Tag: Mount Allison

Mayoral candidate Bonnie Swift responds to criticism after far-right tweets vanish

Tantramar mayoral candidate Bonnie Swift has responded to criticism after a slew of controversial posts disappeared from her public Twitter account. 

Listen to the report that aired on CHMA’s Tantramar Report on Thursday, November 24, 2002.

The social media posts suggested her politics are heavily influenced by the far-right on issues such as anti-racism, abortion and health-care privatization.

‘LOL’: Mayoral candidate Bonnie Swift reacts to news that the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down Roe v. Wade, overturning abortion rights. Screengrab: twitter.com/bonnieswift10

When local residents and journalists raised questions about her stated views this week, hundreds of tweets suddenly vanished. The first-time politician had previously campaigned on transparency in local government. 

Swift says her tweets are being taken out of context, and that her husband deactivated the account without her knowledge because of online harassment. 

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Swift told CHMA she “could care less” if residents decided not to vote for her over the deleted tweets.

“I’m not desperate to win this race… I’d be happy just leaving it, not talking to anybody,” she said. She added that she stands by a statement issued to local reporter Bruce Wark, who first reported about the missing tweets.

CHMA collected screengrabs of her Twitter feed before they disappeared. Some of her controversial takes included commentary on reproductive rights.

When one media organization reported that the U.S. Supreme Court was set to overturn Roe. v Wade, striking down abortion rights, she responded: ‘LOL.’ … Continue

‘Expect the previously unexpected’: Hurricane Fiona, rising sea levels show need to restore salt marshes for natural protection, says prof

A map shows critical infrastructure in the Sackville-Amherst area. Screengrab: Chignecto Isthmus Climate Change Adaptation Comprehensive Engineering and Feasibility Study, 2022/gnb.ca

With sea levels rising and weather patterns becoming more volatile, the storm that wreaked havoc in Atlantic Canada last month might be a mere sampling of things to come.

In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, Prof. Jeff Ollerhead of Mount Allison University says decision-makers can reduce the risks of catastrophic flooding in the Tantramar area by restoring salt marshes.

“Are we seeing storms? Are we seeing impacts? Yes. Fiona has just reminded us of that,” he said. “And do we have the ability or the capacity to do something about this? Yes, we do.”

Ollerhead made those comments during a recent talk with the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership, described as a “virtual Institute” open to people interested in the well-being of the bay.

CHMA tuned into the talk to bring you highlights. Ollerhead started by talking about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and how things appear to be changing faster than predicted.

… Continue

Mt A retakes top spot in Maclean’s rankings; school poised to keep growing, says Boudreau

Mount Allison University is hosting an open house on October 14, 2022. Image: Mount Allison on Twitter

Mount Allison University is hosting an open house today for potential new students, just a week after getting another feather in its cap from Maclean’s magazine’s long-running ranking of Canadian universities. For the 23rd time in the 32 years that Maclean’s has been publishing rankings of Canadian schools, the magazine gave Mount Allison the number one spot in the primarily undergraduate category, made up mostly of smaller universities.

“It is a nice number to have kind of in our back pocket,” says Mount Allison Students’ Union president Rohin Minocha-McKenney. “It is an area of pride, because at the end of the day, all of us in the Mount A community, whether [we feel] good or bad about Mount A, we do have some level of pride in what is here, and what we all contribute to the community.”

“I think we do deserve it,” says Minocha-McKenney, referring to more than just the formal institution. “There’s a lot of great things that happen at Mount A and even Sackville in general, that makes this the best undergraduate university experience in Canada.“

Not that there’s not still room for improvement, says the MASU president. “We do have places to go. But I would say that people care in our whole community, and that care that goes in to our community and into Mount A, I think that’s why we really deserve number one.”… Continue

N.B. is changing the way it funds local government — what does it mean for Tantramar?

Reforms to local government funding received Royal Assent on Tuesday, after Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform Daniel Allain (right) introduced Bill 120 last week. Allain is pictured in Sackville on Friday, May 6, 2022. Photo: Erica Butler

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