Last day for public input on NB climate plan
Your chance to weigh in on New Brunswick’s next climate plan closes tonight at midnight.
New Brunswick’s climate change plan is just over five years old, passed in December 2016 under Brian Gallant’s Liberal government. It’s now due for a required five-year review, and in January the Higgs government opened up a month-long consultation period for New Brunswickers to give their input. That period closes tonight at midnight.
There’s not much to indicate that this consultation is a particularly important process for the province. There’s no roadshow of virtual or in-person community consultations, no discussion papers published. A standing legislative committee has heard from experts and officials, including the town of Sackville’s CAO Jamie Burke, but in terms general public input, there’s simply a link to an online form, and an email address to send further input. It’s not exactly an inspiring public consultation process.
But despite the low profile, Sabine Dietz says that public consultation is important. Dietz is director of CLIMAtlantic, a new Sackville-based clearing house for information and analysis about climate change in Atlantic Canada. She’s also a Sackville town councillor who ran on a platform calling for robust response to the climate crisis at all levels.
“It does matter,” says Dietz of the public input process. “It’s like you write a letter, and people and politicians know that there’s 10, 100 more people that think the same way.”… Continue
In a tense meeting, Sackville council turns down two motions to slow down amalgamation
Things move quickly in the world of New Brunswick municipal reform, and on Monday two Sackville town councillors took a stab at slowing that down.
Councillor Bill Evans presented his motion calling for a boycott of the amalgamation process, instructing staff and councillors not to engage in advisory committees set up by the province. Evans argued that it would be more effective to protest the forced amalgamation by making the province “do their own dirty work.”
“Remember, they’ve only got one facilitator [for] five amalgamations,” said Evans. “They can’t do our amalgamation without our help. So let’s not help them. Let’s try to shame the bully and say, maybe we can’t stop you, but we’ll be damned if we will help you.”
Right off the bat, CAO Jamie Burke reacted with a strong message of alarm. Burke said he consulted with the town’s lawyer about the motion, and was paraphrasing from that conversation when he spoke to council Monday.
Burke made that case that Evans’ motion was actually illegal, because the province has passed Bill 82, giving it the tools to impose municipal amalgamations across the province in the next year. Burke said Bill 82 also gave the province, “the right to make inquiries into the assets and liabilities of local governments affected by restructuring,” which would mean that himself and town staff would be required to cooperate with Chad Peters, the provincially-appointed facilitator.… Continue
Mesheau cautions against rumours of hospital closure
In his report to council on Monday night, Mayor Shawn Mesheau told his colleagues he’s had several meetings on various health care issues affecting the Sackville community, and warned that social media posts claiming the imminent closure of the Sackville Memorial hospital are unfounded.
Mesheau said he’s been in discussions with Ambulance NB and the department of health about the possibility of allowing ambulances across the border into Nova Scotia in some emergency situations. He also mentioned two meetings involving the Rural Health Action Group, one in mid-December with Horizon officials focussing on recruitment, and one more recently with neighbouring mayors from the region, talking about the future of the action group.
As for warnings on posters and in social media posts that the Sackville hospital is in danger of imminent closure, Mesheau called them false statements. “Something that’s been seen social media wise and posted through our community is a false statement that Sackville Memorial Hospital is in danger of closing,” said Mesheau. “That is not the case.”
Posters have appeared in downtown Sackville making the claim, and listing the contact information for various public officials to contact to protest the closure of the hospital. Mesheau supported the idea of contacting elected officials, but also warned that the rumour of a closure could have negative side effects.… Continue
Monday on TR: Dietz on new climate report; Indu Varma on Sackville’s newest public art project; nurses ratify agreement
Listen to Tantramar Report for the following stories:
New federal report on climate change in Atlantic Canada
You may know Sabine Dietz from her role as a councillor with the town of Sackville. Elected this past May, the Sackville biologist and environmental educator is an active council member, always ready with questions about Sackville’s spending and policies. Shortly after her election, Dietz took on another big portfolio, leading ClimAtlantic, a new regional hub for climate services, funded for the next three years by the federal government. CLIMAtlantic itself came out of another project Dietz was working on, a report looking at the risks and responses to climate change in Atlantic Canada. That report was released last week, and so Tantramar Report called up Dietz to find out more.
Local artist Indu Varma brings a new Canada Council funded public art piece to Sackville
By next December, Sackville will have a new piece of public art, courtesy of local artist Indu Varma and the Canada Council. Varma presented her concept to Sackville town council in early December and recently received approval to go ahead with the ceramics project which will depict Sackville’s history in a tile mosaic in the shape of a ship. Tantramar Report spoke with Varma to hear about her inspiration and the plans for the project.
Rapid test kit pick up tomorrow in Sackville
Packs of COVID-19 rapid tests are available for pick up in Sackville on Tuesday at the Tantramar Civic Centre parking lot off Main Street.… Continue
CHMA Talks: Dietz and Tower talk 2022 budget and health care recruitment
Another edition of the monthly CHMA Talks councillors roundtable with Sabine Dietz and Michael Tower, talking about the 2022 budget, funding health care recruitment, and the potential for a future multipurpose building for Sackville. Listen in:
Return of stolen radar speed sign requested “no questions asked”
People driving along Pond Shore Road might notice that the radar speed sign that used to remind them of their current speed as they passed is gone.
Public works liaison council Matt Estabrooks told council Monday night that the sign was stolen on August 30, the very same day a repaired radar speed sign was installed in the opposite direction on Pond Shore Road. The second, repaired sign has been removed until public works staff figure out a way to protect it against theft.
Town engineer Dwayne Acton said after the meeting that staff were considering trail cams, and talking with the manufacturer about other ways to secure or track the signs, including GPS. The speed sign cost the town about $4,000, though replacing it will cost slightly less, he said.
The radar speed signs have been the source of trouble before, due to issues retrieving speed data from the units, which stores the speed of each vehicle as it passes the sign. The engineering department recently was able to retrieve the data and has forwarded it to the RCMP.
Acton says he’s not sure where in the public works budget he will find the money to replace the sign, and he’s having a hard time imagining what someone might want with it. He said he’d welcome the return of the sign to the public works department, “no questions asked.”… Continue
Sackville town council calls for regional governments, fairness in taxation
Amalgamation is unrealistic, equalization is unfair, and regional collaboration is great if all residents pay a fair share: those are some of the key messages in a letter from Sackville mayor Shawn Mesheau to Minister of Local Government Daniel Allain, unanimously approved by town council on Tuesday evening.
The letter breaks down Sackville’s input on local governance reform into four areas first outlined in the province’s green paper on the topic: structure, land use planning, regional collaboration, and finance.
STRUCTURE: LEAVE THE TOWN, INCORPORATE THE LSDs
Structure is typically the first thing people think of when talking municipal reform.
Currently about 30% of New Brunswickers, like those living in the Sackville Parish local service district (LSD) just outside of town limits, don’t have local level representation. Instead they are governed directly by the province, with no political power over municipal issues.
Daniel Allain has expressed interest in ending that lack of representation, and the town of Sackville supports the idea. The letter suggests “some form of regional government” for unincorporated areas such as local service districts, so that the town will have someone to negotiate with when it comes to collaboration “on projects or other investments that serve a regional benefit.” Currently, the town deals with the province for regional collaborations, and the power balance there means there’s not much negotiation.… Continue