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CBC
31-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Documents reveal behind-the-scenes confusion as Strait Shores council crumbled
As the council in Strait Shores publicly teetered on the edge before falling apart this past spring, there was just as much chaos behind the scenes. Documents CBC News obtained through a right to information request show confusion at the provincial level, as officials tried to interpret their own rules after a slew of council resignations and a code of conduct investigation. Initially, the minister of local government couldn't even get help from the Local Governance Commission, which considered the matter outside its mandate, the documents show. Meanwhile, one of the embattled councillors in Strait Shores got into an expletive-laden email exchange with a constituent who questioned council's actions. The area's MLA, Megan Mitton of the Green Party, says the way the situation was handled is proof the amalgamation of communities across New Brunswick, including Strait Shores, happened with too little support from the province. Councillor's controversial debut Strait Shores, a rural community near Sackville and Shediac, was amalgamated in 2023. Its troubles began after Coun. Andy MacGregor was elected in a January byelection. A critic of council who pushed for transparency, he was soon blamed for the resignation of the mayor, who called him "the town bully" in a scathing resignation letter. An official from the Southeast Regional Service Commission, which the council asked for advice, wrote that MacGregor was "harassing, intimidating and defaming staff," the documents show. MacGregor had become subject of a code of conduct investigation. But he was sanctioned and banished from municipal property before the outside investigator finished his investigation and found him at fault. Just weeks later, the Local Governance Commission, which can investigate a code of conduct dispute after a local council investigation is completed, ruled the Strait Shores effort lacked due process. After that report came out, two councillors resigned, taking away quorum from council and leaving an unelected provincial supervisor in charge for a year. Resignations caused problems The documents show the council resignations led to back-and-forth among officials with the department, Elections N.B., the Local Governance Commission, and Strait Shores to determine if the resignations had been documented and were legitimate. Provincial briefing notes from March suggested the council departures might not be over, with one section titled "Potential for more council resignations." Another difficulty the department had to untangle was how council sanctioned MacGregor by not allowing him in the municipal building. This effectively barred him from participating in council meetings. But it also meant council did not have enough members to officially vote and act on the report into his transgressions. An internal email among provincial officials said MacGregor's office banishment was done on the recommendation of Gerard Belliveau, project manager with the Southeast Regional Service Commission. The municipality had requested help from the service commission, which oversees certain local government matters in their region, because council had never dealt with a code of conduct complaint before, the documents show. Marc André Chiasson, spokesperson for the commission, said in an email to CBC on Wednesday that the commission's role was strictly advisory. "We supported the development of a suitable code of conduct and provided guidance on how to address the situation in a manner that would help mitigate potential legal risks to the municipality," Chiasson wrote. By late March, government began to consider involving the Local Governance Commission, which can investigate code of conduct violations. "The current ban against Mr. MacGregor will have to be addressed as they can't have a council meeting until he is able to enter the municipal building," department official Grace Lee Cutler wrote. "This is the first time this has come to light, so we are unsure how the Commission will respond." On April 15, Aaron Kennedy, the minister, sent a formal letter to commission chair Giselle Goguen, requesting her office investigate MacGregor because council was unable to act itself. The next day, Goguen denied the minister's request, saying the commission had not had an official complaint and can only investigate after a local investigation by council. "This is an unfortunate situation, however, the [commission] does not have the authority to intervene in these exceptional circumstances as we are bound by our legislation," Goguen wrote. It wasn't until later that month that the commission completed its own investigation once legally allowed to. Commission director Mary Oley declined to comment for this story. MLA wanted clarity from department In March, Mitton wrote the department, seeking clarity on Strait Shores because her constituents were "not getting answers from the municipality" and a "vacuum" of information was causing stress, conflict and rumours. "I would have liked to see more information and sooner," Mitton said in a recent interview when asked to describe the department's response to Strait Shores. Mitton said she never got much of an answer to her emails. She got the impression the department was "unprepared for what was happening and were not as responsive as I think they should have been." Mitton said the 2023 amalgamation was a major challenge forced on municipalities, and the Strait Shores problems were a result. "Unfortunately, because of how everything went, this municipality doesn't have elected representation for over a year. And so I think that's too bad." She added that there is confusion about responsibilities between the Department of Local Government and the Local Governance Commission, and she hopes to see the commission come to the legislature's public accounts committee to answer questions. But the responsibility to help train and support municipalities lies with the department, she