Warning: No one’s safe from potentially lethal climate change

Posted on August 5, 2024 by brucewark

Sabine Dietz addressing community meeting on climate change

About 40 people attending a community meeting in Sackville last week heard a grim message from Sabine Dietz, executive director of the environmental organization, CLIMAtlantic.

No one is safe from any of the effects of climate change including wildfires, flooding, extreme weather and heat, she warned.

“There is no ‘new normal’ anymore,” she added during a town hall meeting sponsored by the Sierra Club of Canada and hosted by the Tantramar Alliance Against Hydro-Fracking.

“It’s all about change and humans are not good with change.”

Dietz dismissed the idea that reinforcing dykes, for example, would necessarily protect the Chignecto Isthmus from the catastrophic flooding that could sever transportation, energy and communications links while threatening homes, farms and businesses.

“You cannot build a dyke for any money in the world that will fix the problem of flooding, potential flooding from the ocean,” she reiterated later during an interview.

“You can’t fix it so that the communities behind are 100% safe.”

Dietz acknowledged that steps do need to be taken, such as reinforcing dykes, to help manage or reduce the effects of flooding, but there are no guarantees of safety.

“Whenever we say across the country, ‘Build this, build that, do this or that and you’ll be safe,’ we’re lying to people.”

Instead, Dietz said, communities need to start thinking more critically and imaginatively about how to cope with the inevitable effects of climate change.

“Imagine things going really badly, imagine things going really well and then figure out a way, how do we get through this, what’s our path through this mess,” she said.

Dietz advocated putting pressure on politicians and officials at all levels to implement measures to mitigate the effects of climate change and to help build climate resilient communities.

She also mentioned the Climate Imagination Session that will be conducted by Quinn MacAskill at the Sackville Commons from 6 to 8 p.m. on August 14th.

For more details, click here.

Emissions caps needed

Gretchen Fitzgerald of the Sierra Club sporting her oil & gas emissions cap

Those who attended last week’s meeting also heard from Gretchen Fitzgerald of the Sierra Club about the need to require oil and gas giants to implement 40-45% reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030.

She pointed out that the oil and gas industry is Canada’s most polluting sector yet it comprises only 5% of the Canadian economy.

Fitzgerald said the Sackville meeting was one of a number being held in Atlantic Canada to generate support for stiffer oil and gas emissions caps.

She added that the meetings are timely because people are experiencing or hearing about wildfires, flooding, extreme heat — climate change effects that are related to the burning of fossil fuels.

“We feel that this is kind of a moment where it’s really valuable for communities to get together and speak about root causes,” Fitzgerald said.

The Sierra Club cites media reporting showing that the country’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are among the highest in the world yet Canada is not cutting its carbon emissions as quickly as other rich countries largely because of resistance from the oil and gas industry.

Fitzgerald says polling has shown consistently that most Canadians support major reductions in emissions and are taking steps as individuals to cut back themselves, but persistent lobbying by the oil and gas companies is slowing progress.

“There is a fairness argument here,” she adds. “These folks have been raking in massive profits while communities have literally burned.”

To read the Sierra Club fact sheet on emissions caps, click here.

Posted in Environment | 4 Comments

Green MLA Megan Mitton condemns Red-Blue ‘mindset’ about ‘patronage & corruption’

Posted on August 1, 2024 by brucewark

Green MLA Megan Mitton responded to her Liberal opponent today after attending a meeting held by the environmental group, Sierra Club of Canada

Green MLA Megan Mitton says it’s not true that a Liberal majority government is the only way to defeat the Progressive Conservatives led by Premier Blaine Higgs.

“We need a lot of things to change,” Mitton told reporters today after attending a community meeting sponsored by the Sierra Club at the Sackville Commons.

“What’s been happening over the years is [we’re] just going back between Red and Blue, Red and Blue and not really having change for New Brunswickers,” she said responding to her Liberal opponent John Higham who told supporters at his nominating meeting this week that a Liberal majority is the key to defeating Higgs.

“That’s not true,” Mitton said.

“Me being there is also a vote against Higgs,” she added.

She predicted the election will result in a minority government with the Greens holding the balance of power. She made it clear that whichever of the older parties wins a minority, the Greens would not support Higgs

“We’re going to have a new premier,” she said.

‘Seat at the table’

Mitton also rejected Higham’s suggestion that Tantramar needs to elect a member with “a seat at the table” to get things done for the riding.

