<![CDATA[Connecting Albert County - Opinions, letters and reflections]]>

<![CDATA[Connecting Albert County - Opinions, letters and reflections]]>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:04:22 -0300Weebly<![CDATA[Letters to the Community: A Note of Thanks from the Fundy Albert Community Greenhouse Committee]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:04:30 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/letters-to-the-community-a-note-of-thanks-from-the-fundy-albert-community-greenhouse-committeeBig community projects rarely happen because of one person or one organization. They happen because a whole community decides something matters and steps forward to make it real.

The Fundy Albert Community Greenhouse is a good example of what that kind of dedication looks like. Projects like this take years of planning, fundraising, and collaboration. They require people who believe in the vision, partners who are willing to invest, and community members who show up again and again to support the work.

Building infrastructure that will serve students and the wider community is not a small undertaking. It takes resources, time, and trust. When local organizations step forward to help fund a project, they are doing more than making a donation. They are helping create opportunities for learning, food access, and community connection that will last for many years.

Two of the key partners who helped make the Fundy Albert Community Greenhouse possible were OMISTA Credit Union and the Bennett and Albert County Health Care Foundation. Each organization generously contributed $10,000 toward the project, providing essential support that helped move the greenhouse from an idea into reality.

“At OMISTA, we believe in the co-operative principle of concern for the communities we call home. Supporting the Fundy Albert Community Greenhouse Project is exactly what that looks like in action. This initiative builds food security, supports hands-on learning, and strengthens the community from the ground up. As a Certified B Corporation credit union, we’re proud to help grow something truly meaningful for Fundy Albert,” said Tammy Christopher, CEO of OMISTA Credit Union.

“The Bennett and Albert County Health Care Foundation is proud to be a financial supporter of the Fundy Albert Community Greenhouse project in Fundy Albert. Initiatives like this promote wellness and community connection, which align closely with the Foundation’s mission to advance community health and wellness,” said Bob Rochon, Chair of the Bennett and Albert County Health Care Foundation.

Support from organizations like OMISTA and the Bennett and Albert County Health Care Foundation demonstrates the power of community partnerships. Additional heartfelt thanks goes out to the following businesses and community members for their financial support towards our project:

Premier Trucking
Baker Tilly
Collins Lobster
Sanford Fisheries
Chignecto Fisheries
CMR Fisheries Inc.
Lockhart Fisheries Inc.
Howard and Denise Tingley
Riverview Truck Repair
Ryan and Melissa Butland

Many thanks, Emily Ostler Colpitts, CRHS Principal, Chair of the Fundy Albert Community Greenhouse Committee Alicia O'Hara, Co-chair of the Fundy Albert Community Greenhouse Committee

]]><![CDATA[The Right to Breathe: Why New Brunswick Needs Environmental Rights]]>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:34:27 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/the-right-to-breathe-why-new-brunswick-needs-environmental-rights

By Deborah Carr

I remember the day with unsettling clarity. Late summer, walking my elderly dog near the gypsum silos in Hillsborough—a place where she could still wander safely off leash. With her fading eyesight and hearing, I was grateful we’d trained her with hand signals. Usually, she trotted only a short distance ahead, checking frequently to ensure I was close by.

But that day, she did something she’d never done. She veered suddenly and plunged into a ditch of stagnant, fetid water—sludge that had seeped for decades from the rotting refuse pile left behind when a gypsum plant closed in the eighties. By the time she noticed my frantic gestures and scrambled out, she was covered. I rushed her to the nearest creek and waded in to wash her. Whether she ingested any, I’ll never know. Months later, following a period of escalating symptoms—muscle weakness, vomiting, seizures—we lost her. Only years afterward, when three dogs died after ingesting blue-green algae in the Wolastoq River, did I consider a connection.

I still walk those marshes. And I still ask why we’ve normalized this toxic inheritance. Don’t we have a right to a healthy place to live?

In New Brunswick, the answer is no.

We have environmental rules—the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Environment Act—but no legally enforceable environmental rights...no clear standing for residents in a court of law. No guarantee that government must do its part to protect our health.

That could change.

The Provincial Legislature building + Supporters for Bill 23 gather with David Coon, Leader NB Green Party, after the bill is presented in the Legislature.

