St. Croix Residents Heading to Polls Twice This Spring

A byelection will be held on June 15, 2020 in the in the provincial ridings of Saint Croix and Shediac Bay-Dieppe. With municipal elections across New Brunswick scheduled to take place on May 11th, that means residents of the St. Croix riding will be heading to the polls twice in late spring.

“It is important that we move forward with these by-elections in a timely manner to ensure all New Brunswickers are properly represented in the legislative assembly,” Premier Higgs said at a news conference Monday. “At the same time, municipal elections are already scheduled to take place this spring around the province, and I want to avoid any potential confusion for residents.”

Saint Croix has been without an MLA since September 2019 after the passing of Greg Thompson, while Shediac Bay-Dieppe has been without representation since former Premier Brian Gallant resigned his seat in October. The results of the by-election will be critical in determining who holds the power in the legislature, given that the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals currently each hold 20 seats. The Greens and the People’s Alliance each have three and one MLA, former PC Robert Gauvin of Shippagan-Lamèque-Miscou, now sits as an independent.

St. Croix Green Party candidate Andrew Sutton is hoping to win another seat for the Greens in the upcoming by-election. Sutton launched his campaign in St. Stephen on Saturday, officially becoming the fourth candidate to enter the the race for St. Croix. "It's a necessary requirement for democracy for people to have electoral choices," said Sutton. "Choosing between two similar options is not a real choice. New Brunswickers deserve a real choice. The people of St. Croix deserve a real choice." Sutton's campaign launch seconded as a town hall event where he and New Brunswick Green Party leader David Coon both gave speeches followed by a Q&A period with the audience. Coon is certain Sutton has what it takes to win the highly coveted St. Croix riding.

"I want him with me in the legislative assembly," said Coon. "So that he can work on behalf of the riding here, and do the kind of work in the legislature that we need more Greens to do. We need to paint that House of Assembly Green, and he's going to help us do that."

The federal and provincial governments are investing $1.6 million in a New Brunswick-based Healthy Seniors Pilot Project. The project aims to keep seniors healthier and at home longer by having in-home caretakers regularly collect health data from their clients such as blood pressure, heart rate and weight. Predictive analytics will then by applied to the data in order to detect potential health risks before they become serious.

"When we make it person-centered by doing it in their homes, and when we have a relationship that creates the conversation, it can more than just data. It can be conversations about how they're feeling, conversations about what their fears are," said Minister of Social Development Dorothy Shephard to CHCO.

200 seniors who are currently receiving services from Kindred Home Care will take part in this exciting pilot project, many of whom live right here in Charlotte County. The project is a collaboration with Fredericton-based software development company VeroSource Solutions and the University of New Brunswick.

"What we are doing is providing a platform and some assessment technologies that are basically like a check-up in the home," said Dr. Erik Scheme, New Brunswick Innovation Chair of Medical Technologies at University of New Brunswick. "But we do it every week, so we can capture differences over time and then intervene."

The job tender for the new Saint Andrews health & fitness centre was awarded to the low bidder at town council on Monday night. Although project is $300,000 over budget, councillors decided to re-examine funding of other projects in order to allocate more funds to the wellness centre, as it is a priority project.

"We're not building it for this budget year," said Deputy Mayor Brad Henderson. "We're building it for this community."

Spring break might over for schools across New Brunswick, but Grade 11 student Chase Brown of Oak Bay is spending this week on the coast of British Columbia working on a tall ship. Brown is a Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Petty Officer First Class and was one of a select number of sea cadets from across Canada to be awarded the national opportunity. "I'll be on the ship doing lots of different navigating skills, working with ropes and lines and making sure that everything runs smoothly," said Brown. Brown's sea cadet unit meets every Tuesday night at the WC O'Neill Arena.

"It really is a program that focuses on transferrable life skills," said Lieutenant Navy Aaron Bennett about program.