“I don’t think it should depend who your MLA is and what party they’re in that your community gets what it needs,” she said.

“I think that’s basically advocating for corruption in government, that if you have a seat at the table, you get more. I think that’s fundamentally unfair and we need to move away from that and I fight against that constantly.”

Mitton said New Brunswickers should have access to health care, safe roads and good education without regard to the party affiliation of their MLA.

“We need to get rid of corruption. We need to get rid of patronage in New Brunswick,” she said.

“That’s a really problematic mindset to have and I challenge that all the way.”

Meantime, Mitton confirmed Higham’s statement that he had asked her to run for the Liberals.

“I said, ‘no’, my values don’t align with their party.”

Green Party issues

Mitton says the Green Party will release its platform after the campaign gets underway in September, but in the meantime, voters already know what to expect.

“People shouldn’t be surprised by what they hear from me,” she adds, noting that for the Greens health care is a priority.

“I’ve been working on that with the community advocating to government and also that we need action on climate change, I think people are feeling the heat this summer, seeing the wildfires and knowing that we need to take action.”

Mitton also mentioned the rising cost of living and the need for more affordable housing.

“We need a rent cap, we need property assessment reform,” she said.

“We need a lot of things to change.”

To listen to Mitton’s exchange with reporters, click on the media player below:

Posted in New Brunswick election 2024, New Brunswick politics | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Tantramar Liberal candidate John Higham says majority Liberal gov’t key to ousting Blaine Higgs

Posted on July 30, 2024 by brucewark

NB Liberal leader Susan Holt with Tantramar candidate John Higham. Photo: NB Liberal Party

“A change is needed in how politics are run in New Brunswick,” John Higham told about 50 people who had gathered Monday night at the Veterans Memorial Civic Centre in Sackville.

“Higgs and his team, and their disregard for broader voices, has to go,” the former Sackville mayor declared shortly after he was officially nominated as the Liberal candidate in Tantramar for the provincial election scheduled on October 21st.

“Tantramar must be a part of a new Holt government,” Higham added. “We need an MLA who sits at the table where concerns are heard and where decisions for real change are going to be made.”

Higham, who served as Sackville mayor from 2016 to 2020 and as town councillor from 2008 to 2012, said that his time in politics had taught him to pay attention to community efforts and local voices especially in the field of economic development.

Tantramar Liberal candidate John Higham

He spoke about his efforts to get money to study ways of preventing flooding on the Chignecto Isthmus and expressed pride in helping to attract the electrical transformer manufacturer Cam Tran and the frozen food storage company Terra Beata to Sackville.

Higham also mentioned his more recent volunteer work as co-chair of the Rural Health Action Group which has been lobbying for improvements in local health and hospital services.

He also pointed out it was the Higgs PC government that tried to close six rural hospitals including the one in Sackville.

“Higgs’s approach to health leadership has been wrong, slow, difficult and I would say elitist,” Higham said, adding that after six years of it, 160,000 New Brunswickers “are looking for doctors right now.”

Liberal campaign themes

Higham’s words echoed those of Liberal leader Susan Holt who spoke about the three main themes of her campaign which she summarized using the letters: C, B and T.

“I want to talk about care, balance and team,” she said, adding that care referred to much-needed improvements in health care while balance meant balanced budgets, reinvestment of any surpluses in improved social programs and making life more affordable partly by eliminating the 10% provincial sales tax on home electricity and partly by imposing a cap on rents.

As for team, Holt stressed the need for strong, local voices in the provincial legislature.

“We are going to bring 49 phenomenal individuals together who are going to raise their voices loudly and passionately for their communities,” she said referring to a full slate of Liberal candidates including John Higham.

Higham’s hesitation

Liberal leader Susan Holt

Holt said it took four phone calls to persuade Higham to run again for the Liberals. (In 2006 he came in second, 972 votes behind Progressive Conservative Mike Olscamp.)

This time he is running against Green Party incumbent Megan Mitton, first elected to the provincial legislature in 2018 and re-elected in 2020.

The two served together on town council and Higham told reporters after the meeting that he had hesitated to run against her.

“I thought about it long and hard,” he said.

“I actually went and spoke to her personally and said, ‘My issue with this is that Higgs has gotta go and you have to have a majority government to get him out and would you at all be interested in running as a Liberal?'” Higham said, adding that Mitton answered that she would not run as a Liberal.

