Bill Steele outside his Dorchester jail bed & breakfast in 2023

In a 5-3 vote Tuesday, Tantramar council summarily dismissed a Code of Conduct complaint against Mayor Wiggins-Colwell for the statement she posted on the town’s Facebook page a few hours after the province announced its approval of the proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village.

Among other things, the complaint, filed by Dorchester resident Bill Steele, accused the mayor of issuing the statement on behalf of the whole council without consulting its members.

“This was not merely a personal comment by the mayor,” the complaint said.

“It was published as an official municipal communication through an official Tantramar account and represented to residents and the media that Council had collectively accepted the provincial decision and agreed that the municipality ‘must move forward.'”

Steele cited sections of the code that prohibit “false or misleading public statements” and that call for members of council to “foster respect for the democratic decision-making process and work toward the implementation of positions or decisions made by Council.”

“Presenting a position as Council’s decision before Council had an opportunity to discuss or decide the matter bypassed the democratic decision-making process and denied individual councillors the opportunity to state their positions,” his complaint states.

“The timing and subject matter make this conduct particularly serious,” it adds. “The statement was issued almost immediately following a major provincial decision involving substantial pubic concern.”

Council discussion

Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen

After Mayor Wiggins-Colwell had left the council chamber, Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen indicated that according to the code of conduct bylaw, council had to determine whether the complaint was frivolous, vexatious, made with an improper purpose or filed within the required three-month time period and whether it fell within the scope of the code of conduct.

“We already know that it was filed within the proper time,” Goguen said.

“So we just have to determine if we want to proceed with the complaint or if we want to dismiss the complaint. We’re not talking about merit or anything like that.”

“Do we talk about this or are we supposed to just come up with our answer and that’s that, or do we discuss what we think?” asked Councillor Tori Weldon.

Goguen said he would defer that question to the assistant clerk but then said: “It says council should not assess the substantive merits of the complaint at the screening stage.”

“I’d just like to say, ‘I dismiss it.’ I vote to dismiss it as frivolous,”  said Councillor Barry Hicks who was attending the meeting online.

Goguen then canvassed the councillors around the table:

Councillor Haidee Robertson: “Dismiss.” Councillor Weldon: “Dismiss.” Councillor Wayne Wells: “Dismiss.” Councillor Alyssa Greene: “Dismiss.”

Councillor Butcher: “Proceed.” Councillor Kristen LeBlanc: “Proceed based on each one of the sections that are laid out.”

“And I would vote to proceed,” Goguen said.

Council then voted 5 to 3 on a formal motion to dismiss Steele’s complaint with no further discussion.

Old bylaw vs. new bylaw

Midgic resident Terry Jones has filed a similar complaint against the mayor that will be discussed later this fall

The discussion of Steele’s complaint took only nine minutes and was held under rules set out in an amended Code of Conduct bylaw that was passed on March 10, 2026. Amendments were needed because the old bylaw had required council discussions to be held behind closed doors.

The newly established Local Governance Commission had ruled that since members of council are not town employees, complaints against them cannot be considered personnel matters and therefore, must be discussed publicly.

Although the new bylaw now requires code of conduct discussions to be held in public, it also substantially weakened the old one passed a year earlier on May 13, 2025.

The old version, which is still on the town’s website, required council “to determine if the complaint does or does not have merit,” while the new version prohibits council from considering merit at all when it first reviews the complaint.

That means that councillors who believe a complaint has merit are prohibited by law from saying why they believe it has merit, but can only vote to consider it further.

Later this fall, council will be required to go through this procedure again when it considers a similar code of conduct complaint filed by Midgic resident Terry Jones against the mayor for the controversial statement she posted on Facebook after the province approved the proposed gas plant.

To read Bill Steele’s Code of Conduct complaint, click here.