Thousands 'going to have a voice,' says mayor, as N.B. residents elect new municipal leaders

It was an election that saw mayors pitted against one another, councils elected for municipalities that never before existed, and thousands given the chance to vote for municipal representatives for the first time.

On Monday, 82,976 ballots were cast by New Brunswickers living in areas that will soon make up 50 entirely new or amalgamated municipalities, and 12 rural districts as part of sweeping local government reforms underway in the province.

The changes will see Normand Pelletier go from being the mayor of Dalhousie, to being the mayor of Baie-des-Héron, following his successful run against Charlo Mayor Gaétan Pelletier and Dalhousie Councillor Gail Ferron.

Baie-des-Héron is one of the new municipalities and is the result of an amalgamation of the town of Dalhousie, the village of Charlo, and three local service districts to create the new town that will have a population of about 5,400 people, Pelletier said.

"You know what? They're going to have a voice," said Pelletier, of the residents formerly part of the local service districts.

"Those local service districts didn't have a voice in the past. They had a representative, but they had no power or no lead, you know... so a lot of them are happy that they're going to have a voice."

Under the previous local government structure, New Brunswick residents living outside a municipality would fall in one of 236 local service districts (LSDs) across the province. These LSDs didn't have elected representatives, and instead, an advisory committee was responsible for communicating residents' concerns to the provincial minister of local government.

The reforms introduced by Local Government Minister Daniel Allain saw 95 per cent of all New Brunswickers included in a local government, either through the creation of entirely new municipalities, or through annexing regions into existing municipalities.

Tanya Cloutier was also elected as mayor of the newly formed municipality of Lakeland Ridges, which swallowed up the villages of Canterbury and Meductic, and local service districts stretching from the St. John River to the border with Maine.

Cloutier, who was Canterbury's most recent mayor, said she was excited to have the opportunity to represent other residents who've never before had a mayor and council.

"When I ran for mayor of Lakeland Ridges, I ran for the people, so for me it's about representing them, making sure that they have that voice that they have not had for so many years."

A smooth operation: Elections NB

About 231,000 New Brunswickers were eligible to vote in the elections held across New Brunswick on Monday, and the total ballots cast show a turnout of about 36 per cent.

Kim Poffenroth, chief electoral officer with Elections NB, said the turnout matches what is typically seen for municipal elections.

She said some municipalities saw a turnout rate of more than 50 per cent, while others were as low as 12 per cent.

"And this being the... first local government election that many of these voters were eligible to vote in, I didn't have any preconceived notions of what the turn out might be," she said.

Poffenroth said things ran smoothly at all polling stations in the province, and all of the tabulators had tallied the results by about 10:15 p.m. Monday.

"Overall, operationally, it would be a success from our perspective.

"We provided everyone who wished to vote with multiple opportunities to easily, quickly and securely cast their vote, which ultimately is the goal of elections in New Brunswick."

Earlier in the day, Poffenroth said the mild weather was helpful for getting people to polling stations, and stressed the importance of the elections.

"The decisions made by local government councils are extremely important, they affect the day-to-day lives of everyone in their community," said Poffenroth. 

"It's snow clearing, policing, fire, recreational facilities, all that sort of thing. So I think sometimes people forget how important the decisions made by their local councils are."

Poffenroth said four vacant councillor positions in two of the newly formed municipalities will be held in byelections early next year.

Another six positions on the rural district advisory committees will be filled by ministerial appointments, she said.