Commission to consider future of Memramcook-Tantramar and other provincial ridings seeking input
The commission that will decide New Brunswick’s next election ridings has announced a round of public consultations over the next month, but they won’t be targeted at communities where changed boundaries are likely to be proposed.
The Electoral boundaries commission will tour through 12 locations in the province, chosen to provide “the widest access possible to as many citizens who may wish to make a presentation to the commission,” according to an emailed statement from commission staff.
Mount Allison politics professor Mario Levesque says the level of consultation is not enough.
“They need to at least double the sessions they have across the province to get better input,” says Levesque. He says he understands the inclination to save time and costs in having less thorough coverage, “but this is something I think that’s significant enough, more would be better overall.”
The closest consultation happening for residents of Memramcook-Tantramar is in Moncton at the Delta Beausejour on September 1, from 6pm to 9pm. There are also two virtual sessions that require pre-registration, happening September 1 and 12.
The last time a commission looked at provincial riding boundaries was in 2012-2013, when the riding of Memramcook-Tantramar was created. And this riding could be up for another change before the next election in 2024.… Continue
Min wage to get bumped twice in 2022
On Thursday, the New Brunswick government announced a plan to increase New Brunswick’s minimum wage by $2 over the course of 2022. The first raise of one dollar, from $11.75 to $12.75, will happen in April, about four months from now. Then six months after that, in October 2022, the minimum wage will go up by another dollar, to $13.75.
The move should knock New Brunswick out of its uncomfortable spot as the province with the lowest minimum wage in Canada, which labour minister Trevor Holder cited as a motivation for the move at the announcement Thursday. “We cannot be last in Atlantic Canada,” said Holder, citing the example of wage discrepancies between border towns like Amherst and Sackville.
“I’ll put it to you this way,” said Holder. “A hamburger costs pretty much the same in Sackville as it does in Amherst. And it costs about the same to produce it. My question is, why would anybody think that it’s appropriate that the person serving that hamburger in Sackville is compensated $2 less than the person over in Amherst? It’s just unacceptable. It’s time that we moved on and made sure that we weren’t leaving New Brunswickers behind.”
Currently, PEI plans to raise its minimum wage to $13.70 in April, when most provinces make their annual adjustments. That will leave PEI in the top position in the Maritimes until October, when the second raise in New Brunswick will put this province 5 cents higher, at $13.75.… Continue