New Brunswickers to go to polls with new municipal structure

Voters in much of Charlotte County and across New Brunswick will go to the polls on November 28 to elect new mayors and councillors. Nominations closed on October 28 for the elections for the new municipal structure coming into effect January 1. In Charlotte County, at least one person has offered for each position, and there will be a fair number of contested elections.
Local Government and Local Governance Reform Minister Daniel Allain released the plan on November 18, 2021, to cut the current 104 municipal governments and 236 local service districts to 77 municipalities and 12 rural districts.
Planning for what the minister calls the biggest reorganization in local government in this province in 60 years continued over the past year, much of it behind closed doors with help from facilitators appointed by the province. Allain acknowledges that, due to a mailing error, Elections New Brunswick sent the wrong information on the upcoming elections to more than 260,000 households, but pledged in a news release that every elector will receive a voter information card this month letting them know when and where to vote.
The reforms do not affect the Rural Community of Campobello Island and Village of Grand Manan, which will be left as they are, as will the village of McAdam just across the line in York County. Elsewhere in Charlotte County, things will change.
The West Isles -- Deer Island -- and White Head Island off Grand Manan will become part of the new Southwest Rural District, a large swath stretching from the outskirts of McAdam and south across the middle of Charlotte County to the Bay of Fundy. Sheena Young from Deer Island was the only person to offer for the Ward 3 seat on the rural district advisory committee, as was Jim Tubbs in Ward 2. Voters in Ward 1 have a choice between Dennis Blair and Brian Gardner. Deer Islanders need to drive through the new Eastern Charlotte municipal district, and White Head Islanders across Grand Manan and Eastern Charlotte, to get to the rest of the Southwest Rural District.
The biggest change will probably happen in the new Eastern Charlotte, subsuming the town of St. George and village of Blacks Harbour, along with all of Beaver Harbour and Fundy Bay, and portions of the Pennfield, St. George and St. Patrick local service districts. Blacks Harbour's current Mayor John Craig was the only candidate to offer as mayor of the new municipality. A slate of six is running for the two "at large" council positions: Brenda Allison, David Hatt, Romey Heuff, Bruce Jackson, Lisa McKay and Dale Shaw.
Voters in Ward 2 have a choice between Logan Cook and Michael Thompson, Ward 3 between Alexa Detorakis, Joan Majchrowski and Sam Rubin. The other four seats went by acclamation to Terry Lee in Ward 1, Adam Hatt in Ward 4, Wayne MacQuarrie in Ward 5 and Darrell Tidd in Ward 6. Each ward elects one councillor.
Voters in the new Municipal District of St. Stephen -- the old town of St. Stephen plus all of St. Stephen, Dufferin and Dennis Weston, and portions of Western Charlotte, St. David, St. James and Saint Croix local service districts -- have a choice of three candidates for mayor: St. Stephen's current mayor Alan MacEachern, town councillor Ken Parker and C. Burton Stewart, who circulated a petition in the rural areas against amalgamation.
Voters will elect eight councillors from three wards -- four from the old town and two each from two rural wards. This even division would give the mayor the deciding vote on issues where council might split on town and county lines. Voters will have a choice among nine candidates in Ward 2, the old town: current councillors Marg Harding, David Hyslop, Vic Thiessen and Ghislaine Wheaton, former mayor Bob Brown and Brent Macpherson, Emily Rodas (Cunningham), Jamieson Smith and Tanner Stewart.
A slate of five is running for the two Ward 1 seats: Brian Cornish, Daniel Dow, Tony Mann, Bill Olsen and Joyce Wright. Voters can choose among six candidates for the two Ward 3 seats: John Barker, Kris Booth, Earle Eastman, Wade Greenlaw, Kim Henry (Ross) and J. Kyle Moffatt.
Voters in the expanded town of St. Andrews -- the old town plus the Bayside and Chamcook local service districts -- will hold a byelection to elect three councillors from the two new rural wards. Jeremiah Kerr and Darrell Weare are vying for the one seat in Ward 1 (Bayside), Mark Bennett, Blair Gordon and Annette Harland for the two Ward 2 (Chamcook) seats. The winners will join Mayor Brad Henderson and the six councillors elected in the regular quadrennial New Brunswick municipal elections last year.
In the new Fundy Shores municipality -- straddling the Charlotte/Saint John county line including a portion of the Lepreau and all of Musquash local service districts -- voters have a choice between two people running for mayor: George (Denny) Cogswell and J. Scott Wright. A slate of four -- Deanna Bent, Rick Else, Susan Farquharson and Jack Hester -- is running for the two councillor at large seats. Candidates for the three ward councillor positions win by acclamation: Heather Dawn Saulnier in Ward 1, Tina Marie Dealy in Ward 2 and Lorraine Thompson in Ward 3.
A meet-the-candidates event for people running in St. Stephen is set for Saturday, November 12, at the Garcelon Civic Center, with council candidates taking the stage from 1 to 3 p.m. and mayoral candidates from 3:30 to 5 p.m.