said, and "I don't think that they adequately supported this municipality, again, multiple municipalities, in terms of the transition." CBC News requested an interview with Local Government to ask if any lessons had been learned from the Strait Shores experience. A spokesperson referred the CBC to its interview with Kennedy in April, before the Strait Shores council was dissolved, and said his comment then would stand. Kennedy said at the time that municipalities don't want Fredericton "meddling" in their affairs. Councillors felt under attack Strait Shores council also saw some pressure from the community, with documents showing members of the public writing to both Kennedy and councillors to express support for MacGregor. One resident, whose name is redacted in the documents, wrote to Stacy Jones before her resignation from council to defend MacGregor and ask why he was still suspended. "He was just doing his job as an elected official. If he isn't allowed to do his job then maybe you all should resign," the resident wrote. Jones's response, captured in a screen shot later sent to Kennedy by the resident, was brief: "Go f--k yourself!!!!," the councillor wrote. When she eventually resigned on April 28, Jones wrote: "Consider yourselves lucky that I was bound by a code of conduct that prevented me from speaking freely." "But I will no longer be held under those restrictions. The truth will be told, and I will not be silenced." Coun. Tanya Haynes resigned the same day, and while she was disappointed her resignation would trigger council's dissolution, she said it was clear she "can no longer effectively contribute to this toxic and unproductive environment. With no back up from anyone and only being told to take the verbal abuse." At the last council meeting before quorum was lost, CBC News observed at least one citizen raising their voice at councillors and refusing to leave, with several councillors saying they felt unsafe. Acting mayor Annamarie Boyd struck a more optimistic in her letter to Kennedy announcing the council had lost quorum.
CBC
17-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
Big emissions estimate a worst-case scenario, gas plant builder says
Social Sharing The U.S. company hired to build a natural gas plant in southeast New Brunswick says an annual greenhouse gas emissions estimate of 900,000 tonnes per year is a worst-case scenario that is unlikely to come to pass. That figure, contained in the company's environmental impact assessment submission, is nine times higher than what N.B. Power said when the plant was first announced last December. But a spokesperson for ProEnergy said the number comes from a "stressed case" scenario in which the plant would be "responding to a major upheaval in the grid," operating at full capacity for almost one-third of the year. "In our experience, this type of operation would not happen over a long duration period as market conditions and grid operations would respond appropriately," spokesperson Chris Evans said in an emailed statement ot CBC News. WATCH | Gas plant will help lower N.B. emissions overall, company says: How much carbon dioxide will a proposed new gas plant emit? 44 minutes ago Evans said the estimate of 100,000 tonnes from N.B. Power is "the expected, typical operation of a peaking plant" like the one it plans to build. Green MLA Megan Mitton, whose Tantramar riding is where the plant will be built, called the difference between the estimates "an astounding gap." Following ProEnergy's explanation, Mitton said she still questioned the need for a new natural gas plant to generate electricity. "This supposed transition fuel — this transition is taking way too long," she said. "It's not actually a transition. It's keeping us locked in with this type of infrastructure. We shouldn't be building new fossil fuel infrastructure." N.B. Power said it will buy electricity from the plant to provide backup power to the utility's growing use of renewable wind and solar energy. Because those sources aren't constant, the grid requires a more reliable base load of electricity it can turn on and off quickly when it's needed. Both N.B. Power and ProEnergy said the gas plant will allow the utility to use less electricity from fuel oil at the Coleson Cove plant and from coal at Belledune, leading to a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 250,000 tonnes a year. Mitton said there's debate about whether natural gas is any better than coal because of methane leakage that can happen in the natural gas supply chain. ProEnergy's EIA assessment said N.B. Power looked at other options, including energy conservation to lower consumption, and large-scale battery storage of renewable energy to meet peak demand. But other options weren't enough to head off a potential shortfall of electricity generation as early as 2028, the submission says. ProEnergy is seeking approval for a plant with 10 turbines capable of generating 500 megawatts of power, though the agreement with N.B. Power is for 400 megawatts from eight turbines. The utility said this week it could sign agreements with other provinces to add those two turbines and export the electricity regionally. Mitton said people in her Tantramar riding are just starting to hear about the gas plant and are questioning whether it's needed and why N.B. Power selected an American company in the midst of a trade dispute with the U.S. N.B. Power vice-president Brad Coady said the utility invited bids long before the trade dispute began, and five companies submitted bids, including Canadian companies. "We went with who could deliver the least-cost solution on the schedule that N.B. Power is demanding to meet our energy security needs," he said. "If you look at it through those two lenses, our chosen partner in this project by far was the best solution for New Brunswickers." The project must go through a federal environmental assessment. The provincial government is able to waive the need for a separate provincial review. Work is projected to start at the site early next year, with the plant operational in the third quarter of 2028.
