In a tied, 4-4 vote, the motion to rescind Mayor Wiggins-Colwell’s controversial statement about the proposed Tantramar gas plant was defeated Thursday after a 35 minute council debate that revealed sharp divisions of opinion.

Councillors Alyssa Greene, Wayne Wells and Haidee Robertson joined by the mayor herself voted to uphold her statement issued on behalf of council last week shortly after Environment Minister Gilles LePage announced the province had given the gas plant its conditional approval.

Mayor Wiggins-Colwell’s statement called on the town to move forward in the expectation that the 45 conditions the province imposed would address all public concerns about its potential health, safety and environmental effects.

It also suggested council should stick to matters within municipal jurisdiction and let federal and provincial regulators take responsibility for the gas plant.

Councillors Allison Butcher, Kristen LeBlanc, Tori Weldon and Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen voted in favour of revoking the mayor’s statement mainly on the grounds that it did not reflect council’s official opposition to the 500 MW plant on the ecologically sensitive Chignecto Isthmus.

Councillor Barry Hicks was absent.

During the debate, the mayor said she issued her statement after she and Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne attended an online meeting the day before with Minister LePage and his officials.

She also promised that NB Power Vice President Brad Coady and PROENERGY Canada President John MacIsaac would soon appear before council to bring everyone up to date on the gas plant project.

‘Angry comments’

Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen said he asked for the meeting so council could discuss where to go from here.

“We need to be able to advocate for our municipality,” he said, adding the mayor could have waited a few days to consult council before issuing her statement.

“We could have probably saved a lot of angry comments and vocal people being really, frankly, pissed off, online,” he said.

“So yes, maybe you’re right there, Deputy Mayor Goguen, that maybe I should have went back and maybe let the council know,” Wiggins-Colwell replied, but then defended her statement.

“That’s not unusual for a mayor to sign these statements and put them forward to the public, because that’s our first interest is our public, how they perceive things, and I thought this may help them with understanding how this was going to be, and (how) this is going to be followed all the way through the project,” she said.

Council not consulted

Councillor Kristen LeBlanc pointed out that this council and the last one had voted twice to oppose the gas plant and the mayor’s statement did not reflect council’s position even though she said she was speaking on behalf of council.

LeBlanc also expressed concern that council was not consulted.

“I do have an issue when I’m not provided the opportunity to participate in a democratic process that I’ve signed up for and I feel that was taken away from most of the councillors up here that may have a different opinion,” she said.

LeBlanc added that the mayor’s statement should be removed from the town’s Facebook page.

‘This is not a war’

Councillor Alyssa Greene said she agreed with the mayor that the municipality does not have jurisdiction over regulating the plant.

“This is not a war. We have to ensure as a council that what happens for the community is what’s best for the community,” she added.

Greene suggested the town would benefit financially from the project and that fighting the province on it could have negative ramifications. Better, she said, to ensure that the company building and operating the plant was following the conditions the province imposed.

“I understand that you feel badly about it,” she said addressing people in the audience who were muttering in disagreement.

“We’ve had people coming in here using the word ‘bomb’ repeatedly during their presentations,” Greene said.

“That’s unsettling as a council member that there are members of the community talking about that, speaking that this is the next Oka going to happen here,” she added referring to the 78 day standoff in 1990 between First Nations, police, the Canadian army and government authorities that resulted in two deaths.

“I don’t want that kind of action in our community. I want to make sure that things work out well and that we have a peaceful movement through this, because that really is the best option for our community,” Greene said.

Peaceful protests

“I just want to put a little statement out there that Councillor Greene did say that people are referring to bombs and things like that,” said Deputy Mayor Goguen.

“I just want to say that everything that I’ve seen as protests have all been peaceful,” he added.

“I know you have the assumptions that it might get ugly, but I have to applaud. People have been very peaceful and have been very respectful, especially in the council chambers,” Goguen said.

“So, I don’t think you can paint the whole group as that. And to me, that comment doesn’t sit well with the municipality or myself and is not a representation of the citizens in this municipality.”

Councillor Greene responded that the assistant clerk had also heard the word ‘bomb’.

“And the threats, which I would define them as that, that this will be the next Oka, I did report those concerns to the RCMP as well,” she said.

“Because yes, they have had peaceful protests. They can change quickly and we need to ensure that that does not happen,” she added.

“If people get very upset about a concern or an issue in our community, people can be incited by even a single invidual to behave in an inappropriate fashion and we want to ensure that we have good, clear headings moving forward on this and any other issue,” Greene concluded.