A Long Time Coming
On March 25, 2025, I sat in the Legislature visitor’s gallery as Green Party Leader, David Coon reintroduced Bill 23, An Act Respecting the Right to a Healthy Environment. It was a moving moment that reminded me that I’d first heard of the legislation more than a decade ago.

The idea actually took root in 2009, when parents and advocates started asking how they might protect children from industrial contaminants. They envisioned a process that would give ordinary people the ability to say: This is harming us. This is harming our children. This must stop.

Working with the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate and environmental lawyers in Ontario and Nova Scotia, they drafted a child-focused environmental bill of rights. It launched in 2014, but political interest was weak. Over the years, the bill was refined, strengthened, and is now supported by more than forty organizations.

It’s long overdue.

What Bill 23 Would Do
Bill 23 would enshrine the human right to a healthy environment in provincial law. It would:

Require government to protect health, with special attention to children and vulnerable people
Give any resident standing to go to court if that right is ignored
Create an Environmental Rights Commissioner to investigate contamination
Guarantee access to clean air, safe water, uncontaminated food, information about pollutants, and meaningful participation in decisions

It doesn’t eliminate conflict, but it changes the terrain—from citizen-led protests and roadside blockades to a level legal field where every New Brunswicker has recourse.

Why It Matters
New Brunswick’s history is full of communities left unprotected.

Belledune is the starkest example. For decades, a lead smelter released lead, cadmium, arsenic and other metals into the environment. Residents complained of illness, some died of preventable disease, scientists warned of danger. Yet officials resisted linking the pollution to poor health. Even when marine life and garden produce showed high contamination, government insisted levels were not high enough to cause harm.
A 2005 health study finally confirmed the area had elevated cancer rates, and soil testing proved dangerous lead levels: five times the safe limit for children. Still, change came far too slowly. The smelter closed in 2019, due economic reasons, after nearly 60 years of pollution.
Bill 23 is the tool Belledune never had.

More recently, residents near the Coastal Shell Products plant in Richibucto endured years of noxious odours, headaches, and nausea. Hundreds of complaints, protests, petitions, inspections, equipment upgrades—yet the stench persisted. Regulatory tools existed, but residents were never truly protected. Some initiated their own lawsuits. The plant shut down only after declaring bankruptcy in 2024.
And during the shale gas protests of 2012–14, communities argued that fracking threatened health, water, land, and Indigenous rights. Valid concerns were framed as political opposition rather than basic human rights. Communities had to fundraise for years to pursue legal action.
(As an aside, just this week, public health experts in British Columbia called for an independent study of oil and gas impacts on health, warning of cumulative harms to air, water, and future generations. As Dr. Tim Takaro of Simon Fraser University stated in the CBC article, “If we really accounted for all of those health effects… this industry would have been shut down a long time ago.”)

And I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the increased reports of neurological illnesses in New Brunswick. Years later, we’re still no closer to discovering the causes.

What About the Economy?
It’s a fair question, and one that often surfaces whenever environmental rights are discussed. Yet the global evidence is clear: countries that have legally recognized the right to a healthy and sustainable environment—now more than 160 nations, along with the United Nations—have not watched their economies collapse. They’ve watched them evolve.

Environmental rights tend to shift economies toward greener growth models, higher compliance standards, and increased investment in clean technology and infrastructure. Rather than stalling progress, these laws often spark innovation, pushing industries to adopt more efficient, less polluting technologies, while creating new jobs in renewable energy, sustainable farming, and tourism.

How can we afford it?
How can we not. NB Lung notes one in five of us lives with lung disease, worsened by pollution and climate change. Researchers and advocates have also raised repeated alarms about glyphosate and other contaminants showing up in our bodies and waterways, with links to neurological and chronic illnesses.

We pay the price for pollution with higher healthcare and insurance costs, workplace absences, expensive land and water reclamations. Prevention saves money across our healthcare, personal finances and infrastructure, while strengthening our workforce.

Some opponents warn of job losses, yet we’ve already watched hundreds of mill and mine jobs disappear due to market shifts—long before anyone proposed a legal right to a healthy environment. Too often, our communities are left with the environmental damage and the cleanup costs. We know our local economies are strongest when they’re built on a diverse mix of small and medium-sized businesses, rather than dependence upon a single large employer whose departure brings serious consequences.