CBC
11-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Green MLAs want quicker action on glyphosate report
Three and a half years after a report recommended tighter restrictions on glyphosate spraying, some lawmakers say the pace of implementation has been too slow. "It's clear that not a lot of work was done on it in that time," Green MLA Megan Mitton said. "There were some things completed and some things very recently completed, but I would have liked to see more progress." The report by the legislature's committee on climate change and environmental stewardship made a number of recommendations on the future of herbicide spraying in the province. It followed extensive hearings with scientists, foresters, Health Canada researchers, First Nations, industry and the public. The recommendations included larger setbacks from dwellings and watercourses, that N.B. Power phase out aerial glyphosate spraying and an analysis of potential alternatives. In an update to the committee, Christie Ward, the assistant deputy environment minister, said 11 of 20 recommendations have been "completed" to date, while the remaining nine are underway. Some MLAs pointed out, however, that what the department has implemented is not what the initial report actually recommended. "When you went through the recommendations of the committee that were unanimously adopted, you pointed to a number of those recommendations that were marked as completed, which were not implemented as recommended," David Coon told department staff Wednesday. "So essentially you rejected those recommendations." For example, the report called for setbacks from dwellings to increase to one kilometre from 500 metres. Ward said permits for aerial glyphosate spraying issued last year increased setbacks to 500 metres from 155 metres. Instead of the minimum 100-metre setback from watercourses recommended in the report, ground application requirements were moved to 30 metres from 15 metres, and aerial spraying requires a minimum distance of 65 metres. Ward said that the department has spent time trying to understand the intent of the committee's recommendations and to carry out the spirit of them, even those based on a misunderstanding of the regulations that already existed. "These recommendations are complex in some cases, many of them require rigorous scientific review, they also require a baseline of information, so you know where you're starting from and where you need to get to," she said. "There's been a lot of work done in the background to really understand all aspects of the pesticide program." But Mitton said she'd prefer a more direct answer from the department on whether the committee's recommendations have been followed. "When the auditor general has a report, there's a response from the department and then there's an update," she said. "I almost feel like we need a bit more of a formal process, or to bring them in more often, to keep that accountability going because I don't accept some of those answers as a checkmark." Environment Minister Gilles LePage backed up his staff, noting the report, which he helped prepare as an opposition member of the committee, did err at times in its understanding of existing regulations. However, LePage agreed with other comments over the pace of action on the report over the last few years. "In the past six years, I think there was a lack of work on that file, and that's why it's part of my mandate," he said. "I was part of the evolution of pesticides in this province, with the research on this committee, and I take it personally, and we are going to focus on pesticides even more than the previous government." LePage's mandate letter from Premier Susan Holt includes two mentions of herbicide spraying. One is to implement all recommendations from the committee's report. The other is to investigate alternatives to pesticide and herbicide use and "re-evaluate the safety of glyphosate with new and comprehensive data specific to New Brunswick." "We're looking daily and monthly on the impacts of how it's done," he said. "But don't forget, our regulations are very strong and very rigid for application and for use."
