Category: Daily News

Tantramar staff are heading out on the road to talk to and hear from residents in a municipal awareness campaign. The Tantramar Municipal Roadshow starts Thursday in Dorchester, before continuing to four other wards in the amalgamated municipality.

CHMA spoke to Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne and Communications Officer Jeremy McLaughlin to find out more:

“It’s going to give people a chance to put a face to the name,” says Communications Officer Jeremy McLaughlin. “There’s a ton of amazing work that gets done within the community, and a lot of people only see the problem or the solution, they don’t see a lot of the work that happens in between.”

Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne says residents are invited to “come with their question in hand to ask us, [or] come and just sit in on the session and hear about our municipal services.”

The roadshow will also host sessions in the other four wards of Tantramar in the coming weeks:

• Saturday, May 25, 10am-11:30am at St Marks Anglican Church Hall in Mount Whatley
• Thursday, May 30, 10am-11:30am at the Tantramar Civic Centre in Sackville
• Thursday, June 13, 6pm-7:30pm at the Sackville Music Barn on Station Road, Upper Sackville
• Wednesday June 19, 6pm-7:30pm at St.

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Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:

A small crowd gathered on Wednesday evening in the mezzanine of the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the facility.

Tantramar’s Active Living Director Matt Pryde emceed the evening, which included an excerpt of a play about Sackville speed skating legend Chester Cole, music by Christine Gilroy, and remarks from officials, including Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black.

“The building started as a dream to many great volunteers,” said Black, “some of whom are here tonight. And here we are 20 years later, and the Civic Centre has truly become a hub of activity for this community.”

Black listed a wide variety of events that the Civic Centre has hosted over the years, from hockey and roller derbies to model train shows and circuses. He touted the recent addition of exercise equipment meant for use of parents during ice season, and the newly refurbished Sackville Sports Wall, both housed in the Mezzanine overlooking the rink. “And we have managed to keep our ice costs much lower than most other New Brunswick arenas,” said Black, “making it affordable and accessible to as many people and Tantramar as possible.”

Black also said there’s more improvements to come, including the conversion of a small office off the Mezzanine to a community space, and a refresh to the “look and feel of the building”.… Continue

Retail stores in Sackville will not have to worry about getting fined for opening this Sunday, according to Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne.

On Tuesday, Tantramar council approved the repeal of a 20-year-old bylaw that exempted Sackville businesses from the province’s Days of Rest Act, which limits who can be open on Sundays. The goal was to lift a restriction on hours of operation for Sundays, but resulted in leaving Sackville businesses at the mercy of the provincial act.

Jennifer Borne says that wasn’t intentional, and the town is now taking corrective action to rectify the situation.

“This is certainly not ideal and the new by-law in fact should have been brought forward at the same time,” writes Borne by email. “There was certainly no intention of impacting business, and we are taking corrective action to rectify the situation. We have been in contact with the province and will bring a by-law to council as fast as we legislatively can. In the meantime we will not be enforcing the matter and businesses will open for business on Sunday with no disruption.”

Borne has moved quickly, with a special council meeting slated for today at 11am, with a single item on the agenda: “By-Law No 2024-11, A By-Law Relating to the Operation of Retail Businesses In The Municipality of Tantramar”.

Borne says the town is modelling the new bylaw off examples from Moncton and Woodstock, which state simply that all businesses can open on Sunday as they wish.… Continue

Tantramar council has repealed a bylaw that allowed retail stores in Sackville to open on Sundays.

In a 7 to 2 vote on Tuesday night, council approved the complete repeal of bylaw 197 and 197A, A By-Law Relating to the Operation of Retail Business in the Town of Sackville. The decision was made after council rejected a request from Councillor Michael Tower to postpone the move, pending consultations with local businesses.

Ending Sunday shopping was not the stated intent of the repeal of the bylaw. Assistant clerk Becky Goodwin told councillors that the clerk’s office, “felt it was important to repeal the bylaw” because it “would allow retail business to choose their hours on the day of rest.”

But according to the province’s website, New Brunswick’s Days of Rest Act doesn’t allow retail businesses to open on Sundays unless a municipal bylaw specifically allows it. The Act does list a number of exemptions to the law, including small retailers of food, candy and/or tobacco products, garden centres and nurseries, and liquor stores.

The province’s Frequently Asked Questions about its Days of Rest Act reads, in part:

How does the Days of Rest Act impact retail businesses in New Brunswick?
Retail businesses must be closed on the eleven prescribed days of rest and if the municipality does not have a Sunday Shopping By-law, the weekly day of rest (Sunday) as well.

Which retail businesses are exempt from the Days of Rest Act?

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