Local news matters, but ‘these are desperate times’ says journalism researcher

Posted on June 16, 2025 by brucewark

Professor April Lindgren has conducted extensive research on local newsmedia

A retired Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) professor says local journalism matters because it builds a shared sense of community and provides citizens with the information they need to participate in local decision-making.

“Covering municipal council, for instance, means that people will find out what’s going on, that there’s a discussion about building a four-lane highway at the end of your street before the decision gets made at local council and it creates an opportunity for you to have a say in that,” April Lindgren told an audience of about 75 journalists, politicians, academics and members of the public Saturday during a local news symposium at Mount Allison University.

Lindgren is the principal investigator for the Local News Research Project at TMU’s school of journalism.

“Since 2008, we’ve tracked 566 local news outlets that have closed in 372 locations,” she said.

“Sadly, over the same period, while there have been new local news outlets launched, only about half as many have launched in half as many places. So the net result, when we look more closely at the data, is that at least 239 communities have experienced net losses,” she added.

“Community newspapers have accounted for three-quarters of the closings to date.”

[Locally, the Sackville Tribune-Post stopped publishing in 2020 and was officially closed in 2021.]

Effects on smaller, poorer places

Lindgren said that communities with fewer than 10,000 people have been affected most, especially in poorer places where average incomes are lower than the average for Canada as a whole.

“You know, these are desperate times,” she said as fewer community papers, broadcast stations and online outfits scramble to cover local news, including municipal councils, and in many places there’s no coverage at all.

“I think there have been certain local politicians who thought, ‘Oh great, no more pesky reporters to bug us’ as local news organizations cut back on coverage or just plain closed,” Lindgren said.

“But I spoke to a bunch of Ontario municipal politicians a year or so ago, and what I’m hearing now is, ‘Oh my God, there’s no more pesky reporters bugging us, and we don’t know how to get our message out, because everybody’s mad at us now, because everything comes as a surprise to [our residents], because they didn’t know we were talking about this, and now we made the decision, and now they’re showing up at council and yelling at us.'”

Municipal support for local media

Lindgren pointed to the town of High Level in northern Alberta where the local council bought subscriptions to the Echo-Pioneer for every house in the community in return for a page in the paper for municipal announcements.

“Now, of course, there are problems with that because if you write a story that that council doesn’t like, they can in one-fell-swoop eradicate your subscription base,” she said.

“But that’s another example, I think of the desperation that’s filtering into municipal politics.”

Theresa Blackburn, publisher and editor of the River Valley Sun in northwestern New Brunswick said the six municipalities her newspaper covers each contribute $450 a year, money that covers a full month of the paper’s printing costs.

[Tantramar council contributes $2,500 a year to help support Erica Butler’s community news on CHMA and in return, the campus/community station broadcasts municipal announcements.]

Lindgren stressed however, that local news outlets need to earn such financial support.

“You have to produce content that really matters to your community and be engaged with that community in a way that is meaningful and visible and consistent,” she said.

This is the first in a two-part series. Next, ideas from participants at the Mt. A. symposium on how local media might survive (and thrive) in these times of financial crisis.

Posted in Mount Allison University, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 1 Comment

ATV clubs seeking greater access to Tantramar streets and roads

Posted on June 11, 2025 by brucewark

Vance Johnson of QUAD NB

QUAD NB, the association that represents 59 ATV clubs in the province, is seeking the town’s support for all-terrain vehicle access to three residential streets in Sackville so that club members could ride legally to the parking lot at The Painted Pony Bar & Grill on Bridge Street.

During a presentation to Tantramar Council on Tuesday, Vance Johnson trail co-ordinator with QUAD NB, proposed that ATVs be allowed to operate for 200 metres on Squire Street, 100 metres on Princess and 500 metres on Weldon.

Riders would gain access to those streets from the existing ATV trail that runs beside the TransCanada highway.

Noting that ATV riders can already ride legally on Mallard Drive and Wright Street in the highway commercial zone, Johnson drew a distinction between those who come to Sackville for gatherings and events and those who come as tourists.

“They just want to stay, gas up, get their food, fill their belly and away they go,” he said referring to traditional riders who stop at the fast food restaurants, gas stations, liquor and grocery stores on Wright and Mallard.

“The tourists are on their own agenda,” he said. “So. bring them into the downtown. They want to go shopping.”

