As expected, Premier and Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs met with Lieutenant Governor Brenda Murphy today to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.

Nathalie Sturgeon – Local Journalism Initiative

It means the campaign kicks off today – with New Brunswickers casting their vote on October twenty-first.

The Liberals are hoping to deny Blaine Higgs a third term.

The Greens look to make gains – adding to the three seats they already hold in the Legislative Assembly.

The NDP, People’s Alliance, and several other new parties are also on the ballot – seeking to provide New Brunswickers with more options this fall.

"This election is a clear choice for New Brunswickers," said Higgs. "Our PCNB team wants to keep building. After stabilising the province's finances and managing through a global pandemic, We've finally been able to make progress on key issues like health care, addiction, treatment, economic growth, and more.:

Blacks Harbour Water Quality Issues Continue

In Blacks Harbour, the condition of the drinking water has reached a boiling point.

The water supply in Blacks Harbour has been an ongoing issue for over a year. Eastern Charlotte councillor Adam Hatt brought samples of that water. One was brown and full of sediment, the other yellow. Hatt also brought water from a separate cooler for comparison.

"How is that acceptable? So I'm going to ask, this is chlorinated water. Would anybody on Council like a glass of this and drink this?" Asked Hatt addressing his fellow councillors and mayor during the meeting.

Water in Blacks Harbour is owned by Connors Brothers, a fish packing company. Eastern Charlotte, according to its mayor, John Craig, is the only municipality not to own its water supply in the province. The last Boil Water Advisory for the town was in August 2023.

"This is 54 weeks later. The water is not fixed. It needs to be fixed. We're charging residents for this, and that's unacceptable. To me, I'm not drinking this," said Hatt.

Not owning the water supply makes it complicated for council to do anything about the quality. In August, CHCO TV asked Mayor John Craig about that challenge and why it simply couldn't secure its own water supply.

"The big thing with taking over Connors Brothers is to having the easements," said Mayor Craig. "People don't realize this. You have to have legal easements to go put these pipes down through people's properties. Taking over Connors Brothers, the easement that comes with it."

Craig says he believes Connors Brothers doesn't want to be in the water supply business, but so far hasn't been able to say when the transition or resolution might take place.

"Nothing gets done overnight," said Craig. "I can tell you that right now. Even if we do take over Connors Brothers, we have to fix things as we can financially. But we'll do that with the province and the federal government helping us every step of the way."

Tests of the water in Blacks Harbour has not shown any signs of contaminants, Hatt says, but the colour and sediment raise questions.

"Just because it tests great, do you really want to drink something that looks like that?" asked Hatt.

Galway Metals Seeks Approval in St. Stephen

Back in St. Stephen, a mining company is seeking to continue exploration in the new amalgamated municipal district. Council in St. Stephen are once again considering providing consent to Galway Metals, who is seeking approval to continue mining operations within municipal boundaries for minerals and gold. Municipal consent is required because the area where the company is drilling was absorbed in amalgamation.

"It's my understanding this town is the last piece in the puzzle, and this request comes to us once they've met their requirements to go before the Department of Environment and all of the other departments that may be involved in people exercising their exploration rights under their state claims," said Councillor Joyce Wright. "From my understanding, when it's an exploration claim like this, council is more of formality.

Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Renaud told council at the time, it is complicated, and that consent is required under the act, but says prior approvals were already given before the new municipal boundaries were drawn through amalgamation.

"Eventually it's probably going to happen, but you got to realize when this was approved before, the municipal areas weren't part of the town," said Councillor Wade Greenlaw. "So there was no consultation to anybody in the rural areas. Now that the rural wards are part, then they've got somebody to speak for them, somebody to actually look out for them."

Galway was brought back to Committee of the Whole to present on its work. The property is owned by JD Irving Limited near St. David's Ridge Road, Glendenning Road, and a private Irving Road. Drilling would take place 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Exploration manager Rob Richard filled Council in on the process, showing the project was reviewed by two government departments and the professional association representing engineers and geoscientists in the province. He was able to discuss the process, including should any water source be contaminated.

"So far, I've been doing this for 20 years, and I've never seen a significant change in the water," said Rob Richard, Exploration Manager at Galway Metals.

It is unclear when council could vote on consent for the company.