Atlantic Canadian Politics Thread

[adamuptownsj]

Kings RSC (Sussex, Valley Waters, Butternut Valley and the Kings Rural District) may be split up or amalgamated, per the TJ, if local elections don't produce governments that can agree on collaboration.

TL;DR the issues with budget approval and trustees are SEVERE. Outcomes could include
-moving Butternut Valley to the Southwest RSC and the other three to Fundy
-merging all 4 entities into a single municipality

I think this is a little excessive. IIRC the dysfunction is pretty much contained to the dispute between Sussex and the outlying areas. The population balance explains the stalemate. Sussex only has 30% of the total RSC population but basically all of its public works and facilities.

Sussex 6,000
Butternut Valley 4,600
Valley Waters 4,600
Kings RD 4,700

I'm of the opinion that either Kings RD should be turned into a municipality of its own (we have FAR less populated municipalities) or Sussex should have been enlarged to ~10,000 people, with Butternut Valley/Valley Waters/Kings RD set up as a 'donut RD' with about the same amount of people. Ship has sailed on the latter option, of course. But this is way too large of an area to be a single municipality, and that won't fix the issue.

[bingun]

The Human Development Council hosted the first Saint John candidate forum last night, starting with the At Large candidates. The ward candidate forums are throughout this week and early next week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71COSxL_HhA

[adamuptownsj]

I wonder why St. Andrews canceled the Ward 3 election with the death of a candidate (acting mayor Kate Akagi). There were four candidates acclaimed for four seats. The other two wards both have acclaimed candidates. Is leaving the council at two out of six members really the right option?

Wouldn't it make more sense to acclaim the other three in Ward 3, and hold a byelection for the last seat concurrently with the four races lacking candidates (Nashwaak Ward 2, Kent Rural District/2 in Kings RD)?

I know it's a different situation in races with actual elections, but this is acclamations in an MMD. Very odd to leave a town without quorum at council in this kind of situation.

[paperplane]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

I wonder why St. Andrews canceled the Ward 3 election with the death of a candidate (acting mayor Kate Akagi). There were four candidates acclaimed for four seats. The other two wards both have acclaimed candidates. Is leaving the council at two out of six members really the right option?

Wouldn't it make more sense to acclaim the other three in Ward 3, and hold a byelection for the last seat concurrently with the four races lacking candidates (Nashwaak Ward 2, Kent Rural District/2 in Kings RD)?

I know it's a different situation in races with actual elections, but this is acclamations in an MMD. Very odd to leave a town without quorum at council in this kind of situation.

From TJ:

A candidate’s death has prompted New Brunswick’s chief electoral officer to set aside the regular election for the municipal council position in Saint Andrews and hold a vote later instead.

The new date for the byelection in Ward 3 is June 22.

The regular municipal election for mayor will go ahead on May 11, as planned.

But in a strange twist, the deceased candidate will still appear on the first ballot.

Kim Poffenroth, who runs Elections New Brunswick, received official notification of the death of Catherine ‘Kate’ Akagi this week.

Poffenroth decided to set the byelection at the midpoint within the period specified by the law, six weeks after the provincewide municipal elections.

Akagi was the acting mayor of Saint Andrews, a retired teacher and a popular local volunteer.

The first Indigenous person to wear the mayor’s chain in the quaint, seaside town, Akagi died unexpectedly at her home on the weekend. The cause of her death wasn’t publicized as of Wednesday evening.

The woman who hailed from the Peskotomuhkati Nation was not seeking to keep the mayor’s position. She was one of five candidates going after a councillor seat in Ward 3, which has four positions available. The others include incumbents Kurt Gumushel and Lee Heenan, biologist Charlotte Bartlett and former councillor Kevin Kiley.

But those four other candidates cannot count on being acclaimed for the four available spots, at least not yet.

Paul Harpelle, a spokesman for Elections New Brunswick, said in an interview Wednesday that according to the province’s election law, if a candidate dies after nominations close and before polling day, a new byelection must be held within three months of the normal election date.

