Councillor Kristen LeBlanc

Tantramar Town Council has once again approved sending a letter to Premier Holt urging her government to stop all further work on the development of a 500 MW gas/diesel plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

But several members of council who voted to send the letter expressed mixed feelings about it while Councillor Barry Hicks voiced his opposition because he said it is not within the town’s jurisdiction.

Tuesday’s motion was introduced by Councillor Kristen LeBlanc whose ward includes Centre Village near the proposed site of the big gas plant.

The motion urged a halt to the project “to protect the social and environmental well-being of  the citizens of Tantramar and all of New Brunswick and to consider lower-cost alternatives here that are available.”

“Our responsibility as a council is to ask difficult questions, to represent our residents, to speak when we believe something is not in the best interest of our municipality,” LeBlanc said.

“So what I’m asking council tonight is to understand that supporting this motion does not mean that we oppose economic development,” she added.

“It means that we support reasonable and smart development; development that’s going to protect our environment; development that’s going to respect our residents and their health; development that’s going to create local lasting benefits and development that reflects where Canada is headed, not where it has been.”

‘Creature of the province’

Councillor Allison Butcher

Although Councillor Allison Butcher said she would be voting in favour of sending a letter, she questioned the wisdom of telling the provincial government what to do.

“Municipal governments are a creature of the province,” she said.

“We are here and allowed the authority that we have only through the province,” she added.

“They have a policy and procedure in place that we don’t agree with. I don’t like it, but this is akin to a child telling their parent that things are going to change.”

Butcher predicted the province would ignore the town’s letter for a couple of reasons.

First, the premier promised to come and talk to council, but so far, hasn’t done so and secondly, “it’s a little bit like us telling our boss the way we want [things],” she said.

“We do need to advocate for our community and our constituents. I just wanted to say that although I will support it, I don’t think that it’s going to win us any favours.”

Councillor Barry Hicks said he would vote against sending a letter because the gas plant isn’t within the municipality’s jurisdiction.

“The previous council already sent a letter off to the government opposing this, so I feel we have other important things that we can work on other than this,” Hicks said.

‘What else?’

Councillor Alyssa Greene

Councillor Alyssa Greene said she would be voting in favour, but agreed with Councillor Butcher that the letter would probably fall on deaf ears.

“Unfortunately, we’re not the decision makers on this one,” she said.

“What I would like to hear from your community is, you know, what can we do to ensure that we don’t end up in this predicament again?” Greene said speaking directly to dozens of people in the audience who were there to oppose the gas plant.

“What do you see [regarding] policy and bylaws that you would like to see in place? What can we proactively do rather than being reactionary as we are right now?” she asked.

She said residents should continue to speak out against the gas plant, but should also think about what else is needed to prevent such a situation from happening again.

“I’m looking for the ‘what else’ right now,” Greene said.

Mayor Wiggins-Colwell said she agreed the gas plant is out of the municipality’s jurisdiction.

“But we certainly do support the residents and the people opposed to this project,” she said. “So, we will be supporting you.”

‘Big noise’

Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen

Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen said he would also support the motion as he did in December when the previous council voted to send a letter to the premier.

“I think, yes, they might not listen to us,” he said, “but I’ll take the French term of tintamarre, which means big noise. So if we keep on making noise, they might listen to us at one point.

“So definitely I think we need to keep on advocating for our citizens and making their voice heard because they need somebody in their corner,” Goguen concluded.

The final vote on the motion was 8 to 1. Voting in favour: Mayor Wiggins-Colwell, Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen, Councillors Kristen LeBlanc, Allison Butcher, Alyssa Greene, Wayne Wells, Tori Weldon and Haidee Robertson.

Voting against: Councillor Barry Hicks.

Note: Councillors Haidee Robertson, Tori Weldon and Wayne Wells did not speak on the motion.