Councillor Josh Goguen

When Councillor Josh Goguen expressed concerns about ATV traffic volumes and noise on Squire, Princess and Weldon, Johnson replied that ATVs are required to have mufflers that do not typically violate municipal noise bylaws.

“We’re not opening any floodgates here by any means,” he said of the traffic volumes. “You won’t see them, large groups, huge groups, like at an event, for instance. They won’t be coming here by the hundreds.”

Johnson said ATV clubs prefer to avoid residential areas, adding that his proposal is only a draft and there may be better alternatives.

He noted that in May, the provincial department of transportation and infrastructure (DTI) had rejected an earlier proposal to allow ATVs to travel to the downtown core via Main and Bridge Streets because traffic volumes are already high on those roads.

Johnson presented council with two maps showing that QUAD NB is also requesting access to roads on the outskirts of Sackville including 500 metres on Station Road, 6.4 kilometres on Mount View and 600 metres on Walker Road as well as greater access to Dorchester via Lower Walker Road, Woodlawn, Lower Fairfield and Cherry Burton.

To view those maps, click here.

Mayor Andrew Black

Mayor Andrew Black suggested that ATV access to Mallard Drive and Wright Street hasn’t caused problems for residents there.

“I haven’t personally heard of anybody who lives in that area being concerned or voicing concern over noise levels or even the amount of ATVs,” he said.

“So we do have a bylaw in the books already that seems to be working very well.”

On behalf of QUAD NB, Johnson asked council for a general letter of support, so that his organization can move forward with applications to provincial officials in public safety, DTI and the department of natural resources.

He also emphasized that his current proposals for access to town roads and streets are only preliminary.

“So we would be working with council or somebody within the municipality to come up with that final draft,” he said before submitting it for provincial approval.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Differing local views on the ‘Roaring Lion’ thief’s two-year prison sentence

Posted on May 30, 2025 by brucewark

The famous “Roaring Lion” photo of Winston Churchill was taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1941. Photo: Wikipedia

Prominent Tantramar photographer Thaddeus Holownia says he was astounded when he heard that the man who stole the “Roaring Lion” photo of Winston Churchill had been sentenced to two years in prison.

“It just seemed really, really severe for what actually happened, what the crime was,” Holownia said today during a telephone interview.

He added that the prominence and iconic status of the photo should not have had any bearing on the sentencing.

“It’s an important image, it’s iconic on some level or another to some people while for others, it’s just a picture of Winston Churchill,” he said.

“I don’t know how important that should have been in sentencing this poor gentleman.”

Holownia pointed out that the thief, Jeffrey Wood, had been trying to raise money to help his brother who suffered from a mental disorder.

He had no previous criminal record, pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.

Theft went unnoticed

In his judgment, Ontario Justice Robert Wadden wrote that Wood stole the photo from Ottawa’s Chateau Laurier hotel sometime in January 2022 replacing it with a cheap copy that carried a forged signature of the well-known Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh who had donated it to the hotel for permanent public display.

“As this was during the pandemic,” the judge wrote, “there was less activity than usual in the hotel. The theft went unnoticed for months.”

Wood sold the original photo through Sotheby’s auction house in London which estimated its sale price at approximately $26,000 CDN, but because it was damaged in transit, the famous photo went to an Italian lawyer in Genoa for just under $10,000 with Wood receiving about $4,500.

(The Italian collector, Nicola Cassinelli, voluntarily gave the photo back to the Chateau Laurier where it is now on display.)

Karsh snatches Churchill’s cigar

Justice Wadden reported that Karsh snapped the photo in 1941 just after Churchill had spoken to Canada’s Parliament about British determination to defeat Nazi Germany and its Axis allies during the Second World War.

“Karsh’s portrait session with Churchill was scheduled to last only two minutes,” Justice Wadden wrote, adding:

As Karsh was preparing, Churchill was smoking a cigar, which Karsh asked him to put down so the smoke did not interfere with the picture. Churchill refused, so just before taking the photograph, Karsh moved forward and snatched the cigar from Churchill’s mouth. The resulting belligerent scowl came to epitomize the fierce glare of the leader of a nation fearlessly confronting its enemy.

