Some 'good showdowns' expected in N.B. local elections after 1,100 decide to run
Some municipal councils will have acclaimed members after May 11
The deadline for candidates to sign up for New Brunswick municipal elections on May 11 has passed. (Shane Magee/CBC)With nominations for the May 11 municipal elections now closed, there are some potentially lively contests in some areas, and acclaimed mayors and councillors in others.
The latter bunch includes Tracy and McAdam, where the entire councils will be acclaimed with no elections needed.
Voters across New Brunswick will elect mayors and councillors in municipalities or members of rural district advisory committees. District education councils are up for elections the same day.
In total, 1,102 people put their names forward for council positions.
“There have been some communities where there's like a really good contest, good showdowns that are going to take place,” said Paul Harpelle, director of communications for Elections New Brunswick.
“And, you know, hopefully that might translate into interest at that local level in that community and trickle down to some excitement amongst voters when it's time for them to go vote."
The province’s three biggest cities have lively races across the board, with many people running for mayor and council spots.
Fredericton and Saint John each have 32 people running for 12 councillor spots, and Moncton has 23 people running for 10 spots.
Fredericton and Moncton will both get new mayors.
In Moncton, the mayoralty candidates are current councillors Shawn Crossman and Charles Léger, Jeffrey McCluskey and Brian F.P. Murphy, a former member of Parliament and mayor.
There's a three-way race for mayor in Fredericton, where former MP Jenica Atwin, Coun. Steve Hicks, and John M. Reid are after the mayor's job.
Mayor Donna Reardon is running again in Saint John, where Blaine Harris and Coun. Barry Ogden are also seeking the top post.
Two smaller municipalities also have large numbers of candidates running: both Miramichi and Tracadie each have five in the running for mayor and 32 running for council.
Other municipalities with large numbers of people running for council are Bathurst, Campbellton, Caraquet, Carleton North, Edmundston and Riverview.
Out of New Brunswick’s 77 municipalities, 52 will have a contested race for the mayor’s role.
Thirty-four municipalities will see the incumbent mayor challenged by at least one other person. Two out of those 34 incumbent mayors, in Campbellton and Champdoré, are acting mayors after the elected mayor stepped aside at some point.
Eighteen municipalities are guaranteed to see new people in the mayor's job after the incumbents chose not to run.
In 20 municipalities, the incumbent mayor will be acclaimed. Five municipalities will see a non-incumbent, new mayor acclaimed.
As for acclamations, two places, Tracy and McAdam, are set to have their mayor and entire councils acclaimed with no competition.
Grand-Bouctouche and Nashwaak both will have one vacancy on council after not enough people signed up to run.
And two municipalities, Tantramar and Île-de-Lamèque, have their incumbent mayors running for a council seat this time around. The acting mayor of Saint Andrews is also running for a council seat there.
The three municipalities currently operating with appointed supervisors, Strait Shores, Sunbury-York South and Miramichi River Valley, will all see the last person who held the acting mayor role run for mayor. They are not counted as incumbents as there is technically no mayor and council in any of the three.
Candidates have until 5 p.m. on Monday to withdraw from the race if they reconsider.
A full list of candidates is available on the Elections N.B. website.
Incumbent Mayors Acclaimed (20 municipalities):
- Alnwick (Ernest Yvon Robichaud)
- Cap-Acadie (Serge Leger)
- Fredericton Junction (R. Len Falconer)
- Fundy Shores (George (Denny) Cogswell)
- Grand Bay-Westfield (Brittany Merrifield)
- Hampton (Robert (Dewey) D. Doucet)
- Hartland (Tracey DeMerchant)
- Maple Hills (Erica Warren)
- McAdam (Kenneth Stannix)
- Memramcook (Maxime O. Bourgeois)
- Nackawic-Millville (Tim Fox)
- Nashwaak (David Sweeney)
- Neguac (Georges R. Savoie)
- Nouvelle-Arcadie (Jimmy Bourque)
- Oromocto (Bob Powell)
- Riverview (Andrew J. LeBlanc)
- Salisbury (Robert Campbell)
- Shippagan (Kassim Doumbia)
- Tracy (Dale W. Mowry)
- Valley Waters (Randy McKnight)
Non-incumbent mayor acclaimed (5 municipalities)
- Hautes-Terres (Cathy Paulin)
- Haut-Madawaska (Nancy Ann Landry)
- Quispamsis (Mary Schryer)
- Rothesay (Matt Alexander)
- Upper Miramichi (Frank McKeil)
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Municipal election advance polls see 15% of eligible N.B. voters cast ballots early
Election day is May 11
Over 83,000 New Brunswickers cast their ballot in an advance poll for the province’s local government elections.
According to chief electoral officer Kim Poffenroth, the turnout is higher for early voting than past municipal elections.
“People are taking advantage of early voting opportunities, something we've seen an increase in since the pandemic elections in 2020 and 2021,” Poffenroth said.
There are also more New Brunswickers living in municipalities since the municipal governance restructuring.
Kim
Poffenroth, the chief electoral officer for the province, said
municipal government turnout is around 30 per cent of eligible voters,
so the fact that the turnout is already 15 per cent before the day of
the election is "pretty significant." (Shane Fowler/CBC)Now that advance polling has ended, eligible voters can either vote at a returning office leading up to the election or at a polling station on election day on Monday, May 11.
Poffenroth said by the time nominations closed on April 10, there were 1,200 candidates across all contests.
“With so many candidates expressing an interest in representing their communities, I hope that … those who live in their communities have the same impetus to get out and vote and help shape the direction for their communities for the next four years,” Poffenroth said.
Poffenroth said that every day since voting began on April 20, returning offices saw about 200 people there to vote.
Advance voting for N.B. municipal elections suggests voter engagement is upPoffenroth said, for her, this election is going to be the benchmark for what voter turnout will look like for municipal elections under the new municipal governance structure. This, she said, is because only brand new municipalities or ones that grew by a significant number of people had byelections in 2022.
Generally, Poffenroth said municipal government turnout is around 30 per cent of eligible voters, so the fact that the turnout is already 15 per cent before the day of the election is “pretty significant.”
“Looking at the crystal ball, one could make the assumption that perhaps voter turnout is going to be higher in this election," she said.
Still, Poffenroth said engagement with municipal elections and voter turnout varies significantly across the province.
She said that voters can present at any of the 18 returning officers across the province this week. And on election day, if someone is in line to vote at a polling station when the polls close at 8 p.m., they will still be allowed to vote.
However, there’s a loophole in the legislation that makes it so voting at returning offices must stop at 8 p.m., so people still in line at returning offices at the time will not be able to vote.
Poffenroth said for people voting later on election day, it is safer to go to a polling station than a returning office for this reason.
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Candidate Michael Plourde of Edmundston says Bauble has been his nickname since childhood. (Michael Plourde/Facebook) 
Several N.B. municipal candidates using nicknames on the ballot this year
Clint
Kingsbury put his nickname on the ballot for New Maryland council. Some
people might know him as The Coach and not by his legal name, he said. (Clint Kingsbury/Facebook)
Martin (Paddy) Quinn, running for council in Miramichi, said no one would know him by his legal name. (Submitted by Paddy Quinn)
JJ
Carrier was a staff reporter, and correspondent, for 45+ media outlets
in the Maritimes and New England from 1986 to 2016, including more than a
dozen publications in the Brunswick News media chain, based in Saint
John, N.B.
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