Category: Community News

Progressive Conservative candidate for Tantramar Bruce Phinney says he’s playing catch up after joining the provincial election race at the eleventh hour.

Phinney stopped by CHMA to talk about his campaign and PC party promises so far this election season:

“I finally got recognized as a candidate later than everybody else,” says Phinney. “It’s one of the stumbling blocks I had to deal with, and I’m dealing with it the best way I can.”

Phinney says that his door-to-door canvassing will be limited to some stops in Cape Tormentine and in his downtown Sackville ward where he was elected to Tantramar municipal council in 2022. “I’m not going to get around to everybody,” he says, “there’s no way realistically, but I will continue to run into people, ask for their vote.”

When it comes to his party’s platform, Phinney says he trusts that leader Blaine Higgs has a plan. “He’s done certain things on certain issues, but there’s more to be done,” says Phinney. “And that’s exactly why he needs another four years in order to continue on the work that he’s already put in place.”

“To me, he’s got the right way of thinking at the present time,” says Phinney. “Opening up the purse strings and just spending isn’t going to solve the problem,” says Phinney.

The key promise from the PC party this campaign has been a 2% cut in HST, which will cost nearly $1.6 billion over four years, the single most expensive action promised by any party in the campaign, according to Transparency in Elections reporting.… Continue

CHMA joined New Brunswick Green candidate for Tantramar Megan Mitton as she and three party volunteers canvassed door to door in a Sackville neighbourhood last week.

“The cool thing about doing doors is that you get to learn so much about your community,” says Mitton. “And I’ve knocked on doors a bunch of times now, so I actually can see how things change and how the issues change.”

Mitton first ran for the NB Greens in 2014, and then won a seat on Sackville town council in 2016. She ran provincially in 2018 and 2020, winning a seat in the legislature both times, representing the former riding of Memramcook-Tantramar.

Mitton says in the past there was more a variety of issues that came up at the door, but in this election she most often hears about health care. (And there’s also the odd person who doesn’t realize an election has been called.)

Another difference for the incumbent MLA is no longer having to explain who she is, and who the NB Greens are. “Now people generally know who I am, know that the Greens are not just about the environment, know that healthcare is my priority and that I’ve been working on it,” says Mitton. “And so we have a different conversation.”

“Generally, I have had really good reception at the door and lots of support,” says Mitton.… Continue

CHMA joined New Brunswick Liberal candidate for Tantramar John Higham as he and a party volunteer knocked on doors in a Sackville neighbourhood last week.

Higham says he’s heard “really positive ideas” from voters, including “things that could be done differently and better.” But he’s also had a number of strong negative reactions which he attributes to the phenomenon of anti-Liberal sentiment directed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I’ve been told that I have joined the biggest mafia in the world,” says Higham. One person went so far as to threaten the provincial candidate and former mayor. “I was told ‘get off my property, I’m going in the house and getting something, and it’ll show that you never will come on my property ever again,” recounts Higham. “So we’ve got that group of people that has really changed the tone.”

Higham’s 2024 door-to-door campaign is “a little different because of some of the responses, but also, I feel more comfortable doing it than I did the first time,” says Higham.

Higham won the Sackville mayoralty in 2016, but did not go door to door during that campaign. In 2006, he ran as the Liberal candidate for Tantramar, losing to Progressive Conservative Mike Oldscamp, who is now offering Higham “positive advice of how it should work.”

Higham says that when it comes to the NB Liberal platform (which had only been partially released at the time), he’s found himself explaining to many potential voters that the costs being cited are meant to be spread over a four year mandate.… Continue

The Sackville hospital. Health care in general. Educational opportunities. Housing needs. Roads and bridges. The environment. They were all top of mind as CHMA spoke with nine voters in the region to ask them, “When provincial candidates knock on your door this election campaign, what will you be asking them?”

Did you hear your concerns represented in the voices of your neighbours? If not, please get in touch with CHMA at news@chmafm.com. We’d like to hear what you are asking about during this provincial election campaign season.

What’s the plan on affordable housing?

Reginald Beal is personally feeling the housing pinch, and has also seen it affect his friends and family. The Sackville resident wants candidates to explain their plan to get more affordable housing, particularly in Sackville, and to give a timeline for when they can do it. He also wonders about what candidates will do about renters’ rights in the province.

How do you see your relationship with First Nations communities in the future?

Nicole Porter lives and works in Amlamgog First Nation and has a long list of questions including health care, education and climate change. But her main question will be, “how do you see our relationships with First Nations communities in the future?”

Are you in support of a total ban on hydro fracking?

Sackville poet and activist Marilyn Lerch says the grassroots movement in New Brunswick which achieved a moratorium on hydro fracking in the province is a “wonderful model of grassroots organizing,” and though she feels there’s also “so much that needs to be done with climate change”, her request for candidates is to “show me on their platform whether they are in support of a total ban on hydrofracking.”… Continue