In 2016, the Bank of England used the Karsh photo of Churchill on its new five pound, plastic note. Image: Bank of England

Meantime, retired Mount Allison Fine Arts Professor Virgil Hammock says he feels that the two-year sentence is just about right because it will deter others from stealing and selling art.

At the same time, he says it was “sort of a victimless crime” not at all on the scale of what the Nazis did in their systematic plunder of European art treasures.

Hammock studied photography after enlisting in the U.S. Army and ended up taking photos in Korea in the late 1950s.

After that, he started in the photography program at the San Francisco Art Institute before switching to the study of painting.

“I’ve got quite a few books on Karsh,” he says.

“I admire his work. He’s a real master photographer, especially a master of using light.”

—–

To read the full Ontario Court of Justice ruling including the judge’s reasoning for the two-year prison sentence, click here.

For more about Thaddeus Holownia, click here.

To read Virgil Hammock’s extensive writings about Beauty & Art, click here.

NOTE: Although Churchill was a British hero during the Second World War, he was also an unapologetic racist who defended the many atrocities his country committed when it ruled over hundreds of millions in the world’s largest Empire.

Tantramar Councillor Bruce Phinney poses with the “Roaring Lion” while attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference earlier this month in Ottawa

Posted in Arts, Mount Allison University, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Tantramar Council OKs new code of conduct with tougher penalties

Posted on May 17, 2025 by brucewark

Councillor Bruce Phinney speaks against new code of conduct

Tantramar Town Council has adopted a new Code of Conduct bylaw that would allow for the suspension of any member of council for up to 90 days without pay.

Councillor Bruce Phinney, who has been sanctioned three times under previous codes of conduct, was the only member to speak and vote against the new bylaw on third and final reading. (Councillor Barry Hicks also voted against the new bylaw on second reading.)

Phinney referred to critical comments from Mount Allison Politics Professor Geoff Martin who told Warktimes in February that the new code could violate Charter of Rights guarantees of free speech and freedom of association.

Phinney also said he had spoken to two human resources experts who suggested members of council should not be allowed to sit in judgment on each other.

“In some cases the council may say, ‘I don’t like that councillor and I don’t like what they’re doing, so we’re going to find a way to put them in their place,” Phinney added.

Mayor Andrew Black suggested the town’s lawyers did not see any conflict with the Charter of Rights and that members of council are always free to express differences of opinion.

“That’s why we’re here. That’s what we should be doing,” he added.

If everybody just believed the same thing, then we would just be rubber stamping everything all the time,” Black continued.

Mayor Andrew Black

“But what’s not okay is if it gets potentially disrespectful or whatever, puts the municipality at a potential and serious risk,” the mayor said referring to the possibility of costly lawsuits that could arise if members of council made irresponsible or disparaging comments about each other, town staff or members of the public.

Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, but spoke against the 90-day suspension at previous meetings on the grounds that it could deprive her ward of representation on council.

Wiggins-Colwell herself was found guilty of violating a previous code of conduct when she took personal charge of restoring Dorchester’s giant shorebird statue in time for the 2023 Sandpiper Festival and the return of the migrating birds to the Bay of Fundy in August.

In 2022, Councillor Phinney lost two months pay and his prescription drug coverage for that period after he suggested Sackville’s hiring practices were unfair because “family members are being hired.”

He was also sanctioned for saying Mount Allison students from outside the area should vote where they came from instead of casting their ballots here.

To read my coverage, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | 4 Comments

The more water you use in Sackville, the cheaper it gets

Posted on May 3, 2025 by brucewark

A Mount Allison University politics professor says the leaflet included in the latest quarterly Sackville water and sewer bills makes it difficult to compare the rate increases that small residential users are facing with those for larger consumers such as apartment building owners and commercial operators.

In an e-mail to Warktimes, Mario Levesque says that if the town had included the percentage increases in brackets under the dollar figures for residential users, people would see that the percentage increases for smaller water users are roughly double those for the bigger consumers.
“Even if the town did not intend to mislead customers, the end result is still very misleading,” Levesque writes.

Tantramar Treasurer Michael Beal says the town chose to report the residential figures in dollar amounts so that those users could see at a glance what their minimum quarterly charge will be if they use 30-cubic metres or less every three months.

(30-cubic metres would fill a backyard pool that is five metres or 16.4 feet long, three metres or 9.8 feet wide and two metres or 6.5 feet deep.)

