New Brunswick to merge communities and slash number of local governments to 90

The New Brunswick government is announcing a plan to reduce the number of municipalities and rural districts in the province to 90 from 340.

Daniel Allain, the minister of local governance reform, released a white paper today stating the mergers of local governing entities are long overdue.

Instead of 104 local governments and 236 local service districts, New Brunswick will have 78 local governments and 12 rural districts.

Allain says work on restructuring will begin in early January and that the first elections for the new rural districts will be in November 2022.

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The changes follow more than a year of public consultations, and Allain says most of the ideas presented were focused on economic development, tourism and community development.

Legislation governing the reforms is expected to be introduced by the end of the year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2021.