“That was quite some time ago,” he said, “so, it’s not something that we wanted to do, she’s a good representative yes, but I think the stakes are now so high and you can’t just hope that you’ll get enough seats, you actually have to go out and try to find enough seats that you can make sure that he (Higgs) is not the government next time.”

To listen to John Higham’s exchange with reporters, click on the media player below. It begins with a question from CHMA reporter Erica Butler about Liberal strategy in the new riding of Tantramar which no longer includes the Village of Memramcook:

Note: The Progressive Conservatives have scheduled a Tantramar constituency meeting beginning at 6 p.m. on August 14th at the Sackville Legion.

Posted in Health care, New Brunswick election 2024, New Brunswick politics | Tagged | 4 Comments

Sackville town crier David Fullerton remembered for his passion, humour and community spirit

Posted on July 22, 2024 by brucewark

Sackville Town Crier David Fullerton delivers the 2021 New Year’s Day message online. Fullerton served as town crier for 18 years from 2004-2022. Photo: Town video

David Fullerton’s three children remembered their father last week as a man who was passionate about politics, history, teaching, music and sports.

“Stick to your convictions,” former Sackville Town Councillor Merrill Fullerton quoted his father as saying during David’s funeral service at Sackville United Church July 18th on what would have been his 81st birthday.

Fullerton died on June 16th in the Drew Nursing Home. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s.

In his eulogy, Merrill spoke about driving around town with his father during the 1987 provincial election campaign.

When Merrill, then a young boy, admired the attractive red Liberal signs that were popping up on lawns everywhere, David (known by his family and friends as Dave) shocked his son by saying he’d be supporting the candidate with the scarcer — and far homelier — orange signs.

“Politics should never be about fashion,” Dave told his son, though on election night Frank McKenna’s fashionable Liberals painted the electoral map red, winning every seat.

Merrill also recalled how his father deplored the racist attitudes of many New Brunswickers in 1990 when Mohawk protesters near the Quebec town of Oka engaged in a 78-day standoff with police and the Canadian army over the expansion of a golf course on land that contained an Indigenous burial ground.

“Always remember that the First Nations were among the first to enlist in World War Two to fight for our country,” Dave reminded everyone then.

“He had a strong sense of social justice,” Merrill said, adding that his father supported official bilingualism as a way of uniting the province’s two main linguistic communities.

Dave Fullerton also volunteered with the Sackville Refugee Response Coalition, sponsoring families fleeing war and persecution, because he believed Canada should always provide a safe haven.

‘Greasy Dave’

“Greasy Dave” lead singer of the Dipsticks. (Family photo)

Matthew Fullerton remembered his father’s passion for music, especially the Rolling Stones.

“He was born only eight days before Mick Jagger,” Matthew said, “and he was a rock star of sorts himself.”

As a “rock star” umpire with Sackville Minor Baseball, he said Dave made everyone laugh at his antics behind the plate.

As lead singer of the teacher band “Greasy Dave & the Dipsticks,” he entertained students during variety shows at Amherst Regional High School, where he taught social studies and history for more than 30 years.

“He was a funny and fun-loving father,” Matthew said.

He recalled how Dave was working part-time in the Mount Allison library, with plans to study library science at the University of Toronto, when he met his future wife Diane. He fell madly in love, abandoned any thoughts of faraway Toronto, and earned a teaching degree in Halifax instead.

Dave and Diane were married for almost 55 years.

‘Teaching, his true calling’

Dave’s daughter Kathryn remembered his love of teaching and how he took on the role of historic figures as he acted out their famous speeches.

“Teaching was his true calling,” she said, a thought echoed by several retired teachers who were part of the overflow crowd watching the funeral service in a packed Ducky’s pub.

David Fullerton, town crier with his late mother Marcie, early 2010s. (Family photo)

George Pugsley, who taught math and science at Amherst High, described Fullerton as popular with students and colleagues alike because he was open and outgoing with everyone.

“He was interested in whatever you were doing,” Pugsley said, “and it didn’t have to be one of his main interests either.”

“I would say that Dave was special,” said Dale Fawthrop, who served as head of the English department at Amherst High during the 80s and 90s when David Fullerton was head of history.

“He loved his job, he loved his students, and he put his heart and soul and all his energy into the classroom, and the students learned and they loved being there,” Fawthrop said.