Beal confirmed that the percentage increases Levesque calculated for residential users are correct and that as water use increases over the minimum amount, the percentage increases drop.

“The person who uses more will pay a lower percentage, but will pay more dollar wise year-over-year,” Beal explains in an e-mail that also included the following water and sewer use chart for 30, 60 and 100 cubic metre users:

click to enlarge

Beal points out, that as the chart shows, water and sewer operations charges (as measured by meters) rise with increasing consumption, but water and sewer treatment charges are billed at the flat rate of $45.00 each in every quarter this year.

The total annual bill this year for residential consumers who use 30 cubic metres or less is $615.60; for 60 cubic metre users, it’s $871.20 and for 100 cubic metre users, it’s $1,212.

“The more you use, the less you pay per cubic metre,” Levesque says. “No incentive to conserve there.”

Beal also provided charts showing that customers who use 150 cubic metres or less per quarter are paying $3,078 this year for a 3-inch pipe and meter service and $4,356 for a 4-inch one.

Customers who use 300 cubic metres or less per quarter pay $6,156 this year for a 3-inch service and $8,712 for a 4-inch one.

For my report on how and why Sackville began gradually increasing its water and sewer rates starting in 2017, click here.

Posted in Town of Sackville | Tagged | 1 Comment

Moncton Fire Chief says ‘misunderstandings’ are blocking emergency aid pact with Tantramar

Posted on May 1, 2025 by brucewark

Moncton Fire Chief Conrad Landry. Photo submitted

Moncton Fire Chief Conrad Landry says he’s hoping a meeting between his city’s insurance company and the one that serves Tantramar will resolve what he sees as misunderstandings that have so far blocked an agreement on emergency mutual aid during major disasters among all 18 municipalities in southeastern New Brunswick.

“Their insurance company is going to talk to our insurance expert in the city to clarify any misunderstanding,” Landry said yesterday during a telephone interview.

He was referring to Tantramar’s concern that it would be required to cover the cost if, for example, one of Moncton’s fire trucks were damaged in an accident while responding to an emergency call in Sackville.

During Monday’s Tantramar council meeting, Mayor Andrew Black said the town needed to limit its own risk when other fire departments respond to our request for aid.

“If something were to happen to an $860,000 fire truck that would be on us,” Black said. “It would be an awful lot of money.”

But Moncton’s fire chief says that would not be the case under the Emergency Mutual Aid Agreement that 17 municipalities have signed so far, all except Tantramar.

“The agreement specifically says that we need to send the vehicle with a driver, with an operator, because Tantramar may not know how to operate one of Moncton’s vehicles,” Landry says.

“So whenever there’s a vehicle that’s sent out…it’s sent out with a driver, our driver and our insurance. It’s our insurance that’s going to cover that driver and it’s going to cover that vehicle.”

Landry acknowledged that if other pieces of equipment are damaged, the municipality requesting emergency aid would be required to cover that cost, but not any costs for injured personnel or damaged vehicles.

Tantramar Treasurer Michael Beal says that when municipal staff sent the Emergency Mutual Aid Agreement to the town’s insurance company and its lawyer, both expressed concern about the potential for liability costs and that’s why staff is recommending against signing the agreement.

“There is always the possibility for Council to sign it the way it is,” Beal said in an e-mail to Warktimes. “That is one of the options in the report to Council, but is not staff’s recommendation.”

Meantime, Fire Chief Landry says it has taken two years to get the agreement in place, which he sees as a logical extension of the mutual aid agreements among Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.

He says that with the potential for more hurricanes and other catastrophic events linked to climate change, it’s important for the cities, towns and rural communities in the region to have an agreement in place that clarifies who is responsible for what when they help each other.

“So if you look in the future, we would have potentially 18 municipalities that would have a mutual aid agreement to share resources and a very similar plan so that when we help each other, we’re all talking the same language,” he says.

“So I think it’s huge that we have some written guidelines in case there’s disaster or in case there’s a large emergency that our neighbours can help each other,” he adds.

To read, Tantramar Fire Chief Craig Bowser’s presentation to council on Monday and the proposed Emergency Mutual Aid Agreement, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged | Leave a comment

Premier says ‘no’ to sharing provincial sales tax with local governments

Posted on April 20, 2025 by brucewark

Susan Holt, Wikipedia photo

Premier Susan Holt says her government will not be sharing sales tax revenues with municipalities as recommended in a report commissioned by the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick (UMNB).