Farmers, loggers, and property owners are already facing mounting financial risks as climate impacts accelerate. Bill 23 would require government to plan ahead for floods, storms, wildfires, and heat waves instead of reacting only after the damage is done.

An environmental rights bill doesn’t hinder prosperity—it shifts the focus from industries with the most to gain to the people with the most to lose.

Changing the Story
Our past tells one story. Beyond Belledune, Richibucto, the fracking protests, cancers and neurological diseases already mentioned—and countless others just like them—a 2022 Auditor General report revealed a backlog of more than 1,000 contaminated sites, many left open for over a decade. The area around the gypsum silos—where I still walk—is one of them.

Despite the hidden contamination, the landscape remains beautiful: community-built wetland ponds, cattails, wildlife and trails, with the towering silos standing like sentinels. They remind us of the many jobs that industry once brought, but also the mess it left behind and the community efforts to restore it.

We can stay in this story, or we can write a different one.

A story where every New Brunswicker has a recognized right to a healthy environment. A Commissioner to back them up. And the ability to ask a court to step in when government will not.
In the long run, rural economies can only thrive where the rivers are clean, the air is breathable, the marshes support life, and our children can grow into healthy adults. That’s how we keep real businesses and real families here for the next generation.

Choosing the Future
On March 26, 2026, MLAs will choose which story New Brunswick will live in when they vote on Bill 23. Please write to your MLA and implore them to vote YES—for our children, our communities, and the generations who will inherit the land we leave behind.

Because every New Brunswicker deserves more than rules. We deserve rights. And a future where the marshes are simply marshes again. Where the water is just water. Where both the wildlife and creatures we love can wander safely, and so can we.

Bio: Deborah Carr is a writer, author and environmental activist whose work explores the deep connections between people and place. She most often writes about nature, conservation, and human stories rooted in community.

]]><![CDATA[Letters to the Community: Gas Plant Fiasco]]>Tue, 26 Aug 2025 23:03:29 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/letters-to-the-community-gas-plant-fiascoTime for NB Power to Put Canada First:  The Tantramar Gas Plant Fiasco Demands Answers & Transparency Submitted by: Derek Lackey

As NB Power faces a "comprehensive review," their American-first energy decisions look even worse. In fact, all of their decisions should be questioned.

While New Brunswick ratepayers grapple with soaring electricity bills and NB Power projects "significant future rate increases that are creating affordability challenges,"¹ the utility's leadership continues making decisions that prioritize American interests over Canadian ones. The July 14th award of a 25-year, 400 MW gas plant contract to Missouri-based ProEnergy, despite five Canadian firms submitting competitive bids, now looks even more troubling against the backdrop of an ongoing trade war.² My mentor, Robert H. Lane has always said “Follow the money - find the truth”. Our local reporters need to dig in here.

Economic War Context Makes This Decision Inexcusable

Trump raised tariffs to 35% on Canadian goods not protected by USMCA just as we went to print, escalating a trade conflict that has seen Canada impose 25 per cent tariffs on $29.8 billion in products imported from the United States in March.³ With US$2.5 billion worth of goods and services crossing the border every day, this isn't just political posturing, it’s economic warfare that directly impacts every Canadian business and household.⁴

Yet at the very moment our federal government fights to protect Canadian industries from American trade aggression, NB Power handed a quarter-century energy contract to a U.S. company!! The optics couldn't be worse: while Ottawa battles to keep Canadian jobs and revenue in Canada, our provincial utility outsources critical infrastructure to the very country imposing punitive tariffs on our exports.

The Comprehensive Review Must Address This Contradiction

The government announced the plan for the comprehensive review of NB Power in April, citing concerns about rates, reliability, and the utility's crushing debt load. But this review must also examine whether NB Power's contracting practices align with Canadian interests, particularly during a period of escalating trade tensions.

The Tantramar plant decision raises fundamental questions about NB Power's procurement priorities:

Why were five Canadian firms deemed inferior to a Missouri-based company?

How does locking New Brunswick into 25 years of U.S.-sourced fracked gas serve provincial energy security during a trade war?