“My three children all had him as a teacher,” he added. “He would energize the students and they loved his sense of humour and the way he presented ideas.”

Passion and community spirit

Everyone at Ducky’s had a story about Dave Fullerton, with recurring themes of Dave’s kindness, humour, generosity, and his passion for life, community, and people.

Rick d’Entremont, who served as Amherst High vice principal until 2011, said he would have been the one to deal with any disciplinary problems in Dave Fullerton’s classroom.

“But there weren’t any,” he said. “Kids liked to be there and they liked to stay there.”

He added that after Fullerton retired from Amherst High in 2003, he recruited him to serve as a substitute teacher for four or five years, working one-on-one with kids with special needs.

“He loved that and they loved him,” d’Entremont said. “He had all the patience in the world working with those students.”

To read, David Fullerton’s full obituary, click here.

Dave Fullerton was born and grew up in this house at 362 Main St. in Middle Sackville. It is now the HQ for The New Wark Times

Posted in Town of Sackville | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Sackville’s Wheaton Covered Bridge closed indefinitely for public safety

Posted on July 16, 2024 by brucewark

MLA Megan Mitton says she’s hoping to have more information by the end of the week on the indefinite closure of the Wheaton Covered Bridge on Sackville’s High Marsh Road.

In an e-mail to Mitton, an official with the provincial department of transportation and infrastructure (DTI) said the bridge was closed last Thursday after a recent investigation raised concerns about its structural condition.

“This measure is necessary in order to ensure the safety of the motoring public. DTI is aware of the importance of that structure, and all the options are currently being evaluated,” the e-mail added.

A further e-mail to Warktimes today from DTI says “there is currently no timeline” for reopening the bridge.

Tantramar Town Engineer Jon Eppell says he has been told that the province will be undertaking a detailed evaluation of the structure.

During a tour of the bridge today, Sackville resident Percy Best pointed to the many holes in its roof because of missing wooden shingles as well as rotting interior boards.

“The whole bridge is in rough shape,” he told Warktimes. “It needs a major upgrade and a new roof would be number one,” he added.

Photo shows detached angle brace (top right) one of many that maintain the bridge’s structural rigidity

Best says a thorough engineering study would be needed if the province decides to repair the historic bridge that was built in 1916.

An online article by the Tantramar Heritage Trust says that around 1990 two additional steel supports were installed underneath the bridge.

Best points to a  sign on the east side of the bridge that prohibits large trucks. Another sign limits the weight of vehicles to only five tonnes probably insufficient for farm wagons hauling heavy loads of manure.

Last week, Best crawled under the bridge where he photographed a sagging diagonal brace with pieces added over the years to maintain strength.

Photo showing sagging brace and the two steel supports added around 1990. Photo: Percy Best

“Who knows how long the bridge will be closed,” Best says, adding that he worries the province may replace it with something more modern.

He laments the disappearance of covered bridges in New Brunswick.

The National Trust for Canada says at their peak in the 1940s, there were 340 in the province, but only 58 of them are still standing.

According to Tantramar Heritage Trust, there were once seven covered bridges in Sackville Parish, five of which crossed the Tantramar River.

Only the Wheaton Bridge remains.

To read more, click here.

Percy Best, Wheaton Covered Bridge

Posted in New Brunswick government, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 8 Comments

Tantramar council votes to keep Sackville water flowing in — and out

Posted on July 14, 2024 by brucewark

Mona Lisa savours a glass of clear well water near a flood retention pond

Water is the driving force of all nature — Leonardo da Vinci.

Tantramar Council allocated thousands on Tuesday to ensure the steady flow of well water into Sackville taps and thousands more to add the final touches to a project designed to keep flood waters flowing out of town and into the Tantramar River.

“Pump house one and two are old timber construction pump houses in the Sackville well field that are in significantly deteriorated condition,” Town Engineer Jon Eppell told council.

“They were planned to start replacement about four years ago, but it’s just now happening,” he added.

“The estimated cost — and I emphasize it is estimated — is about $113,000.”

Eppell noted that the cost is within the capital budget already allocated for the project.

It includes $55,000 to replace temporary pump #1 that was installed after the main pump failed last winter as well as additional well-drilling work; $35,000 for electrical work and $22,000 for additional technical work on both wells #1 and #2.

The new pump house #1, with its detachable metal roof, was installed last week and still requires installation of siding

Eppell said the pump house over well #3 is made of fibreglass and is in good shape.

