Mint-Chip merger won't work for geographical and cultural reasons, mayors say

It may be fun to float Mint-Chip and Chinto as new names for the consolidated villages of Minto and Chipman, but the mayors see nothing funny about the proposed merger.

"I was completely blindsided," Chipman Mayor Keith West told Information Morning Fredericton. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I was quite speechless to be honest," Minto Mayor Erica Barnett also told the show. "I had meetings with government officials to discuss that forced amalgamation of municipalities wouldn't be on the table."

The merger of the two villages is one change proposed by New Brunswick's new white paper on municipal reform released last week. The change is expected in January 2023.

The villages in central New Brunswick, near the northeastern end of Grand Lake, are 27 kilometres apart, and the mayors say they have nothing in common other than being small and rural. 

"Our communities are completely different," Barnett said. "Between the two villages is Highway 10, it's not another community, so losing our sense of community … is really concerning to me."

A coal and lumber village rivalry

West said there's always been a "friendly rivalry" between the two communities. They support each other and "get along fine," but the rivarly remains.

"I think Chipman and Minto have two different cultures and two different mindsets," he said. "Minto was always a coal mining town, although they are not now, and Chipman was a lumbering community. And I think we just think differently."

Barnett said with the villages being so far apart, it's difficult to foster a sense of community when there's no "common ground."

Regardless of what name is chosen, West said, there will always be this cultural divide. He also doesn't see the merit in the merger of the towns, which he called "very viable."

"They are growing and it just doesn't make sense."

Unanswered questions

Barnett and West said there are many questions remaining about what the merger actually means.

"I'm curious and what this means for our staff. I'm curious about what it means for our infrastructure that we have," Barnett said. "What it means for closing arenas or closed medical offices."

The province's goal with municipal reform is to force mergers of dozens of municipalities and neighbouring rural areas, and combine remaining rural areas into new, larger districts. The preferred outcome is to reduce redundancies and urban sprawl.

West said incorporating local service districts into the villages would be a better option than joining the two villages.

The two mayors said they will be sharing their concerns with Daniel Allain, the minister of local governance reform.

"What the minister has stated in discussions that he is open to discussion and he's open for ideas … if communities do see ways to improve what he has proposed," Barnett said.

Blacks Harbour in the same boat

Minto and Chipman are not the only villages that have issues with the white paper.

John Craig, the mayor of Blacks Harbour, is unhappy with the idea of a merger of Blacks Harbour and St. George. He said he also has questions.

"The devil's in the details," he said. "We don't have all the facts yet. So it's hard for us to make informed decisions."

He wants to know how representation will work among the many communities involved in the merger.

"It's a big area. So who will get seats at the council table?"