Islanders face decision on incorporation

Joseph Searles, standing in front of his Harbour View Variety store on Campobello Island, motioned to the left, then turned to the right. "That's where my grandfather's house stood, and this all used to be the James Searles estate," he said. "It says that right on the old big map in the library from the 1800s, the James Searles estate."

The landscape has changed on Campobello, and now the times are catching up. The island's residents -- many of whose families extend back 200 years and more, as Searles' does -- now face a formal vote on bringing the one of the biggest changes yet to the island. To incorporate as a rural community or not? To stay the same as generations before or to move forward with the next generation in mind?

Those are the choices before the islanders on Monday, May 10. The 617 registered voters face a plebiscite on that issue, and about 350 of them are expected to turn out on the day.

"I'm going to vote for it," Searles said. "But I'm running a business here, and I can't close every time to go to a meeting about it. The highway department sends a truck once a year to repaint the stripe down the road. It would be nice to get a little more from government here. It would be nice to get a voice within the province."

Currently designated as a local service district, Campobello is one of 267 such LSDs within New Brunswick. Switching to a rural community status would place Campobello among the province's 103 municipalities.

The question reads: "Are you in favour of the establishment of the local service district of the parish of Campobello as a rural community as proposed in the summary of the feasibility report of April 2010?" All of the voters received the report's summary by mail last week. Next come voters cards, which will tell voters when and where to cast their votes. Advanced voting starts on May 1.

Stephen Smart has been the chair of the Campobello Local Governance Committee, which was developed to assist affected residents in making an informed choice when voting at the plebiscite. In the April issue of the island's newsletter Tidal Chatter, circulated by e-mail, he put the question in plain terms: "Do we want to try and actively improve the standard of living on Campobello and use the services and funding that municipalities take for granted? Or do we simply wait around for the province or the summer residents and the outsiders to dictate our future?"

Smart's committee -- which has held meetings to inform residents and business owners both -- has identified several problems that Campobello has endured through the years as a local service district. Among them, according to Smart: The local service district system has not truly served Campobello very well in the past 40 years; Campobello has no single, accountable representative to the province, or a legally recognized voice; the island's population is aging and declining in number.

Bringing the islanders to the plebiscite is one of the last steps in a recent process of Campobello's self-realization. Two years ago, Campobello's Health and Wellness Committee tabulated a survey about island living. The results caused pause within the community. Some of the older and more traditional residents, some suggest, may be feeling uncomfortable and overwhelmed with pending change.

"We live a wonderful, wonderful life here," says Janet Cline, who has been active with community issues on several fronts. "But we are isolated. If we become a rural community, then maybe the province could some day designate us as isolated, and there are resources for that."

Several of the items that the Health and Wellness survey identified as community needs have become spinoffs with their own set of legs. A local food pantry is now operating. The province has agreed to fund a study for a year-round ferry. Affordable housing for seniors is under consideration.

Other issues that community members identified as pressing needs are many, according to the summary of the feasibility report: access to medical services; access to other household and business services; the lack of a year-round ferry service; border issues; the lack of employment opportunities and a related dramatic decline in population; and the absence of real, accountable, elected representation.

Many of those could be addressed if Campobello had the rural community status. Smart, for one, wants to see the incorporation of Campobello Island result in new funding sources for job creation and natural-resource-based economies.

"It's a chance to change how we do things on the island," Smart says. "There are no hidden negatives. There are no secrets, although some people may think there's a catch, or something lingering down the road."

Property taxes will rise, but those adjustments been spelled out extensively and covered in meetings. Incorporating means that residents will pay 8.9 cents per $100 of assessment value more in property taxes, up from the total 86.9 cents they pay now. Non-residents pay a rate that is 1 1/2 times as much as that for residents.

But the island stands to receive much more from New Brunswick as a rural community, Smart points out. The change presents the chance for Campobello to diversify its economy. "We have become too reliant on the unemployment system, with the pattern of working seasonally then relying on benefits for six months. That's not good for our self-esteem, our image or for a sustainable way of life."

Local estimates put the population at around 1,030. The formal figure of 1,056 residents by the 2006 census indicates a decrease of 18.6% in the previous 10 years, since the 1996 census.

The 2006 census also indicates an 18.4% unemployment rate C perhaps as high as 20% today, Smart says. The 18.6% figure reflects a rate more than twice that of New Brunswick as a whole and almost three times as high as the rest of Canada.

The rural community proposal has the stated vision "to build a viable, self-sufficient community that is innovative and forward-looking, while maintaining respect for Campobello Island's heritage and acknowledging its unique situation."