‘Official sources’

Councillor LeBlanc also took issue with the mayor’s statement last Friday encouraging Tantramar residents “to rely on official sources of information for updates” on the gas plant.

“A lot of information, unfortunately, that was provided way back at the beginning of announcement of this project, specifically from the proponent, was questionable,” LeBlanc said.

“So I’m not sure how we can ask the public to continue to rely on that information when it’s always been challenged,” she added.

“I know there’s a lot of groups that have done their research,” she said, referring to residents’ meetings with Premier Holt, Minister LePage and their presentations at Energy & Utilities Board hearings.

“They’ve just been there to present factual information and always have been there to challenge and present it to council to make sure that we have it.”

Baffled & disappointed

After council adjourned, members of the audience opposed to the gas plant expressed their concerns over how things had gone, including the tied vote against rescinding the mayor’s original statement.

“I’m baffled,” said Pam Novak of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute who also speaks for the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition.

“I think there should have been a clearer goal of what this meeting was supposed to be about,” she added.

Novak said the mayor’s statement last Friday was premature and its wording insulting to those who had pushed for the town to oppose the gas plant, especially since she issued it without the backing of town council.

She said she was shocked by Councillor Greene’s assertion that opponents were threatening violence over the project.

“I’m very taken back by who is it that she’s referring to, and why was it brought up in such a meeting that it seemed to be like a blanket type of statement meant to [include] everybody who apparently has been vocal about opposing this project from the beginning.”

“I’m disappointed that there wasn’t more resolve around the council table about how inappropriate the mayor’s statement was that she posted on Facebook,” said Logan Atkinson of Seniors for Climate Tantramar.

He added that the Local Governance Act gives the mayor the authority to speak on behalf of council.

“That means she can speak to the world about council’s position,” Atkinson said. “But there has to be a position and she misrepresented it.”

Peter Higham, also of Seniors for Climate Tantramar, said the council vote essentially meant nothing.

“Except that, well, I think the mayor understands now that she cannot do that again. She cannot issue a statement that is purportedly on behalf of council, when it clearly was not,” he added.

Centre Village resident Terry Jones,  who lives next to the gas plant property, was ruled out of order when she stood up during the council meeting to ask why Councillor Greene was using the word “bomb” in referring to opponents of the gas plant.

“It was very insulting and very degrading to our plan,” Jones said.

“Our plan is peaceful resistance, not bombs and dangerous situations in people’s lives and the reference to Oka made no sense,” she added.

“After the meeting, I spoke to the clerk and he denies he heard the word bomb,” she said.

“I’m not sure where she came up with that.”

Jones said Greene mentioned things that had nothing to do with the mayor’s controversial statement.

“And then she threw the bomb thing out, and I think that’s now on the public record, and that is inappropriate. I think she needs to send a retraction.”

To read the mayor’s original statement, click here.

CORRECTION: The Town of Tantramar has asked for the following statement to be added as a correction to this story: “Following the special council meeting, Tantramar’s Assistant Clerk Chris Hill did confirm to Terry Jones the word “bomb” had been used in a presentation from community to Council.”

The Town’s statement adds: “We can confirm as well that, as you have noted in your story’s comments section, this usage of “bomb” occurred in a presentation to council on July 14, where the word was used as an analogy.”

My comment in the comments section that I added on September 5th reads as follows:

OK, so I went back and did find the use of the word “bomb” during a presentation to council on July 14, one year to the day after NB Power announced its plan for a 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village. The presentation was by Meredith Fisher of Seniors for Climate Tantramar and here’s what she said:

“Exactly one year ago today, a virtual bomb was dropped on Tantramar. Most of us remember the shock and disbelief of the announcement of the RIGS project contracting an American company to build and operate for 25 years of fossil fuel burning with shale gas, also from the U.S. out here.

“To many of us in New Brunswick right now, it seems like there are other of these bombs being dropped on our environment and on our lives in our dear province. The worst part of it is that the bombers are employed by us as leaders to make sound decisions…Our trust in NB Power, our Crown Corporation, is badly eroded. In a few years, the bombers will no longer be responsible for the flawed process they created. They will be gone. Potentially, we will be here in Tantramar. We will be left holding the proverbial bag of an environment that has been irreversibly damaged forever.”

Fisher went on to say: “We can come up with a reasonable option to the RIGS Centre Village project. We do not really wish to take legal action…let’s be partners in decisions about our environment and our energy needs. Let’s do our best as a province to reduce the burning of fossil fuels.”