself. Sabine Dietz.
Sabine Dietz: Yes, thanks for having me in this forum. So my name is Sabine Dietz. I’m a Tantramar resident. I live out on Highmarsh Road and I’ve lived there for over 20 years. I’ve been active in this community for a long time, engaged on public health, currently on housing. I’m involved in climate change issues. I’ve also sat as a councillor during the amalgamation process. And I am just generally very engaged in municipal politics and in municipal government, simply because that is part of the job that I do, work with municipal governments across Atlantic Canada. And so, why I’m running is because I love this community. I’m dedicated and committed to this community, and I have been since I arrived here.
And I participate in many things that move the community forward as a whole. Just to mention one, I’m part of the Freshwinds Eco-Village Housing development and we’re building housing that’s sustainable long-term and has stable rents here in the community of Tantramar, and so the engagement goes beyond climate change which is at the core of my work that I do into all areas from food security, over health, into housing, into poverty into transportation, all of them. So I look forward to working with the community on making the best place that we can of Tantramar.
Carol Cooke: Thank you, Sabine. Next we’re going to ask Terry Jones. And Terry, I’ll just recap the question. Would you tell us a bit about your background and why you think you would be a good mayor for Tantramar?
Terry Jones: Thanks, Carol. Well, I started this journey into municipal politics a very short time ago. I have lived in the community of Centre Village. We’ve been in Sackville, in the area for 38 years. I worked as an LPN [licensed practical nurse] at the Sackville Hospital. I’ve worked as an EA [educational assistant] at Tantramar High School. And now I have a small business and I’m a naturopath. So I’m still working, looking after and caring for people in my community.
I live quite a distance from Sackville, almost at the end of the municipality. And so the elephant in the room, the big RIGS plant is coming next door. And it always takes a jumping off point for someone to want to step up and start to be more engaged. In my case, I’ve only had this past [municipal] amalgamation, to actually have a voice. The rest of the time, it was you’re in the provincial jurisdiction. And so I didn’t feel like there was really a lot for me to be able to do as a resident. That’s changed. With amalgamation, now we’re all getting a voice at the table. we’re all going to be able to voice our concerns, bring the pluses and the minus of living in Sackville. And it’s a wonderful community.
I say I moved from Nova Scotia, so it was a bit of a culture shock. We had party [phone] lines when I arrived here and cattle on my front lawn. It was very unique, but I’ve grown to love it and the people of Sackville. It’s unique. The entire area is so special and so unique. I don’t have a pedigree in non-profits or community service, but I do have drive, passion, reliable, dependable, and I’ve had a lot of people have asked over the last little while if someone from outside, again, Sabine’s in our ward too, I’m in Ward 4, so Kristen’s already been elected. My problem was there was no other position for me.
Carol Cooke: Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Terry. Now we’re going to pass to Debbie Wiggins-Colwell. Debbie, please tell us a bit about your background and why you think you’d be a good mayor for Tantramar.
Debbie Wiggins-Colwell: Thank you, Carol. I’ve spent my whole life in Tantramar. I raised my three children in Tantramar. I ran three businesses in the village of Dorchester. I am now retired. After retirement, I became the mayor of Dorchester, and now I’m deputy mayor of Tantramar. I feel now that being retired, I have the time to move forward and dedicate my time to being the mayor of the municipality of Tantramar. I’ve done over the years with uh with uh connecting with people. I have met a lot of people through say like the conferences, you met the premiers, you met the ministers and and i think that would help me moving forward in situations that happen. It means a lot if people know your face when you go into the room, they can say, “Oh Hi Debbie you know, what you do, you know, and I think that’s a big asset to move on to be mayor of Tantramar.
Carol Cooke: Great. Well, Terry, you touched on the gas plant issue, and that is our leading question. And Terry, you’re up first, and then we’ll go to Debbie for her response to it and followed by Sabine. And as I say, we’ll just rotate how the answers happen in what order. Here’s our first official question of the afternoon. The New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board is expected to make a decision soon on whether or not to approve this 500 megawatt gas plant in Centre Village. If the board does approve the project, how would you see your role as mayor in dealing with it?
