CHCO-TV NewsBreak26 : Meet the St. Croix Candidates and the Fundy-the Isles-Saint John Lorneville Candidates

On Thursday, CHCO-TV, in collaboration with the St. Stephen Area Chamber of Commerce, Downtown St. Stephen, and the Municipal District of St. Stephen, hosted "Meet the Saint Croix Candidates" at the Garcelon Civic Centre. The event offered voters a chance to hear directly from candidates who answered questions pre-submitted by the public and vetted by CHCO-TV ahead of the upcoming provincial election on October 21, 2024.

 Vicki Hogarth and Nathalie Sturgeon – Local Journalism Initiative

All seven candidates for St. Croix participated in the event: Bola Ademolu for the NDP, Kathy Bockus for the Progressive Conservatives, Kris Booth running as an Independent, Mark Groleau for the Green Party, Troy Lyons for the Liberal Party, Krysten Mitchell for the Libertarian Party, and Alex Tessmann for the People’s Alliance.

For those who missed the event, it will air on CHCO-TV every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 p.m. until October 20 and is also available on the website, chco.tv.

Meet the Fundy-the Isles-Saint John Lorneville Candidates

On Wednesday, October 2, 2024, the Eastern Charlotte Chamber of Commerce hosted another "Meet the Candidates Night" at Magaguadavic Place in St. George for the Fundy-The Isles-Saint John Lorneville riding. Candidates present included Ian Lee (Progressive Conservative), Patty Borthwick (Liberal), Keith Tays (Libertarian), and Chris Wanamaker (NDP). Rhonda Connell of the Green Party and Sharon Greenlaw of the Consensus NB Party were not in attendance. The two-hour event allowed candidates to answer questions randomly selected from public submissions. The event will air on CHCO-TV on Friday, October 11th, at 7 p.m. and will be available on the website after the television premiere.

Party Leaders Sit Down for One-on-One Interviews on CHCO-TV

In addition to broadcasting Meet the Candidates events, CHCO-TV invited party leaders with candidates in St. Croix for one-on-one interviews on Southwest Magazine. Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs, Liberal leader Susan Holt, Green Party leader David Coon, NDP leader Alex White, and People’s Alliance leader Rick DeSaulniers have all stopped by the CHCO studio to tell viewers more about their party and platform. Libertarian leader Keith Tays is expected to confirm a recording time soon as well. Catch all the interviews on Southwest Magazine.

Budget Deliberations Underway in St. Andrews

Municipalities in New Brunswick are pushing full steam ahead on their budget deliberations, but this year brings some uncertainty for Saint Andrews.

Council in St. Andrews will face some tough budget decisions this fall. It saw most operational departments see increases tied with the rate of inflation. It also saw request for grants reach about $80,000.

"I will say that we did get presentation organizations from a number of worthy organizations that need financial support, a lot of which the financial support previously came from the province of New Brunswick," said St. Andrews Mayor Brad Henderson.

Henderson says funding all of those requests would mean an increased tax base of about $0.05 on the mill rate. At council on September 25th, Henderson said councillors would have to have tough conversations. While Henderson doesn't believe St. Andrews will see a mill rate increase, there is a bit of unpredictable attached to the budget this year. The ongoing election is pushing the release of property assessment numbers back until it's over.

"We will be having a conversation, and we are optimistic, although we have no numbers due to the election right now, that we will be looking to reduce the mill rate in some of the wards," said Henderson. "It's important to note that the province does have a deadline for municipalities. I can't see any municipality actually meeting their deadline because the municipalities aren't getting the information they need to properly pass their budget."

Despite this, Henderson hopes also to keep the mill rate of Bayside and Chamcook as steady as possible. Areas absorbed in amalgamation. All of this, he explains, sheds a bigger light on the urgent need for fiscal reform.

"Reform was supposed to happen right away fiscally when it did municipally, and we're still waiting. A couple of dates were promised, but we're still waiting," said Henderson.

Several more budget meetings are planned for the next few weeks.

Repairs Underway in Blacks Harbour to Improve Water Quality

Blacks Harbour residents are being told they could experience boil water advisories this month as the company that owns the water supply makes repairs.

Connors Brothers, a seafood packing plant, owns the municipal water supply and associated infrastructure.

In August 2023, the first boil water advisory was issued for the community and lasted four weeks. The Municipality of Eastern Charlotte says the company spent $80,000 scanning the lines and located the leak.

Work will take place on October 18 and 19, which could result in a boil water advisory.

In a release, the municipality says it will then flush the lines and seek to have the town-owned water reservoir cleaned in the next few months.

It added that $500,000 from the Integrated Bilateral Agreement—a joint fund between the federal and provincial government—has been allocated to a water exploration project for an alternative water source.

Eastern Charlotte Mayor John Craig says, "We want to keep the residents of Blacks Harbour, as well as Beaver Harbour, aware of the ongoing work being conducted by Connors Bros. and the municipality to address water issues."