Elections coming up for 62 newly formed, amalgamated communities
Last day for candidates to sign up is Oct. 28; election day is Nov. 28
New Brunswick is on track to hold the first elections for dozens of newly formed municipalities, with new names and boundaries on the ballots.
Major centres like Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John, and some other smaller municipalities, won't be voting, but 50 new municipalities and 12 rural districts will be holding elections for the first time on Nov. 28.
Kim Poffenroth, the province's chief electoral officer, said Elections New Brunswick usually holds province-wide municipal elections every four years in May, but since local governance reform, residents need to elect new councillors and mayors.
She said in some communities residents are electing entirely new councils,including mayors. In other places, new councillors are being added.
"It's important for voters to be aware of when the election date is — that the elections are coming up. But it's also equally important for all of the eligible voters, who are also eligible to be candidates, to know that these are coming up," Poffenroth told Information Morning Fredericton.
She said there's lots of work to do for Elections New Brunswick, not just to run the vote, but to help candidates know where to run and people know when and where to vote.
"We need people to get involved as candidate as well," she said. "When there's no actual choice on the ballot for individuals, you know, democracy suffers."
Poffenroth said candidates will need to get their paperwork in by 2 p.m. on Oct. 28, and all voters will find a yellow envelope from Elections New Brunswick in their mailboxes this week.
"These are really important positions because your local mayors and councillors, they make really important decisions about the kind of things that affect people's day-to-day lives things from," she said.
"Snowplowing, road clearing, police and fire, that all falls under the authority of your local government officials. And we need people that are passionate about their communities to get involved," she said.
This election will be a culmination of years of legislative change, including a bill passed in December that reduced 340 local government entities to fewer than 100.
Since the reform bill passed, the provincial and local governments went to work on revising boundaries, creating rural districts, picking new names and choosing governance structures for amalgamated communities.
The first phase is set to end on Jan. 1.
The next phase includes figuring out how the municipalities will work together and share resources, with policies cemented by 2027.
The reform led by the Progressive Conservatives under Premier Blaine Higgs was intended to address chronic local government problems that have built up for years, including the sharing and funding of local services and infrastructure, and the growth of urban sprawl just outside the taxation reach of cities, towns and villages.
With files from Information Morning
