A conflict has engulfed a brand-new N.B. municipality. It may be a sign of a wider problem
Local government roiled by sanctions, resignations and accusations of bullying
The idea sounded simple: adopt local government reform to bring villages, towns and local service districts in New Brunswick together under the watch of new councils.
But a little more than two years after amalgamation happened across the province, some of those mandated unions have struggled with division, anger and a steep learning curve.
This has been especially true in Lakeland Ridges, Fundy Albert and most recently, Strait Shores, a cluster of communities that includes the former village of Port Elgin in southeastern New Brunswick.
That's where Coun. Andy MacGregor has been at the centre of a storm over legally questionable sanctions for alleged code of conduct violations.
MacGregor says the municipal code of conduct is being "weaponized" against him after he introduced some transparency motions shortly after being elected in January. Among other things, the motions called for the posting of previous financial statements, using public tenders when a municipal asset is sold, and imposing a deadline for posting meeting minutes.
MacGregor was sanctioned, and the mayor and two councillors resigned, blaming MacGregor in their resignation letters, calling him the "town bully" and accusing him of harassment.
Dan Murphy, executive director of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick, said part of the problem is the impact of local government reform.
Municipalities are dealing with increased responsibilities but sometimes with the same number of staff they had as smaller communities, and often with many first-time councillors, Murphy said.
"There are certain communities that have had struggles and are starting to get their legs under them now," Murphy said. "And then there are others that still need additional support and training and resourcing."
While the Department of Local Government offers some orientation training, and the municipalities union offers training at annual conferences, more is needed, "whether that's in clarifying roles and responsibility or financial management or understanding planning requirements," Murphy said.
"There's all kinds of things that we could do that would just help our councils and our staff be better prepared."
When major problems do erupt, where do local councils go for help?
Just shy of a year ago, the province inaugurated the Local Governance Commission, which MacGregor said he's lodged a complaint with.
New commission to investigate council problems
Mary Oley, the commission's director and general counsel, declined to discuss the Strait Shores case but said in an interview that anyone launching a complaint must first let the local council's investigation finish.
"If the local government refuses to accept their complaint, or if they're unsatisfied with the result, they can then make a complaint with us," Oley said.
"We are not an appeal body. We look at it completely new, with fresh eyes, and conduct our own fulsome investigation."
If a complaint is made, and it's within the commission's jurisdiction, the subject of the complaint is notified and has an opportunity to respond, Oley said. The commission will then offer mediation and can proceed to an investigation if needed.
That would be undertaken by the commission, which has a chair and four members.
The commission "can impose sanctions such as repayment of funds that were obtained as a result of a conflict of interest, and they can even suspend council members, and in some circumstances, senior employees for up to 90 days," Oley said.
The timeline of the investigation depends on the case, she said.
"But we understand that especially these types of complaints, they affect people, they have real-world impacts. No one wants to be accused of wrongdoing. So we do endeavour to process them as quickly and efficiently as possible."
And if a council loses quorum, Oley said, the commission has the power to appoint a supervisor, which effectively suspends a council temporarily.
"So we need to act very quickly to have somebody in place so that essential services continue to be provided, bills are paid, things of that nature."
But another more extreme option allows the commission to recommend cabinet appoint a supervisor when councils "are not functioning properly," especially with financial issues or if it's in "the public interest."
Murphy said the commission is a good place for resolutions, but it should be a last resort.
"Ideally, we're able to have the necessary training and the ability to understand things in-house before we have to go to that."
CBC News requested an interview with Local Government Minister Aaron Kennedy or anyone from the department about the province's support for municipalities, like Strait Shores, that have run into problems. Spokesperson Kelly Cormier did not make anyone available.
Commission should take additional role, lawyer says
While MacGregor waits for the commission to take up his case after the municipality's own investigation wraps up, one expert suggests it should have been able to do so right from the start.
Constitutional lawyer Lyle Skinner said one helpful legislative tweak would allow the commission to investigate code of conduct issues from the start, instead of having municipalities investigate first.
"It ensures procedural fairness. It ensures that any perception of bias or conflict of interest is also removed," he said.
"Just to reduce the temperature."
The Strait Shores investigation into MacGregor is being done by an undisclosed third party with an undisclosed timeline and cost.
Code of conduct violations are a costly distraction from a municipality's regular business, Skinner said.
But the issue is not a sign that municipal reform was a complete failure, because "you can only anticipate certain things when drafting until you see what happens in the real world."
"This call is just for a minor, minor correction that might make a substantive difference in how these things transpire in the future."
Higgs government pushed amalgamation too fast, prof says
Geoff Martin, who teaches politics at Mount Allison University, said the former Blaine Higgs government didn't show enough sensitivity bringing in municipal reform.
Hundreds of thousands of people across New Brunswick who didn't live in municipalities and were unaccustomed to council governments were suddenly thrown into it.
"These decisions were made without local buy-in. They weren't made with the consent of the governed or their council," Martin said.
"And what aggravates the situation as well ... I think that there is hardship in rural New Brunswick with the kind of taxable increases that people are seeing and a certain anger and a certain discontent."
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