During an interview last week in Sackville, Holt referred to an earlier announcement that local governments will receive $138 million in provincial funding next year, an increase of $63 million, but still well below the $200-$225 million per year the UMNB says is needed.

The province says it plans to increase funding in each of the next five years until 2030, but even then the funding will reach only about $188 million.

“We’re trying to balance both living within our means and giving municipalities the tools they need to live within their means,” Holt said when asked what the province is aiming to do.

“We have increased funding for municipalities that’s going to grow year-over-year-over- year until we get pretty close to that target that Craig Brett set,” Holt added.

She was referring to the report the UMNB commissioned from Mount Allison Economics Professor Craig Brett.

It recommended that the province transfer one point of provincial sales tax revenue (about $225 million per year) to municipalities, but Holt said “no” when asked if her government would do that.

In his report, Brett points to a steady reduction in provincial grants over the last 25 years forcing municipalities to rely more heavily on residential property taxes which account for nearly 85% of municipal revenues. (Tantramar relies on property taxes for just over 93% of its revenues.)

Mt. A. Economics Prof Craig Brett. Photo: UMNB

The Brett report says municipalities also need the sales tax revenue to pay for improvements to local infrastructure such as roads, storm sewers, sidewalks and buildings.

The UMNB and the Association of Francophone Municipalities say increasing provincial funding levels is a good first step, but much more is needed to close a gap in funding for municipal infrastructure estimated at $2.5 billion.

In a joint news release, the UMNB and AFMNB warn that phasing the funding increases in over five years risks worsening the infrastructure deficit.

The release quotes UMNB President Brittany Merrifield: “Delaying essential infrastructure investments only increases future costs and undermines the quality of services provided to citizens. We need to act quickly to prevent further deterioration.”

The province plans to introduce legislation this spring outlining more details about the new municipal funding model.

For earlier coverage, click here.

Posted in Mount Allison University, New Brunswick government, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Beauséjour candidates asked if they’d push for arrest of Israeli prime minister for war crimes

Posted on April 17, 2025 by brucewark

U.S. President Donald Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in 2017. Wikipedia photo credit: U.S. Embassy, Tel Aviv

Beauséjour Liberal candidate Dominic LeBlanc refused to say Tuesday whether he would push for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits Canada.

“Look, I’m not going to answer a hypothetical question in terms of the International Criminal Court’s role,” LeBlanc said when pressed by NDP candidate Alex Gagné to say whether he would push to enforce the arrest warrant the ICC issued last November against Netanyahu for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel’s war on Gaza.

Liberal candidate Dominic LeBlanc

“What I’m saying is that Canada has consistently supported the International Criminal Court, and we have consistently spoken out about the humanitarian crisis that has gripped the world and has taken place in Gaza, and that’s my answer to your question,” LeBlanc said to Gagné.

Both were responding to my initial question asking whether, if elected, they would push for enforcement of the arrest warrant since Canada is a member state of the ICC.

Neither the United States nor Hungary enforced the warrant when Netanyahu visited and according to Amnesty International, leaders from other ICC member states such as France, Germany, Italy and Poland have suggested they would not arrest the Israeli prime minister either if he travels to their countries.

“I’m glad you highlighted Canada’s founding role in the International Criminal Court,” LeBlanc replied in response to my question.

“I’m very proud of that. We’ve always been supporters of the International Criminal Court,” he said, adding that Canada is one of the most generous donors to the ICC.

“And I think it behooves all of us to respect the process that the International Criminal Court would undertake in this regard,” LeBlanc said.

People’s Party candidate Eddie Cornell

People’s Party candidate Eddie Cornell said that while the situation in Gaza is tragic, “it would not be fair for me to say that we would arrest this person.”

He added that an arrest would not be the answer.

“You know, there needs to be discussions, and all the evidence needs to be examined and people need to get to the table,” Cornell added.

“The world is in great turmoil over this, and discussion needs to be had, and we’re willing to listen and find out what can be done to make this situation not happen again,” he said.

During last night’s French-language leaders’ debate in Montreal, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh challenged Liberal leader Mark Carney on the war in Gaza.

Mr. Carney, why don’t you call it what it is? It’s a genocide,Singh said, adding that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve peace and security.

