Meet the candidates: Michael Tower, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)

Michael Tower, incumbent Sackville councillor and candidate for Ward 3 (Central Sackville), with his dog. Image: contributed

Michael Tower was born and raised in Sackville. He lived in Dorchester for seven years as he started to raise a family, before returning to his hometown. For nearly 50 years, he worked at the liquor store, seven of those years as a manager. He’s also a longtime member of Sackville town council, currently serving his fourth term 

Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Michael Tower, which took place at CHMA studios on November 9, 2022.

Tower is running for Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates.

Along with Tower, those candidates include Allison Butcher, 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. Interview with Michael Tower, November 9, 2022.

CHMA: So for those who might not already know you, tell us a bit about yourself.

Michael Tower: Well, I was born and raised in Sackville, and lived in Dorchester for seven years as I started raising my family and moved back to Sackville. But worked at the liquor store for 47 years, seven years as a manager. And I have a love for this area. That means a lot and keeps me wanting to move forward.

CHMA: All right, what factored into your decision? I mean, you have experience on town council, we should say. How long have you served…?

MT: This right now is my fourth term, so 14, 15 years?

CHMA: Okay. So what factored into your decision to offer again for the new town of Tantramar?

MT: Well, reform is one of the big reasons. I think I’ve done a pretty good job for Sackville, I’ve given my best working for them. And I want to help move forward with the new council. I think I can offer many things, suggestions that will help Tantramar grow. And I think that’s going to be an important part. And by working collaboratively with these people, whoever they may be, I think we can make good gains, although it’ll take a while. But that was… I wanted to continue to give to the town as best I could, if they wished. 

CHMA: Do you have issues that you are hoping to highlight in your campaign, or once you’re elected, if you are elected again, that you’d like to bring forward?

MT: Well reform is one of the issues I’m talking about as I go door to door, and a lot of people really wanted more information. So I’ve been trying to make sure I stay focused on that for them. Health is still an issue here. I think we’re doing a great job, and we have a positive future coming our way. And transparency is definitely an issue, which I think we have to improve upon. And that’s where I’m looking forward to.

CHMA: Okay. I wanted to ask specifically about a sort of new issue in Sackville. At least, you know, this decade it’s new, I’m sure it’s been an issue in the past as well, but housing is especially tough right now. Do you think the municipality should be doing something to address the housing crisis? And if you do, then what sort of things could it be doing?

MT: I think the town should definitely get involved. I’ve been as a couple other counselors were involved with the ad hoc committee that was discussing how we can work with affordable housing, what they see, what their issues are, what we need to try to focus on and help them get to it. With the federal and provincial government now with this new $1.6 million program, they got going, it could be an avenue for us to tune into. It’s not just going to be focused on Moncton because they’re talking rural. Dominic LeBlanc has been talking rural, for affordable housing, because it is a big issue. [I’ve] talked to many people who are going through that problem. I’ve tried to help a couple, but there’s limited areas you can go. 

But as a town, I think we have to look in the broader spectrum outside the boxes, in-kind services we could do to work collaboratively with a developer. If we, say we put the water and sewer into a building, could they put so many of the apartments or rooms available for affordable housing. There’s provincial land in town, one property we owned before and we gave back to the province. I think we should try to get that back. And we could use that land. We’re talking to developers, say if we give you the land, can you make sure it’s affordable housing available.  Those are some, just the key ones. 

So we can change some of the municipal plan to allow a different type of housing. When I was in Fredericton at UMNB, I spoke to the gentleman who was doing the tiny houses in Fredericton. And he has looked at Sackville and he’s looked around a property that was available and that’s possibly another avenue, to change the municipal plan so that we allow that type of housing. But there’s also property, like even in Dorchester, they have lands becoming available. Can we, you know, again, leverage that with a developer to put affordable housing on it. But I think we have to take the initiative and stay focused and work with whatever partner we can. That’s an important part.

CHMA: And you see, like, you know, real resources, like putting something on the table like providing, you know, a water and sewer hookup, that kind of thing, putting real resources for that from the town on the table for that.

MT: I think that’s something we should be doing. I don’t think we should turn our backs and say we can’t do it. You know, I never liked those who step up and say, oh, that can’t be done, then I just say, you know, well step aside because these people coming want to do it. And I think the council has to decide that it’s something I think Tantramar can look at. And the new council, hopefully, will like some of those ideas and suggest why not, you know, if we can convince a developer to work with us on those matters, then we should try to do it. And if there’s an issue that says, well, legally, you can’t do it, then we can approach the government and say, can you change this to allow this to happen? If there’s just a bylaw that says we can’t let’s change the bylaw. Look at it at least. 

