N.B. is changing the way it funds local government — what does it mean for Tantramar?
The provincial government says changes to local government funding will “provide financial stability to local governments and rural districts,” but changes to the law have prompted a backlash.
Bill 120 received Royal Assent on Tuesday, effectively freezing local government funding across the province at its current level of about $76 million for the next five years.
Megan Mitton, the MLA representing Memramcook-Tantramar, said municipal reform will download more responsibility from the province onto local governments without funding them adequately.
“Municipalities want there to be stability, but not stagnation,” Mitton told lawmakers in the provincial capital last week.
Liberal MLAs also criticized the law. Jacques LeBlanc, who represents Shediac-Beaubassin-Cap Pelé, said in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday it will force municipalities to raise taxes.
Opposition members also criticized the government for rushing the legislation through the Legislative Assembly.
Formula changing
The current formula has been in place since 2013, and includes so-called equalization and core funding.
The equalization system, which dates back to 1967, involves the redistribution of tax revenue across the province so that less prosperous communities can still offer a certain level of services.
Under the new system, equalization payments remain in place, but will be adjusted annually by a maximum of three per cent, through a comparison of local and provincial tax base growth. … Continue
From the archives: Bird population decline linked to forest ‘degradation,’ but solutions exist, says N.B. researcher
Listen to Tantramar Report for Monday, August 15, 2022:
Urban/Rural Rides aims to buy hybrid vans with wheelchair ramps to help ‘isolated’ rural residents
A volunteer-driven transport organization that serves southeast New Brunswick hopes to purchase a fleet of wheelchair-accessible hybrid minivans.
“Our service is designed to improve the quality of life for people with little or no access to transportation,” said Kelly Taylor, executive director of Urban/Rural Rides NB, during a recent presentation at Sackville town council.
Urban/Rural Rides NB is a charitable organization that offers transportation services for “a fraction of the cost of a taxi.”
It started off in 2014 in Salisbury and Petitcodiac, when it was known simply as Rural Rides.
It has grown in size to include the Tantramar region since 2017, and throughout Westmoreland and Albert counties since 2018.
In Sackville, the group completed 210 rides last year, Taylor told town councillors.
This year, its services expanded to officially include communities in the Fredericton area.
Its clients include seniors, people with moderate disabilities, low-income people and newcomers. But the group doesn’t have the ability to transport people in wheelchairs.
Now, they hope to buy more than a dozen vans retrofitted with wheelchair ramps, with financial assistance from Ottawa.
The goal is to have one vehicle each of the 13 “entities” in southeast New Brunswick that will be created as part of local governance reforms that are currently underway.… Continue
Ariel Posen is making ‘Headway’ in a post-pandemic world
Since his debut album in 2019, Ariel Posen has been solidifying himself as one of Canada’s most poetic singer/songwriters. His album “Headway” from 2021 is certainly no exception. Host of the Morning Show and the Sunday BBQ, Joe Hubley, caught up with Ariel for a conversation on his very busy 2021. From a headlining tour across North America, releasing two albums and an EP, as well as a handful of various collaborations (John Mayer, City and Colour, The Ballroom Thieves, Bahamas, Cory Wong, and more), it’s safe to say that Ariel Posen had a full plate. However, he ate it up and clearly still has an appetite, as 2022 is lining up to be just as colossal of a year for the Winnipeg slide guitarist. Ariel Posen and Joe Hubley cover it all in this CHMA exclusive interview.
“It made me realize that performing
isn’t just what I do, it’s who I am.”
~Ariel Posen on being back on stage for the first time since the pandemic.
… Continue
Friday on TR: New system to report sexual misconduct; municipal reform committee meets; storm wallops N.B.
On today’s Tantramar Report:
Mount Allison University has launched a new way for people to report sexual misconduct, harassment or assault on campus.
The move comes as part of an ongoing effort to respond to decades-long concerns about sexual violence on the Mount A campus.
In November 2020, then-student Michelle Roy posted an image of herself on social media, in graduation attire and holding a sign accusing the school of supporting rapists.
Since then, the university has brought in a third-party organization to respond to and support survivors of sexual violence, commissioned an independent review of its practices, and hired Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator, Dr. Tasia Alexopolous.
CHMA reporter Erica Butler called up Dr. Alexopolous this week to find out more about REES, and how it might impact sexual violence on campus.
Also on today’s show: Sackville town council’s municipal reform committee held its first ever-meeting this week. Erica Butler was there and brings us some highlights.
Plus more local news and information:
Tantramar Climate Change Week
The 10th annual Tantramar Climate Change Week starts on Saturday with an information booth at the Sackville Farmers’ Market.
A series of free online events organized by Eos Eco-Energy takes place throughout the week, including a climate change virtual trivia night next Friday, Feb. 11. You can find the full schedule online at eosecoenergy.com.
Friday on TR: Amalgamation process begins; NB returns to Level 2; First Nation asks for help finding missing woman
Today’s feature on Tantramar Report:
The province has appointed the facilitator who will oversee the amalgamation of Sackville, Dorchester and surrounding areas.
Chad Peters is currently CEO of a Moncton-based communications firm, and former manager with Southwestern Energy Resources, the company behind controversial fracking exploration in New Brunswick in the early 2010s.
