Meet the candidates: Sahitya Pendurthi, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)
Sahitya Pendurthi is a project manager for an IT distribution company working remotely from Sackville. Pendurthi came to Canada from India as an international student ten years ago, chose to become a citizen, got married and settled in Sackville. Pendurthi says she fell in love with the town after her husband, an Amherst native, first brought her here.
Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Sahitya Pendurthi, which took place at CHMA on November 9, 2022.
Pendurthi is running for Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates, including Pendurthi, Josh Goguen, Alice Cotton, Virgil Hammock, Bruce Phinney, Michael Tower, Allison Butcher, Charles Harvey, and Sana Mohammed. All candidates have interviews on CHMA, except for Charles Harvey who declined our request, and Sana Mohammed, who has yet to respond.
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT Sahitya Pendurthi at CHMA, November 9, 2022
CHMA: Sahitya Pendurthi, thanks for joining us.
Sahitya Pendurthi: Thank you for having me here.
CHMA: So for those who may not already know, do you tell us a bit about yourself?
Sahitya Pendurthi: I am 37 years old. I was born and raised in India in a middle class family. My parents had to do two or three jobs to go up in their status to be able to afford to send their kid to Canada to study.… Continue
Meet the candidates: Alice Cotton, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)
Alice Cotton is a long time Sackville resident and avid volunteer, having worked with EOS Eco Energy, the Sackville Music Festival, and the Community Food Smart program. She has diverse work experience in teaching, gardening and food preparation, and is a local entrepreneur, running the Deus Ex Machina coffee truck at the Sackville Farmers Market.
Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Alice Cotton, which took place by phone on November 9, 2022.
Cotton is running for Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates, including Cotton, Sahitya Pendurthi, Josh Goguen, Virgil Hammock, Bruce Phinney, Michael Tower, Allison Butcher, Charles Harvey, and Sana Mohammed. All candidates have interviews on CHMA, except for Charles Harvey who declined our request, and Sana Mohammed, who has yet to respond.
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT
CHMA: So Alice cotton, thanks for joining us. Thank you. For those who might not already know you tell us a bit about yourself.
Alice Cotton: Sure. Well, I have lived in Sackville for close to 30 years. I have raised my two sons here, they both went to Mount Allison, one is still going to Mount Allison. And I have worked at various jobs here in town and gotten to know you know, different groups of people through those those jobs and also through volunteer work that I’ve done, and board work that I’ve done, as well, I’ve been on a couple of boards for EOS Eco Energy and the Sackville Music Festival.… Continue
Meet the candidates: Josh Goguen, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)
Josh Goguen is originally from Moncton, and has been living in Sackville with his family for the past 16 years. He’s fluently bilingual, works for Moneris in technology operations analysis, and runs one of Sackville’s community Facebook groups.
Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Josh Goguen, which took place at CHMA on November 9, 2022.
Goguen is running for Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates, including Goguen, Alice Cotton, Sahitya Pendurthi, Virgil Hammock, Bruce Phinney, Michael Tower, Allison Butcher, Charles Harvey, and Sana Mohammed. All candidates have interviews on CHMA, except for Charles Harvey who declined our request, and Sana Mohammed, who has yet to respond.
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT:
CHMA: All right, Josh, thanks so much for coming in today. Really appreciate it.
Josh Goguen: Thank you for having me, Erica. It’s a pleasure.
CHMA: For those who might not already know you, tell us a bit about yourself.
Josh Goguen: So, my name is Josh Goguen. I am a resident of Sackville, obviously, for the last 16 years. I am married to my wonderful wife, Sarah, who works at Jean Coutu. And my son Ben is 13 years old now and he goes to Marshfield.… Continue
Meet the candidates: Virgil Hammock, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)
Virgil Hammock has lived in Sackville for nearly 50 years, teaching at Mount Allison University for almost 30 of those years. He previously served on Sackville town council from 1999 and 2012 and has held positions on the Southeast Regional Health Authority board and planning commission.
Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Virgil Hammock, which took place at his home in downtown Sackville on November 10, 2022.
Hammock is running for Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates, including Hammock, Bruce Phinney, Michael Tower, Allison Butcher, Alice Cotton, Sahitya Pendurthi, Josh Goguen, Charles Harvey, and Sana Mohammed. All candidates have interviews on CHMA, except for Charles Harvey who declined, and Sana Mohammed, who did not respond.
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT: Interview with Virgil Hammock, November 10, 2022
CHMA: Virgil Hammock. Thanks for taking some time to speak with us.
Virgil Hammock: My pleasure, Erica.
CHMA: Just to start off, for people who might not already know you, tell us a bit about yourself?
Virgil Hammock: Well, my name is, as you say, Virgil Hammock. I’ve lived in Sackville for 47 years. I taught at Mount A for 29 years, and 19 of those years as head of the Fine Arts department.… Continue
Meet the candidates: Bruce Phinney, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)
Sackville town councillor Bruce Phinney was born in Sackville into a military family. They lived in Germany and Nova Scotia before settling in Oromocto in 1962. After returning to Sackville in 1977, he began a career spanning four decades in facilities management at Mount Allison University.
Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Bruce Phinney, which took place at CHMA studios on November 15, 2022.