CHMA: We’ve also heard from readers and listeners that transparency is a key issue. And of course… people mean different things by that. But generally sort of openness and transparency. What do you think this new town of Tantramar, this new municipality should do differently, if anything, regarding openness and transparency? Or do you think that we’re already on the right track? What are your thoughts there?

MT:  I think we have to make some changes, I think we’re partly on the right track. But I believe because we work for the municipality, we should be making the information available to the public as best we can. The Local Government Act says, there’s certain things we can’t release. As in not until a land purchase has been finalized, can we release the information.

But when it comes to personnel and legal, we’re restricted by what we can do. And I think we should still make every effort to let the people know as much as we can. A prime example of holding back information would have been the motion we made accepting Jamie Burke’s resignation and the appointment of Michael Beal. That should have been information that was put out rather quickly. But there didn’t seem to be urgency in getting it to the website. And I think those are things we have to improve upon. 

I think we need to improve our communication, whether that means we choose one of our employees and saying, okay, you will be the communications officer. And when we do pass something, then we should have it put on our webpage within 24 or 48 hours to let the people know. And for transparency, I think all of our council meetings, special or not, should all be recorded, audio and video-wise, so that people know. If there’s an in camera, of course, nothing will be seen during that time. But if something comes out of it that should be said, I think we should. So I think we get to make movement forward, and I’m hoping the new council will go in the same direction.

CHMA: Okay let’s talk a bit about amalgamation. I’ve been asking people for their best and their worst. So something you’re excited about under this new amalgamated municipality that might be possible that wasn’t before. And also something that you think is going to be a big challenge that might not have been a challenge before.

MT: Well, I don’t think too many people wanted the amalgamation. Dorchester was a thriving village that was really showing great life and promise. And when amalgamation happened, they took Taylor Village away from them, one of the first steps they should never have done. And I think that that should be corrected somewhere down the line. 

But I think there’s hope if we all pull together, if we acknowledge each area. My roots are from this area, Sackville, Dorchester, down Wood Point way. So I know these areas. I know a lot of the people there, and there’s a lot of hard-working citizens in all these areas. And I think one of the greatest things that can happen out of this is for our council to pull together and say, this is Tantramar we’re working for. We’re not working for any individual area, nevermind the wards. We have to protect each area in it. 

If every ward succeeds in this new Tantramar then Tantramar will succeed and I think that’s what we have to do. Take full advantage of all the citizens that have been helping their communities and work those into the larger picture. You know, if something’s in a citizen’s mind, they should contact the elected people, either call them or email them to voice their displeasure, voice their concerns or ideas. 

So many things happen because we have smart people in our area, our history and our culture, heritage. It’s all built into a beautiful sum here. If you look at the areas and say, wow, this could be a really nice package happening. And that gives me hope, you know, we are still the happy heart of the Maritimes. And I think that’s going to play in our favour too. So with that in mind, and with the people pushing the new council, I think the new council can stay focussed together on all areas, that should be a promising future.

CHMA: Okay. So that’s the promise, what’s going to be the challenge?

MT: Well, the challenge is, just start off with, one of the challenges I find is the unknown. I’m not scared of the unknown, because you can’t let fear hold you back. But we have all these changes the government’s making, and we have to come to terms with it and figure it out. And we have to establish a plan, establish the foundation so that in two and a half, three years, we’ve got Tantramar set up moving forward, so that whoever’s on the next council can take that and run further with it. But the unknown part also is, what else are they going to change? … I think that’s the worst part. I don’t know what other ideas they have in their mind that they want to do to save money somewhere else. And we have to find a way to make it happen. So otherwise, I think positively to the whole thing. I think it’s going to work.

CHMA: Is there anything else you’d like people in Ward 3 to know?

MT: Well, I want them to know that if I get elected by these people that I’m working for Tantramar, I’m not working just for Sackville. Sackville is part of Tantramar. And I will work for everybody who wants to talk to me about something, I’m always available to talk to. I’ve even gone to houses, they’ve called me to say can you come over? I got some questions for you. I’ll go there. If I don’t have the answer, I get them and I do my best. And I want to know I’ll continue to do that for them. But I’m going to be doing it with a focus on Tantramar. That’s the important part. I think anybody running for council better keep the same focus. Tantramar is going to make it happen. And maybe the last note is when you get your ballot, start at the bottom and work your way up when you start voting.

CHMA: Why do you say that, Michael? [laughing]

MT: Because Tower is at the bottom. I want you to make sure you vote for me. 

CHMA: All right. Yeah. And people will have a chance, for Ward 3 you choose four candidates that you’re interested in seeing on that council. Well, I appreciate you coming by.

MT: Again, I thank you for the invite and great community service you’re doing here. I appreciate it.

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