Carney responded that he would never use that word to “politicize” the situation in Gaza.

During the debate, the journalist who was acting as moderator mentioned the release yesterday of a report from Doctors Without Borders calling Gaza a “mass grave” for Palestinians and those trying to help them.

To listen to the local all-candidates’ forum, click here. The forum will be broadcast at 1 p.m. on Sunday on CFTA, 107.9 FM.

Posted in Federal Election 2025 | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

False claims & misinformation abound at Beauséjour all-candidates forum

Posted on April 16, 2025 by brucewark

The candidates who attended last night’s forum pose for a photo. L-R, Alex Gagne (NDP), Dominic LeBlanc (Liberal), Donna Allen (Libertarian), Eddie Cornell (People’s Party). The Conservative and Green Party candidates in the riding declined the invitation to attend

About 150 people who attended an all-candidates forum in Middle Sackville on Tuesday heard some polarizing disinformation along with a wide range of citizens’ questions about the environment, local housing, and poverty.

Donna Allen, the Libertarian Party candidate for the New Brunswick riding of Beauséjour, walked out of the forum after moderator Carol Cooke questioned her facts.

Allen was answering the first question of the evening about the potential recessionary effects in Beauséjour of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian exports.

She noted that Canada should “fix the problem first” before talking to President Trump.

“It’s not a tariff problem. It’s a drug problem. We keep letting drugs like fentanyl into the United States,” Allen said, adding that fentanyl is the number one killer of 18-to-35-year olds.

Cooke interrupted to say that the cross-border flow of fentanyl is not a problem.

“We’re going to fact check as much as we can,” she added, “but fentanyl…has not been a problem.”

“I’ll shut the microphone down right now,” Allen replied saying she was being censored.

“Oh, it wasn’t censorship, it was just fact checking,” the moderator said, apparently referring to figures published by the federal government that show fentanyl seizures by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the Canada-U.S. border represent less than 0.1% of U.S. fentanyl seizures between 2022 and 2024.

After Cooke invited another candidate to comment on the tariffs issue, Allen got up and left the room.

People’s Party candidate Eddie Cornell chided members of the audience.

“I see some people laughing out there,” he said. “I think it’s disgraceful. We’re trying to answer your questions in a respectful manner.”

Climate change misinformation

About 150 people attended the forum in the gym at Middle Sackville’s Baptist church. Photo: Erica Butler

Later, when answering the second question of the night, about whether his party would promise not to invest in large fossil fuel projects such as pipelines, Cornell said the People’s Party would accelerate fossil fuel production in Canada.

“That’s key,” he said. “Canada is already basically carbon neutral,” a statement that flies in the face of the facts, but does align with his party’s false claim there is no scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change.

“The policy debate about global warming is not grounded on science anymore. It has been hijacked by proponents of big government who are using crude propaganda techniques to impose their views,” the People’s Party says on its website.

Cornell also claimed when he answered a question about immigration that Canada follows an “open border policy” letting “everyone in, unvetted.”

He said that immigrants “don’t bring anything to the table” because “they’re not vetted for skills,” adding: “These people are earning thousands of dollars every month, living in hotels while our people are starving, our own citizens.”

To read common myths about immigration including ones expressed by Cornell, click here and here.

Taxing churches: Facebook misinformation

Facebook post claiming Dominic LeBlanc wants to tax churchs. It urges people to vote for his Conservative opponent

Sackville resident Merlin Estabrooks caused a stir when he accused Liberal candidate Dominic LeBlanc of wanting to tax churches.

“When you were finance minister, you’re doing away with the charitable donations that people give for churches,” he claimed.

“A lot of our churches are dying because they haven’t got the finances,” Estabrooks said, adding that if the Conservatives hadn’t blocked it, people wouldn’t be able to claim charitable, church donations on their taxes.

“Mr. Estabrooks, the very premise of your question is false,” LeBlanc answered.

“You’re going with a social media posting that I read that is full of misinformation and, if not, disinformation, that endorses a Conservative candidate who didn’t have the guts to show up at the Middle Sackville Baptist Church tonight to answer questions.” he said.

“You have been misled. When I was finance minister, I had nothing to do with the idea of removing charitable donations for religious organizations. That is completely false. It’s not true. We haven’t done that. We’re not going to do that. We support those charitable donations, and will continue to do so.”

