'Erosion of democracy' feared if bill becomes law, Fredericton mayor says
CBC
Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers says a proposed bill at the New Brunswick legislature could harm democracy and curb the autonomy of local councils if it becomes law.
Rogers, city councillors and three organizations representing municipalities in New Brunswick are hitting back at Bill 45, proposed legislation that among other things would allow the minister of local government to repeal municipal bylaws.
"It really feels like a slap in the face because it feels like we can make decisions and they can be overturned by the minister, they can be overturned by people who were not elected by the residents of our municipality," Rogers said.
"When you give that kind of authority carte blanche to a minister to be able to go in and overturn decisions that are made by a municipality, yes, that's an erosion of democracy."
On Tuesday night, Fredericton council voted to send a letter to Local Government and Local Governance Reform Minister Daniel Allain, taking issue with that provision, and a handful of others contained in Bill 45, the Local Governance Commission Act.
The creation of an independent municipal commission was contained in Allain's white paper on local governance reform, released in 2021 as a road map for how his government planned to revamp local government in the province.
The white paper said the commission would carry out tasks such as ruling on matters of conflict of interest, reviewing potential cost-sharing agreements between municipalities and examining boundary change requests.
Allain introduced the Local Governance Commission Act in the legislature on May 9, and it passed second reading last Wednesday.
Fredericton city council isn't alone in its opposition to Bill 45.
On Tuesday, the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick, the Association of Francophone Municipalities of New Brunswick and the Cities of New Brunswick Association jointly issued a news release calling on the government to modify the provision giving the minister powers to repeal bylaws.
"If adopted, this would be a significant erosion of municipal autonomy that would give unprecedented power to the minister," UMNB president Andrew Black said in the release.
"Our members are concerned that this provision undermines the legitimate roles of councillors duly elected by their citizens."
According to the letter by Rogers, other problems with the proposed bill include vague language, such as that it gives the commission a mandate to "perform any functions assigned to it by the minister."
Other concerns centre around privacy, with another provision that the commission may at any time require a member of council to provide the commission "any information relating to the affairs of the local government."