What economic impact analysis was conducted on the decision to send energy dollars south instead of keeping them in Canada?

Missing Canadian Content Requirements

Most well-managed provincial utilities have Canadian content requirements for major infrastructure projects. These policies recognize that taxpayer-owned utilities should prioritize domestic and local suppliers when possible, keeping jobs, revenue and profits within our borders while building local expertise.

NB Power's failure to choose Canadian bidders for the Tantramar project suggests either inadequate procurement policies or poor implementation. Either way, it represents a policy failure that the comprehensive review must address.

Local Green MLA Megan Mitton captured the absurdity perfectly: we're in an economic war with the U.S., yet our government signed a deal with an American firm. This isn't just about business, it’s about sovereignty and economic common sense.

Environmental Concerns Secondary to Economic Sovereignty

While the environmental implications of building on the sensitive Chignecto Isthmus remain serious, with ProEnergy's own estimates suggesting up to 900,000 tonnes/year of greenhouse gas emissions in worst-case scenarios, the immediate concern must be economic.

Canada cannot afford to subsidize American companies with taxpayer-owned utility contracts while simultaneously fighting a trade war. Every dollar sent to ProEnergy over the next 25 years is a dollar that could have supported Canadian workers, Canadian expertise, and Canadian energy independence.

What the Review Must Deliver

As the NB Power comprehensive review unfolds, New Brunswickers deserve clear answers about procurement priorities. The review panel must examine:

Procurement Policy Reform: Implementing robust Canadian content requirements for future major contracts. Even projects on the books should be reviewed and Canadian firms should be given priority. Only when the expertise does not exist in Canada, should a US firm even be considered.
Contract Transparency: Full disclosure of why Canadian bidders were rejected and what criteria favoured the American proposal.
Economic Impact Assessment: Analysis of the long-term cost of sending energy revenue to the U.S. during a trade war.
Energy Security Strategy: How dependence on U.S. fracked gas affects provincial energy sovereignty.

The Bottom Line

NB Power is burdened with a high debt to equity ratio exceeding 90% and projects major rate increases. At this critical juncture, every major contract decision should maximize value for New Brunswick ratepayers and Canadian economic interests.

The Tantramar gas plant contract fails this test spectacularly. While American tariffs punish Canadian businesses and workers, NB Power rewards American companies with guaranteed revenue streams funded by New Brunswick ratepayers.

Premier Holt and the review panel must ensure this never happens again. Canadian utilities should serve Canadian interests first, especially during economic conflicts with the very countries seeking our major infrastructure contracts.

New Brunswickers pay the bill. We deserve energy decisions that put Canada first.

The comprehensive review of NB Power continues through 2025. New Brunswickers can submit feedback at gnb.ca/nb-power-review.

To petition against outsourcing major Canadian infrastructure projects, visit chng.it/B5tyRwnJbc. Your voice matters and only you can exercise it.

Sources include:

1. Government sources: The official NB Power review website for information about rate increases and debt ratios 2. Local media coverage: CHMA FM, The Regional, and Yahoo News Canada for specific details about the gas plant contract and environmental estimates
3. Direct quotes: Properly attributed quotes from MLA Megan Mitton and other officials from your original sources.

]]><![CDATA[Local Actions Matter on a Global Scale: NB Power's Gas Plant Proposed for Centre-Village on the Chignecto Isthmus]]>Tue, 26 Aug 2025 22:53:49 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/local-actions-matter-on-a-global-scale-nb-powers-gas-plant-proposed-for-centre-village-on-the-chignecto-isthmusSubmitted by Deborah Carr, Albert County Resident

I want to share the letter I submitted on NB Power's gas plant proposed for Centre-Village on the Chignecto Isthmus. In this time of wildfires and heat, drought and dangerous air quality, political strife and polarization, wars and genocides, it's easy to overlook projects that do not seem to affect us directly. We're all carrying a lot of weight these days.

But, as I point out in my letter, we are all connected and our actions have long-lasting impacts. People can enjoy watching the miracle of the shorebirds at Dorchester and Mary's Point right now because protective measures were taken long ago to secure a critical stop along the route of travel for millions of these species. They are a perfect example of how local actions matter on a global scale. Here's my letter:

Chignecto at the Crossroads: Conscience or Catastrophe?