Phinney is running for Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates, including Phinney, Michael Tower, Allison Butcher, Virgil Hammock, Alice Cotton, Sahitya Pendurthi, Josh Goguen, Charles Harvey, and Sana Mohammed. All candidates have interviews on CHMA, except for Charles Harvey who declined, and Sana Mohammed, who hasn’t responded to an interview request.
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT, Bruce Phinney November 15, 2022
CHMA: Bruce Phinney, thank you so much for joining us today.
Bruce Phinney: My pleasure, Erica.
CHMA: For those who might not already know you, tell us a bit about yourself.
Bruce Phinney: I was born in Sackville in 1955. That makes me 67. I grew up in Oromocto—my father was in the military. Then I moved here to Sackville in 1977, and in 1978, I started working for [Mount Allison University]. I worked for the University for 42 and a half years.… Continue
Meet the candidates: Allison Butcher, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)
Allison Butcher was born and raised in Sackville and lived in Ottawa before returning to her hometown in 1998. She’s the mother of two teenage daughters, and for the past 20 years she has worked as a pre-school teacher. She’s been involved in municipal politics since 2016 and is currently in her second term as councillor.
Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Allison Butcher, which took place by phone on November 9, 2022.
She is running in Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates.
Along with Butcher, those candidates include Michael Tower, Alice Cotton, Josh Goguen, Virgil Hammock, Charles Harvey, Sana Mohamad, Saditya Pendurthi and Bruce Phinney. CHMA has interviewed all of them except for Charles Harvey, who declined an interview request, and Sana Mohamad, as we’re awaiting a response from that candidate.
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT Allison Butcher, Nov. 9, 2022:
CHMA: Allison Butcher, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us.
AB: Thank you.
CHMA: So for those who might not already know you, tell us a bit about yourself.
AB: So I’m Allison Butcher, I live in Sackville, and what will be Ward 3. I am a preschool teacher here in town and have been for about 20 years now.… Continue
Listen for yourself: All-Candidates Forum features 19 of 21 candidates for Tantramar council
About 120 people gathered in the gym at the Church by the Lake on Saturday night to hear from candidates in the first ever election for the new municipality of Tantramar. The event was organized by a committee led by Sackville resident Carol Cooke, who served as moderator for the evening.
CHMA broadcast the forum live, and we’ve also put together the recording of the event in four parts for anyone who missed the live broadcast.
CHMA has offered introductory interviews to all candidates in this election, and you can check them out, along with other election coverage in our Local Elections 2022 page.
Tantramar All-Candidates Forum part 1: Opening remarks
Tantramar All-Candidates Forum part 2: Moderator question
What do you see as the single, biggest challenge facing the new Town of Tantramar?
Grassroots efforts to attract nurses to Sackville Memorial Hospital got results, volunteer committee reports
A local volunteer committee says its efforts to recruit health-care workers for the Sackville Memorial Hospital are paying off.
The Rural Health Action Group updated town councillors on a partnership with the regional health authority on Tuesday, and suggested their grassroots approach could become a model for other communities.
The hospital’s emergency department has been operating 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. following service cuts linked to widespread labour shortages in the health-care sector.
In December 2021, Horizon health authority also converted all acute-care beds at the hospital into long-term care, citing the nurse shortage.
On Tuesday, John Higham — who co-chairs the committee with Pat Estabrooks, both of them former Sackville mayors — presented figures that showed improved staffing numbers.
Listen to highlights from the Rural Health Action Group’s Nov. 8, 2022 presentation at Sackville town council:
Higham also confirmed that a highly anticipated return of acute-care beds is happening.
“It’s important to note that the inpatient services are coming back,” Higham said. “Major investment in two operating rooms was announced last week, that’s significant.
“It’s going to be aligned with the waiting list for the region on operations, which is what we’ve also talked to [Horizon] about for quite a while, the Brunswick beds are turning back into inpatients.”
Improved staff vacancy rates in that unit were also noted in background documents circulated among Sackville town councillors.… Continue
Display of iconic Mel’s Tea Room sign quashed by planners, says Dorchester Jail B&B owner; Volunteer committee reports progress in hiring at Sackville Memorial Hospital
Listen to Tantramar Report for Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, Remembrance Day:
Meet the candidates: Bonnie Swift, running for mayor of Tantramar
Bonnie Swift is an environmental engineer who worked for years in Alberta, moving east to Sackville in 2010 and serving as the town of Sackville business development officer for two years. Swift describes herself as a “small town girl” from Dorchester, and says she’s running for mayor of the new municipality of Tantramar after encouragement from friends. Swift became active in Sackville politics this past year, advocating for reconsideration and public consultation of a zoning change that made way for the AIL pipe plant now under construction on Walker Road.
CHMA’s David Gordon Koch has interviewed all three mayoral candidates for Tantramar. Listen to his interview with Bonnie Swift here:
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT:
CHMA: I’m speaking with Bonnie Swift. She’s one of three candidates in the race for mayor, the first-ever mayor of the new town of Tantramar. Bonnie, thanks for speaking to CHMA today.
Bonnie Swift: Thank you. You’re welcome. Glad to do it.
CHMA: First of all, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? This is your first run for a municipal council seat, isn’t it?
Bonnie Swift: Yeah, well, as far as I go, I’m a small town girl. I grew up in Dorchester. I went to high school in Sackville.… Continue