All three wells and the water treatment plant are in the Walker Road/Ogden Loop area.

“There is some urgency from our end to get this done because this is a lower water demand period for us,” Eppell said.

“We’re only running off two well pumps so we are a little bit vulnerable and we want to get this done and finished before the university students return.”

To read the town engineer’s full report to council, click here.

For earlier coverage, click here.

Finishing touches

Meantime, council heard that town managers were successful in their application for an additional $510,000 in provincial money to finish Phase III of Sackville’s Lorne Street flood control project designed to retain excess storm water during heavy rains and then discharge it into the Tantramar River at low tide.

Council voted to allocate $172,200 for the construction of two pedestrian bridges that will complete the walking trail around retention pond #3 behind the community gardens on Charles Street.

The bridges are needed to cross one ditch that will drain water from retention pond #2 beside Lorne Street via pipes already installed under the CN tracks and another ditch about 100 metres away that will drain water from a nearby wetland.

Without the bridges, hikers and dog walkers around retention pond #3 would be forced to retrace their steps instead of completing a circular loop.

“I know personally, I don’t like going on a trail so much where I have to go one way and then come back the same way,” Eppell told reporters after the council meeting.

“It’s nice to do a loop and see something slightly different.”

Photo shows 3 pipes installed under the CN tracks that will carry water into retention pond #3. A pedestrian bridge will be built across the ditch that will be dug where the yellow barriers are

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tantramar council gives preliminary approval to revised bylaw on loitering and soliciting

Posted on July 10, 2024 by brucewark

Demanding street beggar. Photo created with help from Chat GPT

In a 6-2 vote, Tantramar Town Council gave first and second readings Tuesday night to a new bylaw that would prohibit loitering and soliciting in public places.

The proposed bylaw had been substantially revised from earlier versions including one that was rejected by council last month.

For one thing, the word “beg” has been replaced by “solicit” which is defined as “to ask for money, donations, goods or other things of value whether by spoken, written or printed word or bodily gesture for one’s self.”

If it receives third and final reading, the new bylaw would now prohibit soliciting or harassing “a pedestrian who has made a negative initial response to the solicitation or has otherwise indicated refusal.”

It would also ban anyone from soliciting “from the occupant of a motor vehicle in a matter which obstructs or impedes the convenient passage of any vehicular traffic unless with the approval of the Chief Administrative Officer or designate.”

But the proposed bylaw now also says that the restrictions “shall not apply to sidewalk musicians.”

Nicole Bulmer voiced concerns that the bylaw could interfere with fundraising efforts

During a five-minute presentation to council, Sackville resident Nicole Bulmer expressed concerns that the complaint-driven bylaw could interfere with sidewalk or street solicitations for minor hockey or other youth sports as well as the annual fire department boot drive or the Mt. A. student Shinerama campaign that raises money for cystic fibrosis.

“I urge council to consider the impacts these fundraisers have had in terms of community services they support,” Bulmer said, adding that the vaguely worded bylaw could harm “our community which relies on community support and everyone standing together to make it a good place to live.”

Assistant Town Clerk Becky Goodwin pointed out that, under the new bylaw, such fundraisers could proceed with the CAO’s approval.

But Councillor Debbie Wiggins Colwell said she agreed with Bulmer that the bylaw’s wording could have negative effects even if they are unintentional.

In the end, the vote went as follows:

Ayes: Mayor Black, Deputy Mayor Martin, Councillors Allison Butcher, Matt Estabrooks, Barry Hicks, Michael Tower.

Nays: Councillors Bruce Phinney, Debbie Wiggins-Colwell.

(Councillor Josh Goguen was absent.)

The new bylaw on loitering and soliciting is expected to be up for final approval at council’s next regular meeting in September.

To read the new bylaw, click here.

For previous coverage, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 4 Comments

One more step needed to complete Sackville’s $13.8 million flood control project says town engineer

Posted on June 27, 2024 by brucewark
Intake pipes
Aboiteau gates
Intake pipes [left] running under the dyke beside Sackville’s main sewage lagoons and the two aboiteau gates [right] that feed into the Tantramar River at low tide

Tantramar Town Engineer Jon Eppell says the $3.2 million, provincially funded aboiteau designed to discharge flood water into the Tantramar River was successfully installed by the end of last month and only one more step remains before the $13.8 million Lorne Street flood control project is complete.

