Hundreds of New Brunswick local government campaigns get underway

Hundreds of candidates in New Brunswick have formally kicked off campaigns for local governments, education boards and rural advisory committees.

Many of the Atlantic province’s largest cities will have competitive contests while more than 150 local seats will be filled by acclamation and some seats will be without any candidate.

Those elected in the May 11 election will make up the second cohort since New Brunswick overhauled its local governance system over three years ago.

Craig Pollett, Atlantic vice-president of Strategic Steps Inc., says he’s watching to see if elections will be focused on changes to the the governance system itself or community priorities.

“Are we still seeing candidates come forward primarily because they opposed reform?” Pollet said in a Saturday interview.

“Or primarily because they want to improve their community and they see this as a real way to do that?”

Story continues below advertisement

New Brunswick, starting in 2023, consolidated 340 local entities into 77 governments and 12 new rural districts, expanding local representation to the entire province.

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories. Sign up for daily National newsletter Get Started By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The province also granted regional commissions responsibility for economic development, tourism, infrastructure cost-sharing, transportation and other strategic planning.

Pollett said candidate and voter turnout in this election will determine if the province’s goal of more democratic engagement was a success.

“If you want stronger local governments, you want more people involved, more people voting, more people running, that sort of thing,” he said.

“So in this case, if we end up with the opposite, then that’s a commentary on — not necessarily the reform itself — but maybe how it happened, how it was implemented.”

Elections New Brunswick reported that 1,102 people submitted nomination papers for 588 council positions within its 77 local governments.

More on Politics More videos

• Carney says no time for politics as usual in address to Liberals
• Kinew plans trip to Ottawa
• Judge orders temporary pause on Alberta separation referendum petition process
• ‘Not good enough’: Downtown Van calls for action on Granville Street

• Global News at 6 Calgary: April 10
• Global News at 6 Lethbridge: April 10
• Global National April 10
• Global News Hour at 6 BC: April 10

Contests in Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton — the province’s three largest cities — will be among the 52 mayoral races this year. Another 25 candidates for mayor will be acclaimed.

Elections will determine who fills 211 councillor seats across New Brunswick while a further 136 positions had uncontested candidates.

Two council positions across as many communities will remain vacant and will require byelections in the fall to fill the seats, according to Elections New Brunswick.

Story continues below advertisement

Contests will be required in only five of the dozen rural district advisory committees, according to the elections agency. Twenty-six spots were filled by acclamation and four remained without a candidate.

Interest in education governance appears low this year. Overall, only 63 candidates filed nomination papers for New Brunswick’s 68 district education council slots.

While there will be 11 contests for positions that had more than one candidate, Elections New Brunswick said 18 positions were vacant after the nomination window closed.

Empty seats on rural district advisory committees and education councils will be filled by people appointed by the province.