Terry Jones: Well, Carol, the EUB decision, when it comes down, we’re hoping that it’s no, they’re not approving it. However, there’s always that chance that it’s going to be approved. It’s a bad project, in a bad location, at a bad time. I am fortunate to be able to follow through with what the council has started already. The sitting council has come out against the plant, which allows us to speak more candidly without being restricted as far as the negative impact towards human health, the environment, the air quality, long-term effects, water security.
It’s not creating the jobs that it has kind of alluded to. There’s going to be 8 to 10 jobs out of it. So when people start bringing that forward, it’s kind of not such an important issue because jobs is not going to come to our area because of it. There is going to be long-term damage and far-reaching. So as mayor, I want to continue to do the work that this council has already started. I want to continue to reach out and work with, like, Stop the Tantramar Gas Plant, which I am a member and an organizer. I want to reach out to Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition, continue their work with all of the wonderful groups in town, Seniors for Climate, etc., that are working on this project. Together, we’re strong.
Carol Cooke: Thank you, Terry. We’re going to move on just in the interest of time. Debbie Wiggins-Colwell, if the board, the EUB, does approve this project, how would you see your role as mayor in dealing with it?
Debbie Wiggins-Colwell: Thank you, Carol. For one thing, I do not support the gas plant as it is currently proposed. I believe it rises serious concerns around environmental impact, long-term sustainability, and community trust. Tantramar has been clear that we value our land, our health, and our future, and major developments such as aligned with these values, at present, I do not believe this proposal meets our needs. I believe in development that creates long-term benefits without compromising our environment or our quality of life. We can pursue growth that fits Tantramar and not projects that impose on us. And as I was saying earlier, in the position that I am as deputy mayor, I would be able to contact people in the provincial and maybe even the federal government to air our concerns of what is happening with the gas plant. We do not, this has, we have a fragile, fragile ecosystem in our environment. And I think with the isthmus of Chignecto, it has to be protected. And protected, we need a strong voice to move this forward. Thank you.
Carol Cooke: Thank you, Debbie. Sabine, we’ll follow up with you. And just to recap the real question, if the EU…
Sabine Dietz: I was going to get to that.
Carol Cooke: I’m just going to just take a moment, if I may. If the EUB does approve this project, Sabine, how would you see your role as mayor in dealing with it?
Sabine Dietz: Yeah, so this is the assumption that the project has gone through and not before. And I think that’s a really important piece to take into consideration. This is a provincial jurisdiction. So the municipality has limited powers, has always had limited powers, especially because our municipal plan currently doesn’t include the area. So if it is approved and I would be mayor, I would point out that our municipal plan is up for renewal. And that should really develop into a way to control developments that we don’t want in our community. So municipal planning process up in the next couple of years, definitely on a major big issue for the incoming council.
The second thing is there are limited things that council will be able to do. One of them is certainly to continue supporting the organizations that Terry has mentioned. They’ve done a lot of work around this. They need our continued support, speaking out with the province, but also negotiating with the province. There are things that can be put in place in order to reduce noise, in order to reduce the impacts on the area, especially out in the Centerville area where this is supposed to happen. All of this can be done. Like I mentioned, this is a provincial jurisdiction, and us saying over and over that we’re against it is not going to make any difference once it’s actually in place. And then we really need to fight that we’re going to get all we can out of it and that we get in the process the protections that the area needs.
Terry Jones: Unfortunately, though, the NB Power, because they’re a public utility, are able to build those facilities in any jurisdiction, in any zone, without any kind of consequence other than following the IAAC [Impact Assessment Agency of Canada] process and the environmental impact process.
Carol Cooke: Okay, Terry. Do you want to weigh in on that, what Sabine has just said, Debbie?
Debbie Wiggins-Colwell: Yes, I do. That was very clearly put when this came forth. This came forth in July. Us as a municipality, a council sitting, we did not know about it. We heard about it the same time as the people in the community heard about it. Now, that means that they’re not communicating. They’re not letting it through. They’ve got something in their mind. They’re just going to go ahead and do it.
Carol Cooke: But Debbie, would you agree that it’s out of municipal jurisdiction?
Debbie Wiggins-Colwell: Yes.