That gave Poffenroth a 13-week period to consider. She went down the middle, picking the June 22 date instead of early August.

“Unfortunately, if those four candidates want to offer again, all their paperwork has to be redone,” Harpelle said. “They can’t just dust off their nomination papers.”

The close of nominations is May 29 at 2 p.m. Anyone who submits the right paperwork can offer for the positions, so it’s still possible there will be a race with more than four candidates.

There’s a macabre part of the municipal ballot that Saint Andrews voters will see when voting for mayor.

Elections New Brunswick did not have enough time to print new ballots, which means the Ward 3 race – including Akagi’s name – will still be on the same ballot.

Harpelle said people can vote for mayor and leave the Ward 3 part blank. There will be signs up at polling stations informing people of the unusual circumstance.

Anyone who still votes for a councillor in the Ward 3 race on that May 11 ballot won’t spoil it, he reassured.

Elections New Brunswick will ignore the improper councillor vote and simply tabulate the vote for mayor.

This isn’t the first time a candidate’s death has forced a byelection in New Brunswick.

In the 1995 provincial general election, an independent candidate in the riding of St. Croix in southwestern New Brunswick died after nominations had closed and a special byelection was set for five weeks after the normal election day of Sept. 11.

[adamuptownsj]

Oh, I was mistaken: Elections NB (as of today) lists 4 candidates in Ward 3. I presumed they still counted the deceased as a candidate; they do not. Makes sense to me now.

I do wonder how the scenario I thought of would play out. X candidates for X seats, one dies. Would the others be acclaimed, or is it always punted to a special?

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Wow, I had absolutely no idea that the French-language school system in NB would actually turn away a child who has both parents that speak only English.

That definitely not the case in Ontario. Here we have four school systems all operated separately. (English Public, English Catholic, French Public, French Catholic) Both the French Public and French Catholic district school boards in my region advertise heavily trying to attract children for Junior Kindergarten who can't speak French at all. And the English public and Catholic boards offer full French immersion programs! There are quite a few billboards, bus shelter ads, radio and TV ads that start in French but then switch to English telling parents that the French boards offers better and intense learning of French even if it is not spoken at home. While all four of our systems are publicly funded, there is competition between them to get students because it means more funding.

I found this reply in the French Canada thread to be quite interesting regarding differences in language politics between NB and Ontario.

I know Ontario has a very significant Francophone population and like NB, neighbours Quebec, but it still seems fundamentally wrong that anglophone parents in Ontario have better opportunities for their children to learn French within the public education system than here in New Brunswick/Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada’s only officially bilingual province.

[bingun]

Originally Posted by bingun

The Human Development Council hosted the first Saint John candidate forum last night, starting with the At Large candidates. The ward candidate forums are throughout this week and early next week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71COSxL_HhA

Additional candidate forums below. Ward 1 and the Mayoral forum are next week. I am looking forward to the Donna vs Barry showdown.

Ward 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdSPnw07thU&t=3s

Ward 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53UJ2rop9Aw&t=806s

Ward 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L02tbed9EhM

[paperplane]

Mayor forum/debate is tonight, Blaine Harris not able to make it due to health issues; so it'll be a Donna v. Barry showdown, and they don't like each other on a good day.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by paperplane

Mayor forum/debate is tonight, Blaine Harris not able to make it due to health issues; so it'll be a Donna v. Barry showdown, and they don't like each other on a good day.

What's the general feeling about the Mayor's race? Am I an outlier in thinking this is going to be a coronation for Donna? I certainly don't get a sense of "things are awful let's throw the bums out' around town but maybe I'm not talking to the right people.

Is there anywhere to get a brief biography and/or a sense of the council candidates? ....any way to separate the lunatic fringe from the serious? I'm in Ward 2 and other than the one incumbent running I don't really know anything about any of them.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by sailor734

What's the general feeling about the Mayor's race? Am I an outlier in thinking this is going to be a coronation for Donna? I certainly don't get a sense of "things are awful let's throw the bums out' around town but maybe I'm not talking to the right people.