Peters is also a former staffer in the Progressive Conservative legislative office, and ran for the PCs in a provincial by-election in Moncton East in 2007. He had announced his candidacy for mayor of Moncton in January 2020, but did not run in the 2021 election. Peters had his first meeting with Sackville staff and council this week.
CHMA’s Erica Butler called up Sackville Town Councillor Bill Evans, who has been a vocal opponent of amalgamation, to hear about the first meeting.
Also on Tantramar Report:
Missing woman from St. Mary’s First Nation
Saint Mary’s First Nation has asked for support in locating Erin Maureen Brooks.
The 38-year-old woman was last seen on Dec. 27 at St. Mary’s Smoke Shop in Fredericton, according to the Indigenous community.
She’s described as five-foot-two-inches tall and 115 pounds, with multiple tattoos, including the word “Boo” on the left side of her chest.
In 2018, Brooks shared a post on social media as part of a campaign for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, stating that if she ever went missing, “someone took me against my will or worse.… Continue
Tantramar Report: Fort Folly Habitat Recovery cleans up Johnson’s Creek, 14 cases of community transmission, Struts to pay artist to build Fall Fair float
Tomorrow night is movie night at Dorchester School, where they will be screening Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” for free. The only thing you have to bring is a lawn chair, there will be free popcorn and bug spray available for movie-goers. The show starts at 8PM behind the school.
Someone has defaced a campaign sign for federal Liberal candidate Dominic Leblanc on Main Street near the on ramp to highway 2. The large campaign sign has been spray painted with a swastika, or an attempt at one (it was backwards), and a message reading “COVID Nazi”. The hyperbolic historical comparison is not the first on Sackville streets. Posters have appeared recently in town comparing Mount Allison’s mandatory vaccination or testing policy to racial segregation policies once the norm in parts of the US and Canada. Dominic Leblanc posted a response to the vandalism on social media Tuesday, calling it “despicable”, and a “display of hate and intolerance”. The sign has since been replaced.
Struts Gallery is looking for an artist to design and build a float for Sackville’s Fall Fair. The artist will be given creative liberty to build a moving sculpture or performance of sorts, with funds to cover their time and supplies. Struts will provide a trailer to pull the masterpiece. Float proposals are due by this Monday, August 30th.
14 recent cases of COVID-19 have been categorized as “community transmission,” 13 of which are in Zone 1 (Moncton).… Continue
Tantramar Report: EV rebate’s impact on local dealers, CUPE march for frontline workers, and AWI nature school registration open
On Thursday’s Tantramar Report:
Erica Butler called up Tina Amador, the general manager of Atlantic KIA in Amherst, to see how the new EV rebate program might affect local car dealers. Amador says that while EVs are not yet available in Sackville or Amherst, they are in Moncton, and some of her staff have started the process of getting trained to sell and service electric vehicles.
There is a Pfizer clinic at the Tantramar Civic Centre today between 9 and 5 today, but Charles Beaver says those slots are all booked up. If you register with the Corner Drug Store online, you might be able to get in as soon as September 2nd.
CUPE is organizing a march in solidarity with frontline workers in Sackville, after local advocates insisted Sackville be included. Sackville was originally excluded from the marching plans, according to local volunteer Judith Weiss, because of its low population. The march begins at 10 AM at the local hospital, and ends at the bandstand in the Bill Johnstone Memorial Park. Anyone interested in participating in a Sackville walk with CUPE on behalf of frontline workers can show up on Saturday. Look out for a Facebook event published by Alana Best, of CUPE local 720-1, for more details.
And registration is open for the Atlantic Wildlife Institute’s forest school program. The year-round part-time enrichment program will continue to offer outdoors-based learning, and this year they are offering a Wilderness Skills program, and Creative Arts and Music program. … Continue
Music in the Making: Freya Milliken on Pride NB and the versatility of genre
CHMA’s Christina Acton interviewed local musician Freya Milliken to hear about her first time recording a performance professionally, which will be a part of Pride NB’s Monday July 13th Facebook live variety show https://facebook.com/events/s/pride-nb-variety-show-fierte-n/618647385444248/?ti=ia
Freya also discussed the versatility of music making, and the importance of not viewing genre as a confining box.
“There was this 5 week project in my chamber music class, and basically the whole point of it was to look at musical genres differently by the end of it. I personally definitely found that I look at it differently now. So we were paired into different groups of like 4 or 5, and we would be assigned a certain genre and have to change it into a different one. So I remember a couple times, let’s see my group did rap to classical, and then there was like classical to bluegrass, and death metal to this, this to the death metal and whatnot, and basically our professor wanted us to see the musician behind the music, and not necessarily the music for what it is. Like when you think of death metal you think of aggressive sounds and screaming and what not but maybe it’s not that all the time you know. With pop you think it might be all fluffy bunnies and whatnot but maybe this person is actually trying to say something, actually trying to get something across. So bringing that back into my own music I’m thinking okay well how can I send this message but in a different way.… Continue
Future Friday: Post Secondary Education
Hamish Hallett and John Beasy looking into what the future may hold for post-secondary education.