Background

As is often the case, the Facebook misinformation is based on a kernel of truth — a recommendation from the House of Commons Committee on Finance that heard 828 submissions from 74 groups and individuals in its public consultations for the 2025 federal budget.  (Dominic LeBlanc did not serve on this committee as claimed in the misleading Facebook post.)

The Finance Committee accepted the recommendation of one of those groups, the B.C. Humanist Association. It recommended amending the Income Tax Act to create a statutory definition of a charity that would remove the privileged status of “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose.

The Association pointed out that “advancement of religion” is a relic of English charity law dating back to 1601 and that New Zealand, Australia, England and Wales have modernized their legislation.

Their brief states:

Doing so would eliminate the presumed public benefit of belief. Any organization that is presently registered as advancing religion would simply need to identify how their activities benefit broader Canadian society. That is, what benefit do they provide to those who do not necessarily agree with their orthodoxy or do not attend their services. A church that runs a soup kitchen or homeless shelter relieves poverty, so long as they do not discriminate in the provision of these services. This approach has the added benefit of removing the requirement that bureaucrats arbitrate what constitutes a religion when an organization applies for charitable status.

To read the Association’s brief, click here.

Meantime, Trump-style misinformation seems to have spread to Canada and was on full display for all to see and hear at Tuesday’s all-candidates’ forum in Beauséjour.

This is the first of a two-part series on the Beauséjour all-candidates forum.

Listen to a recording of the forum at  CHMA.com. It will also be broadcast on CFTA 107.9 FM at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 20. 

Posted in Environment, Federal Election 2025, Immigration | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

NB premier announces plans to eliminate waiting list for family doctors in Tantramar area by April 2026

Posted on April 15, 2025 by brucewark

Premier Susan Holt announces plans to eliminate waitlist for family doctors in the Tantramar area by April 2026 as Maily Lockhard of Horizon Health looks on

Premier Susan Holt has announced plans to add another 1,000 patients this year to the list of 1,650 already being treated at the new primary care clinic next to the Sackville Memorial Hospital.

Holt made the announcement today during a speech to about 40 people gathered inside the new collaborative care clinic.

She added that her government and the Horizon Health Network plan to add the remaining 850 patients on the waiting list for primary care to the clinic’s roster by April 2026.

“We think this is monumental in helping us address the number one goal that our government set and that is to make sure that every New Brunswicker has access to primary care in their community close to home,” Holt said to a round of applause.

“So, we’re looking forward to moving the needle on access to health care, to getting that wait list in this area down to zero.”

Holt also thanked the local people, including members of the Rural Health Action Group who have been pushing for access to primary care since 2023 when two local doctors announced they were closing their practices in Sackville leaving thousands without access to primary care.

A third local doctor also moved his practice to Cocagne, a 45-minute drive from Sackville.

Margaret Melanson, president and CEO of the Horizon Health Network said the health care team at the clinic has grown significantly since it opened in September 2023.

“Today it serves 1,650 patients who have access to a physician, two nurse practitioners, two registered nurses, a licensed practical nurse, three administrative staff to support and a range of allied health professional including a dietitian, a pharmacist, a social worker and a respiratory therapist.”

Janet Hammock descibes her experiences at the new clinic

Retired Mount Allison music professor Janet Hammock spoke about how she and her partner Marilyn Lerch felt when their family doctor closed her practice in Sackville.

“It certainly never occurred to me, never, that I would suddenly, in my 80s, and with my wife also in her late 80s, that we would suddenly find ourselves without a family doctor,” Hammock said, adding that although it took some time for them to be added to the new clinic’s roster, she’s delighted with the service she’s now getting.

“First of all, I don’t have to wait long for an appointment,” she said. “When I arrive at the clinic now, someone comes out to this waiting room to get me and graciously ushers me into the consultation room.”

Hammock added she feels welcome at the clinic and that the staff work together to provide care including a doctor’s referral to a  specialist, as well as scheduling blood tests at the Sackville hospital and arranging an appointment with the dietitian.

“When I leave, I’m handed a paper copy of a prescription, which has already been called into my pharmacy,” she said. “So this Tantramar primary health care centre may be small, but it’s become already a smoothly running, collaborative, team-based care model.”