Is there anywhere to get a brief biography and/or a sense of the council candidates? ....any way to separate the lunatic fringe from the serious? I'm in Ward 2 and other than the one incumbent running I don't really know anything about any of them.

In 2, Elazab is a very-online whacko. Wilson doesn't seem to understand what's municipal and what isn't, policy-wise.

At large, I know for a fact Goodwin is a total lunatic. Irish is a card-carrying Green and ran for them in the past. Hayes simply can't hack it.

[CharlotteCountyLogan]

Election day is Monday
Who does everyone think will win in their respective communities. Im curious on Moncton and Fredericton especially as they seem to have multiple quality candidates running for mayor. Also curious who wins in the madness that is Miramichi and all the candidates running there.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by CharlotteCountyLogan

Election day is Monday
Who does everyone think will win in their respective communities. Im curious on Moncton and Fredericton especially as they seem to have multiple quality candidates running for mayor. Also curious who wins in the madness that is Miramichi and all the candidates running there.

What the hell, Miramichi doesn't have wards? That's crazy.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

What the hell, Miramichi doesn't have wards? That's crazy.

Is it? Don’t they have less than 20,000 people? How many wards does a small city really need?

Even in Saint John, I think voting would be a lot fairer if we could just vote for the best 10 candidates instead of the best two in our own ward and best two at large.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Is it? Don’t they have less than 20,000 people? How many wards does a small city really need?

Even in Saint John, I think voting would be a lot fairer if we could just vote for the best 10 candidates instead of the best two in our own ward and best two at large.

That was how it was. Most people voted for 4 or 5 they knew something about and then just went Eenie Meanie for the rest with some name recognition thrown in.. It resulted in some less than stellar councils and quite a large advantage for incumbents.

Wards give people local reps to contact and lightens the load on councilors. I'm not sure about the benefit having the two at large. I suspect it was compromise thrown as a bone to those opposed to moving to a ward system.

[CharlotteCountyLogan]

Here in Eastern Charlotte we have 5 wards which elect 1 councilor and 2 are elected at large. For a small town i think this is the way even as my ward has maybe 800 people in it. I think its the best way to elect council.

[gtsoc]

All that I can say is.. I will be glad when these Municipal Elections are over. The local "Newschaser" groups are ridiculous with people promising to vote for whoever cancels the AI data centre, or who builds a new centracare...people are oblivious as to how Municipal Politics work.

Then we have a 'campaign manager' for a councillor-at-large candidate sending a newschaser group a cease and desist for some sort of video that the candidate posted and people took off with it.

[bingun]

Election results -

https://www3.gnb.ca/elections/results-re...e35-4e2a-43d0-81f3-bfbe27ac2664/ar/1018/

Most of the votes are in, but a few more are still to come. I am shocked at how many votes Blaine Harris is getting in Saint John

[CharlotteCountyLogan]

Looking at the results doesnt seem like there was much appetite for change in the province. Unfortunately I was a victim of that and did not win. Congrats to those who won!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by CharlotteCountyLogan

Looking at the results doesnt seem like there was much appetite for change in the province. Unfortunately I was a victim of that and did not win. Congrats to those who won!

Well, congratulations on putting your name forward. That takes courage aond moxie.

I know of several SSP members who entered municipal politics here and in NS.

Shawn Crossman is the new mayor of Moncton. We had three solid candidates for mayor. He was one of them.

[adamuptownsj]

Municipalities that tossed out incumbent mayors (new/substantially new in municipal reform marked with asterisks):

Belledune (came third)
Five Rivers*
Fundy-St. Martins*
Grand Lake*
Lakeland Ridges*
New Maryland (by a gigantic margin)
Riviere-du-Nord*
Tobique Valley*
Tracadie
Woodstock (plus almost of all of council, what happened up there?)