He explains that earlier plans called for two pedestrian bridges to close gaps around the third retention pond dug last year in the Sackville industrial park.

But the bridges had to be dropped from the plans because of rising costs.

Eppell says that the town has now applied for about $100,000 from the province’s climate change fund to build those pedestrian bridges.

“We’re hoping very soon to hear one way or the other,” he says, adding that if the money doesn’t come through, the contractor would finish the project without the bridges.

That would involve completing the system that would drain retention pond two near Lorne Street into pond three via pipes already installed under the CN tracks east of Charles Street.

Water from the two ponds would then flow through a series of pipes, culverts and ditches to the newly installed aboiteau for discharge into the river at low tide making flooding in Sackville during severe storms in Eppell’s words, “highly unlikely.”

Walking trails

Pond three in the Sackville industrial park behind the community gardens on Charles St. shown in this photo from last November

Even without the two pedestrian bridges however, hikers can continue to use the service roads that double as walking trails around ponds two and three.

Eppell says he sees lots of people using the trails that extend the ones in the Sackville Waterfowl Park.

“It’s pretty pleasant out there and I see lots of ducks now out in that area where there were no ducks before,” he says.

His words echoed those of Sackville resident Laurel McIntyre who attended the May 30 municipal “roadshow” meeting that Tantramar held at the Civic Centre.

McIntyre, who has lived on St. James Street for 39 years, says it’s great to see so much wildlife in the heart of Sackville.

She predicts that the trails will also attract tourists.

“If you really wanted to, you could park at the Visitor Information Centre, get on your bike, go through the Waterfowl Park, all the way out past the public works building and come back again,” she says.

“It’s a great ride.”

For earlier coverage including an overview of the Lorne Street project, click here.

Posted in Environment, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 1 Comment

Tantramar residents voice concerns about policing during community meetings

Posted on June 22, 2024 by brucewark

Sgt. Eric Hanson addresses the community meeting in Dorchester on May 23rd. Hanson has headed the RCMP detachment in Sackville since the fall of 2022

Concerns about policing, especially the enforcement of traffic laws, were a consistent theme over the last month as Tantramar officials held community meetings in each of the municipality’s five wards.

“We know what you want is to see more of us,” RCMP Sgt. Eric Hanson told those who attended the first meeting in Dorchester on May 23rd.

“I do the best I can with the number of cops that we have on the road,” he added, referring to the recruitment crisis the Mounties are facing in every province and territory.

“More are coming slowly, but if you need to complain come see me and I’ll do my best to give you the service you deserve.”

Hanson said he agreed with residents in Dorchester who complained about persistent speeding on Main Street.

“It is a bad spot for speeding,” he admitted.

“Unfortunately, it’s one of hundreds of roads where people are speeding in our jurisdiction…and as much as I’d love to be able to put one hundred officers on the street, one parked at every busy street, I can’t.”

Hanson said that when officers do enforce speed limits on Rte. 106 in Dorchester, they often write 20 to 30 tickets in a single afternoon and he added that speeding is a chronic problem in many other locations too including King Street in Sackville.

“It is important to bring those specific locations to my attention and to my officers’ attention. If I could put somebody there 24 hours a day writing speeding tickets, I would, but it’s just not a reality unfortunately.”

RCMP sign outside the detachment at Town Hall in Sackville. Last fall, Tantramar council voted to increase the number of officers from 10 to 14 under a municipal policing service agreement that covers Sackville, Dorchester and the former local service districts

Last fall, Tantramar Town Council voted to pay for 14 full-time RCMP officers assigned to Sackville, Dorchester and the former local service districts (LSDs) under a new municipal policing service agreement (MPSA).

The former town of Sackville previously had 10 full-time officers, but because of illness and recruiting problems, the number had fallen to around eight.

The former village of Dorchester and the former LSDs were policed under a separate provincial policing service agreement (PPSA), but are now included in Tantramar’s municipal agreement that came into effect this spring.

During this week’s community meeting in Westcock, former Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau asked if the new contract still allows the municipality to set priorities for policing.

Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Borne replied that the RCMP will set priorities in conjunction with town council.

“We can certainly ask the RCMP if they can share a document [on priorities] or whatever they’ve prepared for the public,” she said.

“So, it’s not in the contract that the municipality would set the priorities for what it needs in policing?” Mesheau asked.