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton talking with Premier Holt after today’s announcement

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton, who attended today’s announcement, said she’s glad there are plans to clear the primary care waitlist in this area by April of next year.

At the same time, however, she expressed concern that Horizon has no immediate plans to increase the hours in the Sackville hospital’s emergency room which is only open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week.

Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson did say the ultimate goal is to restore 24-hour service, but the health network isn’t ready to do that yet.

“Certainly having better access to primary care will take some pressure off of the emergency rooms,” Mitton said, “but we need our emergency room to be open and ready when someone has an emergency.”

She added that people feel mental stress when they can’t count on the ER being there when they need it.

“We do need a concerted effort to recruit [ER staff] and make sure that we have the expertise here to run our ER 24-7,” Mitton said.

To read the government news release on today’s announcement, click here.

Posted in Health care, New Brunswick government | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Poilievre’s anti-journalism stance worries Canadian author

Posted on April 14, 2025 by brucewark

Jo-Ann Roberts campaigning for Green candidate Megan Mitton in 2018

Veteran journalist Jo-Ann Roberts says she’s upset by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s attempts to undermine the legitimacy of professional journalism both before and during the federal election campaign.

“It really breaks my heart, to be honest, because I think it is very much a campaign to discredit one of the elements of education,” Roberts said after signing copies of her new book Storm the Ballot Box earlier this month at Tidewater Books in Sackville.

“When you attack mainstream media, media that have a code of conduct and a code of ethics, you lose something the public’s not terribly aware of. You lose that credibility factor.”

Roberts was referring to Poilievre’s claim that mainstream media are biased and unreliable, especially those that get funding from government sources, including the CBC and media outlets that receive local journalism initiative (LJI) grants to hire local reporters.

During a stop in Niagara-on-the Lake last August, for example, the Conservative leader told a journalist for The Lake Report, that the Liberal government of then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was trying to use the LJI grants to turn news media into outlets for Liberal propaganda.

“It’s terrible…how local journalism has done under nine years of Trudeau,” the newspaper quotes Poilievre as saying. “He’s tried to take it over and basically wants everyone to work for the government so that he can have regurgitated propaganda paid for by taxpayers,” he added.

On August 15th, The Lake Report published a blistering editorial accusing Poilievre of pandering to supporters by misleading them and telling lies.

The paper, which receives LJI money, ridiculed Poilievre’s suggestion of Liberal bias as “insulting” and “out of touch with reality” adding: “Does he think that if he keeps the program running, news outlets are going to magically turn Conservative because we are so grateful?”

Defending or defunding CBC

Roberts writes in her book that in 2014, she left her job as host of CBC Radio’s afternoon show in Victoria, B.C. to fight Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s long-term plan to eliminate the public broadcaster after he had cut the CBC budget by $115 million over three years.

She ran unsuccessfully for the Green Party in Victoria in the 2015 federal election.

Now, to her dismay, Pierre Poilievre is promising to “defund” the English-language CBC if he becomes the next Conservative prime minister.

Pierre Poilievre wins applause for his promise to defund CBC during his campaign to win the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2022. Photo: Pierre Poilievre YouTube channel

“I’m going to do it,” Poilievre told a Toronto Sun columnist in December, and when asked how quick that would be, he replied, “Very quick, very quick,” then continued:

“I’m going to defund the CBC. That’s my commitment. My commitment has been the same since I first said it at my very first leadership rally in Regina. I said, ‘We will defund the CBC to save a billion dollars.’ That was my commitment then, it’s my commitment now.”

Roberts says a national public broadcaster is essential to democracy and that cutting it would be a devastating blow at a time when mainstream media are laying off professional journalists while misinformation and half-baked opinions spread across social media.

“If we lose our independent journalists in this country, we will have lost something that will hurt our democracy and will hurt our way of life,” she says.

“We’re watching it south of the border now. We’re watching it in other authoritarian governments.”

Conservatives break with tradition

For the first time in modern history, the Conservative leader is not allowing reporters to accompany him on party buses and planes as he campaigns across the country.

And, at daily news conferences, his aides select which of four reporters can ask one question each with no follow-up questions allowed.

Local Conservative candidates are not taking part in all-candidates’ events including broadcast roundtables or forums such as the one scheduled for tomorrow night, April 15th, at the Church by the Lake in Middle Sackville.

Posted in Federal Election 2025 | Tagged , | 6 Comments