The committee of elected officials that will recommend the future name of Entity 40 will meet Wednesday to discuss the results of their informal survey on two proposed names: Beauséjour Township and Tantramar Township. Their final recommendation is due to the province by Monday, May 16, but some councillors are wondering if that deadline is more flexible than it appears.
At Monday’s council meeting, Councillor Michael Tower brought up a new piece of information imparted by Local Government Minister Daniel Allain at a closed meeting with public officials on Friday.
Tower said Allain, “was alluding to the fact that we didn’t have to get into the voting of those two, that we could actually call it either Dorchester-Sackville, Sackville-Dorchester, and let the new council decide.” Tower said that would allow more time for the decision, and also “let the new council approach the citizens for a vote.”
Recently another amalgamated entity—Entity 51—announced its new name, chosen by a vote conducted by its municipal staff. The Town of Grand Bay-Westfield is merging with a portion of a neighbouring local service district named Westfield West, and residents chose to stick with the status quo, naming the new entity Grand Bay-Westfield.
The name of Sackville was considered by a sub-committee looking at potential names, but was struck off the list because provincial guidelines required that no names of persons be used to name the new entities. (Sackville is named for Lord George Sackville, a British politician with “friends in high places”, according to the Tantramar Heritage Trust. Dorchester is named for the 18th-century Governor-General of the old Province of Quebec.)
Dorchester deputy mayor Robert Corkerton told CHMA in April that the province had set parameters around names, including no names of people, no hyphenated names, and no amalgamated names, such of the oft joked about Sackchester or Dorchville.
Mayor Shawn Mesheau sounded slightly exasperated on Monday when he told council that Allain’s revelation on Friday was news to him. “If that was the case, it was never conveyed to the elected advisory committee,” said Mesheau. “If the group had determined that we wanted to keep Sackville or Dorchester, and that was the thought process, then we would have taken it from there. But there was nothing specifically that was indicated that we could keep that name.”
Department of Local Government spokesperson Anne Mooers says the option of simply hyphenating the names Sackville and Dorchester was suggested by Minister Allain only as an interim measure, in the case that the advisory committee is unable to decide on a new name by May 16. Mooers said if the committee can’t choose a name, one would need to be chosen for them. “However, we are confident the transition committee will pick a name given they have narrowed it to two at this time,” wrote Mooers via email.
Mesheau says the group meeting Wednesday will look at all the feedback to try and come to a recommendation. “It’s not a decided thing. We’re looking for that feedback,” said Mesheau. Anyone with input is invited to email entity40NB@gmail.com.
Mesheau ended his comments on Monday saying he couldn’t rule out any possibility, “[Tantramar and Beauséjour] were the two that the committee felt were names that could resonate with the new entity,” he said. “We’ll talk about it more, and see where it goes from there.”
