New Brunswick municipalities lay out what they want from provincial election

New Brunswick’s municipal governments released a list of what they see as priorities for the next provincial government.

At a press conference in Saint John, officials from the Cities of New Brunswick Association, which is made up of Bathurst, Campbellton, Dieppe, Edmundston, Fredericton, Miramichi, Moncton and Saint John, highlighted key issues that the group wants to see dealt with by the winner of the upcoming provincial election.

New Brunswickers go to the polls on Sept. 24.

“The eight cities in New Brunswick serve as the economic engine for our Province,” said Adam Lordon, the association’s chair and mayor of Miramichi.

“The education and action campaign launched today is to ensure that citizens and provincial election candidates are all aware of the issues facing our cities and the impact our cities have on the future success of our province.”

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The association wants commitments from all provincial candidates and parties to acknowledge the role the municipal governments have in the province.

They also want a role in developing the policies and legislation that directly affects their residents, the organization said on Monday.

One of the changes includes getting a cut of the province’s cannabis revenue when marijuana becomes legal later this year.

The association says it is recommending that 44 per cent of the excise tax revenues transferred from to the province from the federal government be redistributed unconditionally to all municipalities in the province.

As a result, they want the funds to help assist in the increase of costs associated with drug recognition training, purchase of roadside screening equipment and handling of citizen complaints.

The association says it also wants a new, fair property tax system to be implemented in the province.

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It says that under the current tax system, city taxpayers are “paying more than their fair share” for services delivered in their region and that provincial tax breaks for industrial companies have reduced municipal revenue.

“We believe the Province of NB should follow other Canadian provinces and leave property tax as an economic tool for municipalities across the province,” reads the association’s policy document.

Some of other topics highlighted by the association include a change to provincial arbitration legislation to consider affordability, an ability to implement a hotel levy and giving cities the ability to generate non-tax revenue.