“In conjunction with council, they [RCMP] would set the priorities, yes,” Borne said.

“So, those aren’t public?” Mesheau asked.

“They’re not published right now, but we can certainly take the steps to see that that gets published, absolutely,” Borne replied. “Great point.”

Note: Article 6.1 of the MPSA that governed policing in Sackville gave the mayor the power to set “the objectives, priorities and goals” of the RCMP.

Article 5.5 of the agreement said this about the normal complement of officers who are members of the municipal RCMP detachment:

To read the Sackville contract, click here.

To read about the RCMP’s most recent promise to increase traffic enforcement, click here.

For background information on RCMP municipal policing in Sackville that I published in 2021, click here.

Posted in RCMP, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 4 Comments

UPDATED: Westcock residents ask for Tantramar’s help in fight against new quarry

Posted on June 20, 2024 by brucewark

Sharon Ward has been fighting construction of a new quarry near her home on British Settlement Road

Officials from the Town of Tantramar got an earful Wednesday night at St. Ann’s Church Hall in Westcock from angry and frustrated residents whose homes, wells and septic systems have been damaged by decades of quarry blasting.

“When we became part of Tantramar, I was under the impression that Tantramar was going to help us,” Sharon Ward told reporters after the fifth in a series of municipal meetings organized by Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Borne.

“The only thing that’s happening is our taxes are going to go up,” Ward said.  “I would really like to see them take the initiative to try to help us.”

The three quarries in that part of the former local service district operate under provincial regulations that residents say are far too lax to limit damage from the earthquake-like blasting.

“The whole house shakes,” Ward says, “the water will turn different colours and my daughter, who lives just down the road from me, loses her water every time and there’s a lot around that do that. Our basement, we’ve had cracks fixed two or three times over the last 40 years.”

During the meeting, Ward told town officials that she and a neighbour have spent $10,000 on lawyer’s fees trying to stop another pit from going in near their homes on British Settlement Road.

Water from a well on Green Rd. after blasting in October 2020

When Borne asked if residents had raised the issue with MLA Megan Mitton, Ward responded that Mitton had helped stop the building of an access road a few feet from their homes, but that she is only one voice in the legislature.

“Could we not get a little help from Tantramar?” she asked.

Sackville resident Percy Best noted that blasting began in the early 1960s to produce rock for the diversion of the Tantramar River when the TransCanada Highway was under construction.

He predicted even more rock will be needed to reinforce the dykes that protect the Chignecto Isthmus.

“The rock for that, I’m afraid, is going to come out of British Settlement here and it will be a horrendous amount of rock that’s needed,” he said.

“It’s a terrible thing that’s happening here and it should not be allowed to happen to have these pits and blasting in a residential area and I don’t know what Tantramar has done for this Rockport Peninsula in the last 16 months,” Best said.

He compared the former LSD to an adopted child neglected by its new parents and said that town lawyers could help the residents fight their legal battles.

Former Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau

Former Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau suggested that Tantramar could bring provincial officials to the area to talk about the quarry blasting with local residents.

CAO Jennifer Borne said Tantramar could pass along residents’ concerns to the province.

“I would also ask, be patient with us and we’ll get there,” she said earlier in the meeting.

“Council is certainly hearing your concerns as well tonight.”

Neither Ward 2 Councillor Barry Hicks, who represents the area, nor Mayor Andrew Black spoke during the meeting.

Afterwards Hicks refused comment while Black asked reporters to e-mail their questions to him. At 8:56 p.m. on June 19, I e-mailed three questions to the mayor and received his responses at 9:14 a.m. on June 21:

Q1: As mayor, how do you respond to the concerns you heard tonight about the effects of quarry blasting in Ward 2 for the residents who live there?

A: It is certainly evident that our residents of Ward 2 have quarry blasting as their top priority. At the present time staff will look into the provincial authority to see if the Minister’s office can come to a meeting as well as a letter of support from Tantramar to the Minister’s office highlighting the concerns of Ward 2 residents and the impact on their daily lives.

Q2: After tonight’s meeting, I was told that residents’ concerns about the blasting have been brought to your attention repeatedly, but that you have said there’s nothing the municipality can do. Is that accurate? If not, what can the municipality do and what can you do as mayor to help the residents?

A: The province regulates private quarries and pits, so as a local government we may have limited influence. I do however feel that we can exhaust our resources and do what we can to support our residents in Ward 2. I also plan on working with UMNB to see if a resolution can be brought forward on behalf of all NB municipalities.

