Shelley Chase surprised herself on Monday night when she got up at the end of a marathon meeting of Sackville town council to ask about the topic of the day: the forced amalgamation of Sackville, Dorchester and surrounding areas.
“Is there any way to stop this?” wondered Chase, after Mayor Shawn Mesheau had just given a speech making his case for a cooperative stance with the province (albeit a stance that would lobby for an extra 12 months to complete the amalgamation as proposed.)
At least one councillor vehemently believes there is a way to stop amalgamation, or at least that it’s worth trying to. Others were more resigned to their Entity 40 fate.
Chase was at the Sackville town council meeting on another matter, to give a presentation on the status and planning for the 2022 incarnation of the Levee on the Lake. (Spoiler alert: it’s growing, save for road closures, which are shrinking.) But she was moved to get up after council’s brief discussion because as she said, “It feels very undemocratic. And I feel that the population as a whole is so tired and so beaten down.”
Finding a reason good enough
Chase spontaneously voiced the question that has been asked repeatedly on social media posts about the forced amalgamation, but had yet to be seriously posed in a council discussion on the matter: what can be done? And moreover, what has been done?
“I’m curious,” said Chase, “under the legalities of our province, I can’t possibly believe that there is absolutely no way to stop this, if we found a reason that was good enough.”
Chase said she agreed with the positive outlook promoted by the Mayor, but wondered what had been done to explore alternatives to the plan.
“Has everything been explored?” asked Chase. “Is there no loophole? Is there nothing within the Lieutenant Governor’s office? Anything to suggest that this hardship put on people at this time–who are already under duress–is a good idea?”
Mayor Shawn Mesheau wasn’t sure if avenues through the Lieutenant Governor had been explored, but explained the legal position municipalities, which is that they are creatures of the province, and fall completely under the province’s Local Governance Act.
“Ultimately, at this point in time, the minister is the one that has the say,” said Mesheau.
Deputy Mayor Andrew Black agreed, and called out provincial leaders, both government and opposition leaders, for the lack of scrutiny on the impacts of forced amalgamation before the passing of Bill 82.
“I guess what should have happened is some more pushback in the Legislative Assembly,” said Black. “But unfortunately, with a majority government, that’s difficult. But I think it’s important to say that the leaders of the other political parties didn’t really have much to say about municipal reform.”
Black also pointed out that proposed amalgamations across the province are actually welcomed in a number of municipalities, and even on Sackville town council there are those in favour of the plan for Entity 40.
Councillor Sabine Dietz told council that some municipalities have consulted lawyers to look into contesting amalgamations, but found that they were legally powerless given the passing of Bill 82.
“They’ve backed down before”
Of course Bill 82 itself does not contain the specifics of any particular amalgamations in the province, it just gives Daniel Allain sweeping powers to implement them over the next year. Whether or not all proposed amalgamations happen–as currently outlined–certainly seems to be at the sole discretion of Allain and his office.
And Councillor Bill Evans seems to making a case that Allain’s mind could be changed, alluding to the example of rural hospital cuts first proposed in February 2020, and then reversed after widespread outcry.
“We can say no,” Evans told council. “We can refuse to collaborate. We can refuse to be complicit. We can pass a motion saying we’re not going to populate your committee. We can pass a motion instructing our CAO to instruct staff not to cooperate. We can contact other municipalities and ask them to join the resistance. And we can encourage people to protest. This government is cynical, and they’ve backed down before in the face of protests. If there were widespread pushback, it might happen again.”
Evans has been critical of the response of council, and of Mayor Mesheau’s leadership on the amalgamation file, saying it was too slow, and too cooperative.
The town of Sackville tried once before to change Daniel Allain’s mind on amalgamating the Entity 40 region. In a council approved letter on December 15, the town asked the minister to simply leave Sackville alone, and instead merge all other entities in the Tantramar Region into one even larger entity.
While Allain did make adjustments to boundaries in a number of places in the province, he refused Sackville’s request. But the power to change those boundaries still lies with the Minister, and could theoretically be used at any time.
The trick is, changes won’t be initiated by the province, who are moving forward with an aggressive, province-wide timeline of one year to amalgamate dozens of municipalities across the province.
For his part, Mayor Mesheau has chosen not to focus on a push to change the boundaries or oppose amalgamation altogether, but instead is proposing Sackville town council lobby the province to get more time to complete the monumental task.
CAO Jamie Burke in awkward spot
CAO Jamie Burke was noticeably quiet during the discussion on municipal reform. Though the CAO typically chimes in during council discussions with advice or information, the uniqueness of the amalgamation debate puts him in an awkward spot.
As soon as Entity 40 becomes a legal entity in January 2023, the job of CAO of Sackville will no longer exist. One of the major decisions to be made by the provincially-appointed facilitator, Chad Peters, is whom to hire as CAO of a new Entity 40. And while Burke hasn’t publicly expressed his desire for the job, he’s a natural candidate, along with Dorchester CAO Jennifer Borne.
Both Burke and Borne have been conscripted to work on a staff-based advisory committee with Peters, to do what most people agree is the bulk of the work involved in amalgamating the five communities.
Second committee meeting tonight
A second meeting of council’s municipal reform committee is slated for tonight at 6pm, online on Microsoft Teams. It’s bound to be a lively discussion, with councillors who have been vocally critical of the process to date not backing down.
To close his statement at Monday’s meeting, Mesheau asked councillors not to be activists on this issue:
“As mayor, I have an obligation to provide leadership to council in addressing the challenges the community is faced with. If Council chooses to ignore that leadership, that is their prerogative. At this time, though, I ask council to push aside their anger and frustration. I ask that council focus that energy into helping their community come out the best they can in this particular circumstance. I asked you not to be activists, but to be leaders. And I ask that you please place your energy into tapping the task at hand, whether you personally believe in it or not.”
Councillor Sabine Dietz didn’t take kindly to Mesheau’s suggestion that she stand down.
“I take issue with being chastised for councillors doing their role in this,” said Dietz. “We all realize we’re in it, we need to get through it, we have very little role to play as councillors in the process. And we’ve said that and we’re all clear on that. But we need to call out undemocratic actions that affect communities directly. And so I will continue to do that, whether you appreciate that or not.”
