Minister of local government optimistic 'historic election' will draw more candidates
No one seeking mayor's job in more than half N.B.'s newly amalgamated communities
There are 455 spots in total on ballots for newly amalgamated communities and rural district advisory committees as well as byelections in some long-established communities where changes have been made because of local governance reform.
Daniel Allain, the minister of local government and local governance reform, said he's optimistic more people will decide to run.
"I think people will know that it's important that we have candidates, it's democracy. If [we were in] other countries like Ukraine, we don't have that great opportunity," Allain said, speaking to CBC's Information Morning Saint John.
As
of Wednesday morning, the local government elections still have many
vacancies for candidates in some positions. (Andrew Vaughan / Canadian
Press)
He believes people are waiting to scout out the field before registering as a candidate.
"It's a New Brunswick strategy to wait until the last minute," he said.
When asked about calls to delay the election, Allain said, "It's not an option, we have to move forward with this historic election, and I urge people to come forward and run.
Local candidate urging others to run
Joey Bernard is running for a council seat in the newly created Sunbury-York South race, which has seats for a mayor and councillors. Bernard has been approaching people in the area and asking them to run.
He sees it as a chance for citizens of newly formed communities to make change.
Joey Bernard has been encouraging people to register as candidates in
his community of Sunbury-York South. (Submitted by Joey Bernard)
"People have the biggest opportunity to affect the way local government is going to operate now, because now is when everything's being set up," Bernard said.
"After that, there will be history, there will be precedents, and it will be harder to make any meaningful changes."
Many uncontested races for mayor
As of Wednesday morning, 24 mayoral races have only one candidate, and so far no one has registered to run for mayor of Three Rivers.
This is sad, but not surprising, said Bernard, who sat on the New Maryland local service district advisory committee for more than half a decade.
He said the process is moving very quickly.
"We're doing the entire province [at once]. That's a lot of work being put on provincial staff. And a lot of changes happening that, you know, normal citizens just don't have the time to keep up with."
Joanna Everitt said the nature of these elections lends itself to poor candidate turnout. (Submitted by Joanna Everitt)
Joanna Everitt, a professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, said the number of candidates elected via acclamation will lead to low voter turnout.
"For many of these communities, they've not had the opportunity of having representation in the past, they were the local service districts, which were kind of unrepresented," she said.
Political engagement from these citizens will take time, said Everitt. People in smaller communities need to become used to having the kind of representation available in larger urban centres, she said, then they'll be more willing to step into those leadership positions.
Elections New Brunswick says numbers increase hourly
Kim Poffenroth, the chief electoral officer for Elections New Brunswick, said it's still a game of wait and see.
"I don't want to panic, because things have changed a lot, even just since Saturday. So it's very much on an hourly basis that those numbers change."
On Tuesday, 31 more people registered as candidates for the Nov. 28 elections. Poffenroth said more may be holding out to register at the last minute so they can get a better idea of their competition, which she says is not a good idea.
Kim Poffenroth said she expects many candidates are holding out until close to the deadline to register. (Lars Schwarz/CBC)
"I really discourage people from waiting to the last minute because of the hard cut-off at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28. If there's any irregularities in their nomination papers, if they've waited to the last minute, there's no opportunity to correct those," she said.
Everitt said the nature of these elections lends itself to poor candidate turnout.
"These are new communities, in many cases, they've had their identity switched and changed," said Everitt.
"It's a step that's going to require some time."
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/acadian-peninsula-residents-lose-legal-battle-1.6630462
Acadian Peninsula residents lose legal fight to join Shippagan
People in Chiasson-Savoy local service district challenged merger with Lamèque
Many people living in Chiasson-Savoy opposed a provincial decision to make their community part of the new municipality of Île-de-Lamèque as of Jan.1, 2023.
They said it made more sense to make them part of the town of Shippagan, where they were going to be placed under the province's original reform white paper a year ago.
But Court of King's Bench Justice Danie Roy ruled last week that the residents had failed to prove their case.
"In my view, the minister's decision was not unreasonable," she wrote.
Chiasson-Savoy is on the island of Lamèque but is across a bridge from Shippagan.
Children in the local service district cross the bridge to go to school in Shippagan, and the community has helped fund the town's fire and pool services, which residents use.
The residents went to court in August seeking a judicial review of the decision to make the community part of Île-de-Lamèque. The heart of that community is farther away from the LSD.
Residents argued that Local Government Minister Daniel Allain's decision was not reasonable because the period in which he reversed his original decision to put them with Shippagan, from Feb. 4 to 15, wasn't long enough for him to consider the issues.
Some
Chiasson-Savoy residents said it made more sense to make them part of
the town of Shippagan, where they were going to be placed under the
province’s original reform white paper a year ago.
But Roy said in her decision that the specific feasibility study and consultation the residents wanted about their community was not required by law, and the province had done plenty of consulting in general on the reforms.
"The fact that the applicant is unhappy with the minister's decision, or that the minister could have made a different decision, is not enough to conclude that the decision was not reasonable."
While some Chiasson-Savoy residents opposed Allain's decision, Roy noted, others were happy with it.
"The population is divided," she said. "Nevertheless, my role is not to ask what decision I would have made or to find a solution. … I have to look at the reasonableness of the decision, notably the reasoning that was followed and the result of the decision."
Besides making a reasonable decision, Allain also did not violate the principle of procedural fairness, she said.
Gastien Godin, a spokesperson for the residents who took the case to court, could not be reached to comment on whether they will appeal.
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