Q3: Percy Best asked what Tantramar has done for the Rockport area in the last 16-months. How would you answer his question?

A: All decisions of Council in the last 16 months are for the betterment of all residents of Tantramar. Below are examples by department. As Jenn stated at the session, there are not tangibles in former unincorporated areas but we are stronger as one municipality with local representation for Ward 2.

Policing- MPSA contract brings a great deal more benefits to all of Tantramar over the PPSA contract

Fire- Enhancement of Tantramar Fire Services ensures not only best service delivery in Sackville but also in Point de Bute and Dorchester, departments that will be relied upon to support and lend mutual aid in an area such as Ward 2

Active Living & Culture: Access to all rec programming & facilities

Community & Corporate Services: Physician recruitment to the benefit of all of Tantramar, communications, tourism,

Legislative Services: creation of by-laws one in particular is Dangerous or Unsightly brought forward, while enforced under a by-law officer there was little to no enforcement in the past in former unincorporated areas

Protective Services overall: animal control if required, EMO- previously no plan in place for Ward 2

Finance: create long-term planning and will assist council in key investments to be made in unincorporated areas.

For previous coverage of opposition to a new quarry and concerns about the present ones, click here.

For coverage of political protest against the province by former LSD leaders, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 3 Comments

Tantramar Town Council says no to signing another pledge of confidentiality

Posted on June 14, 2024 by brucewark

Coun. Debbie Wiggins-Colwell

In a split 5 to 4 vote, Tantramar Council rejected a town policy on Tuesday that would have required all members of council to sign a pledge of confidentiality in addition to one they’ve already signed as part of their code of conduct.

“I’m going to have to vote no on this because it’s already been signed once,” said Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell.

“I’m an elected official. I just feel like it’s maybe something that if I have something I want to say,” she added, “that I’m free and able to do so.”

She was commenting on a policy that would require all town employees, including volunteer firefighters, to sign a pledge not to disclose “all non-public, confidential or proprietary information, data, documents, agreements, files and other materials” under the control of the municipality.

Town Clerk Donna Beal said that a majority of municipalities in New Brunswick have confidentiality policies that apply to their employees, but she could not say for sure if any others require members of council to sign them.

Elected officials in Tantramar must sign a code of conduct that requires them not to disclose information discussed during closed council meetings such as personnel or legal matters.

Mayor Andrew Black said by signing an additional pledge, members of council would be showing “solidarity” with town staff.

“For myself, I would say that if the entire staff of the organization and the managers have to sign this, then I think it would be a good idea for councillors to follow suit to show that we’re held to the same standards as they are,” Black added.

‘I think it’s wrong’

“I also have a problem with this,” said Councillor Michael Tower, adding that the code of conduct required by the province already holds elected officials to a higher standard when it comes to confidential information.

“I understand what you’re trying to do with solidarity, but we have two policies and they’re trying to get us to sign something and the province already demands something of us,” Tower said.

“I think it’s wrong.”

Councillor Bruce Phinney said he would also be voting against the new policy.

“I can’t in good conscience do this. Not that we don’t want to be  a part of the solidarity thing, but sometimes there is a difference between [town] management and council,” he added.

‘Not muzzling us’

Coun. Allison Butcher

“I’ve read through this pledge of confidentiality,” said Councillor Allison Butcher.

“It’s not suggesting that we need to be even more confidential or less confidential than the confidentiality agreement we signed that was mandated by the province,” she added.

“This shows me that we are part of a team that includes the management and the staff of our municipality; it is not muzzling us in any way, it is requesting the same level of confidentiality that the other form does, so I don’t have a problem with signing this,” Butcher said.

Voting results

Moved by Councillor Matt Estabrooks, seconded by Councillor Allison Butcher:

I MOVE THAT COUNCIL APPROVE POLICY 2024-11, CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY.

Those in favour: Mayor Andrew Black, Deputy Mayor Greg Martin, Councillor Matt Estabrooks, Councillor Allison Butcher.

Opposed: Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell, Councillor Michael Tower, Councillor Bruce Phinney, Councillor Barry Hicks, Councillor Josh Goguen.

Motion defeated.

To read the new confidentiality policy as it was presented to council, click here.

To read the confidentiality sections of the council code of conduct, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 15 Comments