'No one will silence me': Tracadie mayor shakes things up

It's the hottest ticket in Tracadie, N.B.

Every two weeks, a crowd gathers outside the office of the regional municipality, waiting for the clerk to unlock the doors and let them into the regular Monday night council meeting.

They pack the small council chamber to watch their mayor in action.

He's a rookie politician who has developed a reputation as a straight-talking, take-no-prisoners leader shaking up how the municipality is governed.

"They're hearing things they've never heard before," Mayor Denis Losier said in an interview, "so maybe that brings in the crowds.

"Maybe it's a nice show for people, but that's not my goal. The goal is to keep people informed."

Losier, a 54-year-old retired school principal, defeated incumbent mayor Aldéoda Losier in the May 2016 election.

He shocked the community in August when he went public with a series of allegations about the way things had been done in the past, including:

• A staff Christmas party that cost taxpayers $14,000.
• Improper awarding of contracts.
• Ten weeks of paid holidays for some employees.
• $20,000 spent on coffee, snacks and meals at the municipal office.

Losier made the allegations in his Aug. 28 mayor's report. He delivers the report at the start of every council meeting, making a point of letting councillors see his text just a few minutes ahead of time.

In the Aug. 28 report, he portrayed the previous administration as a free-spending club and announced he had called in a team of auditors to examine municipal books in more detail.

At the Sept. 11 meeting, Losier used his report to fire back at critics, including his predecessor, Aldéoda Losier, who accused the new mayor of "speculation" about past spending practices.

And at the Sept. 25 meeting, Denis Losier delivered his longest report yet, an address that took up 21 printed pages.

"I know my mayor's reports will make some people happy and others less so," he told councillors. "Everyone has their way of doing things. I have mine, and it will be that way until May 2020. Those who don't agree can bail. It's their choice."

Critics push back

Aldéoda Losier turned down an interview request from CBC News, but told Radio-Canada last month that he was surprised by his successor's allegations and accused him of damaging the regional municipality's reputation and that of its staff.

Guy Ward, a labour representative with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said his members have been "dragged into that mix with very broad statements that have been made."

He said unionized employees of the municipality haven't been implicated by the mayor, but morale is suffering because the public doesn't necessarily see that distinction.

"With everything happening, it's not an easy place to be," Ward said.

He also said Losier shouldn't be making sweeping allegations in public until the auditors finish their work.

"Using the public place is probably not the right way to do it," Ward said. "And when you raise concerns, financial concerns, you've got to have documents. You've got to have facts."

But Losier believes it's important for taxpayers to know what's going on.

"The truth is important and so is transparency, regardless of the waves it creates," he said at the Sept. 25 council meeting. "We are a public entity and the discussion has to happen in public. … As the saying goes, you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs."

Forcing the issue

Losier ran for mayor despite having no council experience. He was approaching his retirement as a teacher.

"I decided I needed to find something to keep myself from getting bored in retirement, so I jumped into this adventure," he said. "But I didn't realize I was getting into something so difficult and complicated."

He says he won a lot of support in areas of the regional municipality that were local service districts until they amalgamated with the town in 2012. Many of those rural residents weren't happy with the higher taxes they were facing, and the spending those taxes supported.

In his first year in office, the council was divided on his approach, and last December he challenged councillors to "row with me or get off the boat."

He says he unleashed his criticisms Aug. 28 to force the issue.

He had made four or five attempts to get council approval for a reorganization of the staff, without success.

"No one wanted to undertake significant changes," he said. "Probably the mayor's report of Aug. 28 made a difference because at that point, it wasn't just council that was aware of the issues … but the fact that the public was aware, and we had to vote in public, had an effect."

This time, the reorganization passed unanimously.

More reforms

Losier has undertaken other reforms. He eliminated several council "commissions" that were chaired by individual councillors. They had their own budgets, which Losier says led to wasteful spending.

At the Sept. 25 meeting, Losier responded to news reports about the termination of three employees, saying someone had leaked two of the names to local journalists.

He said he and the council had played no role in the terminations.

"Our role as a municipal council was merely to approve the restructuring to let the municipal manager do his work," he said. "Our goal with the restructuring is not to punish or put down anyone."

He also said previous wasteful spending had put the municipality in a "very precarious" financial position. It's only recently been able to pay bills from June and July.

Losier also responded to comments that some councillors made to the local media about his approach.

"What's more damaging to our reputation?" he asked. "Telling the truth, or not having the money to pay our bills? … No one will silence me, especially not this council."

Councillor pushes back

That led one councillor, Ginette Brideau Kervin, to accuse him of going too far.

"We were elected too," she told the mayor. "We have a right to our opinion. We express our opinion and you say you're being attacked.

"It's a democratic process. We debate an issue, we vote and it's finished, but you always come back at it with 'Get on the boat,' 'Get off the boat.' … I feel like you're attacking your council."

Losier responded with another long riposte.

"I've never denied anyone's right to speak, but I think I have to point out that some things may have moved faster if I'd had more co-operation from council," he told Brideau Kervin.

"There are reporters here in the room. You can say you like the mayor. You can say you hate the mayor. You can say you agree or you disagree. But after 15 months, I'm fed up with trying to prove that I'm not lying, that I'm telling the truth, that I'm here to make things better."

Losier has plenty of admirers.

"To me, he's doing his job," said Tracadie resident Philiodore Doiron, "even though some people on council and in town don't like the job he's doing."

Vicky Haché-Benoît helped Losier with his campaign because he represented change. She said she had raised concerns with the previous mayor and council and was ignored.

"Before it was 'Sit down, you can't speak,'" she said. "We pay taxes and we have the right to speak. … At least we have transparency, which we never had before."