I’m writing to express serious concerns about the proposed Centre-Village Gas Plant Project and its potential impact on one of New Brunswick’s most ecologically sensitive regions.

For years, in a voluntary capacity, my husband has assisted with monitoring several Nature Conservancy of Canada properties in the Chignecto Isthmus—a vital wildlife corridor--connecting land mammals (particularly Nova Scotia’s endangered moose population) to the rest of North America. Containing tidal marshes, tidal rivers, mud flats, inland freshwater marshes, coastal saltwater marshes, and mixed forest, the area is also home to many rare plant species, more than 220 bird species, and provides an important stopover site for migratory birds. It's no wonder Parks Canada has designated this isthmus as one of 23 priority areas for restoring ecological connectivity. The observations and data my husband has helped collect over this time has shown increasing biodiversity, confirming that conservation efforts are yielding results.

From my own perspective as a climate activist and biographer of New Brunswick’s environmental pioneer Mary Majka—who helped establish the Mary’s Point Migratory Shorebird Preserve on the Bay of Fundy, part of a network of globally significant areas for migrating shorebirds—I’m acutely aware of the importance of protecting migratory pathways and wetlands. Imagining the perils that species face across their global journeys deepens my conviction in the critical role our local efforts play in safeguarding the planet’s biodiversity.

We were also active participants in New Brunswick’s 2019 Nature Legacy initiative that, supported by federal funding, doubled existing protected areas by prioritizing old growth forests, wetlands, and wildlife corridors. We're proud that our efforts helped secure Shepody Mountain’s designation as a Protected Natural Area due to its connective role in linking coastal wetlands and other conservation zones just across the bay from the Sackville area.

These victories have been hard-won, but vital to the health of ecosystems, wildlife and humans. Vital for future generations.

As we watch the increasing impacts of climate change on wildlife populations, let us always remember Rachel Carson’s prophetic words in Silent Spring:

“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been travelling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less travelled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”

We’ve never been closer to such a crossroads as we helplessly watch our rivers dry up, and our nation’s forests and communities burn, knowing in our hearts we have not done enough to conserve and protect critical forests, wetlands and precious water resources for the future. Our children and grandchildren will suffer the most from our unwise choices, our disregard for planetary health and well-being.

Siting a fossil fuel plant in a sensitive location such as the Chignecto Isthmus directly undermines decades of dedicated conservation work and risks repeating ecological disasters, such as the catastrophic 2013 loss of 7,500 songbirds to a Canaport LNG gas flare in Saint John.

NB Power’s rationale of cost savings and timely delivery cannot justify placing a fossil fuel facility in a sensitive wetland. The public has not been told what alternatives were examined and why they were rejected in favour of infrastructure that ties us to further fossil fuel use for decades. It’s especially troubling that the Impact Assessment Agency does not include greenhouse gas emissions in its mandate, despite climate change’s direct impact on the ecosystems, species migration, and Indigenous health it claims to protect.

Our nation appears set against itself in goals.

The United Nations’ International Court of Justice recently ruled that failure to act on climate change may constitute a violation of international law. Governments have legal responsibilities to address climate change. As Court President Yūji Iwasawa stated, the climate crisis is “an existential problem of planetary proportions.”

A friend once said, ‘You environmentalists don’t know how to compromise.’ But I argue that we’re facing this planetary crisis because we’ve ALL compromised far too much. We’ve compromised our values and conscience, health and well-being, knowledge and inner wisdom. We’re long past the point where environmental and climate considerations can be secondary. We MUST prioritize long-term ecological integrity and climate responsibility; therefore, I urge you to order an Impact Assessment on this ill-advised project.

https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/89719/contributions/id/63360

]]><![CDATA[Enough with "Business as Usual" at the Expense of Canadians]]>Fri, 01 Aug 2025 22:43:47 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/enough-with-business-as-usual-at-the-expense-of-canadians

Submitted by: Derek Lackey, Lackey Agency, www.LACKEY.agency/derek@LACKEY.agency

On July 14, 2025, NB Power awarded a 25-year, 400 MW power-purchase contract—with the option to extend—to ProEnergy. ProEnergy is a subsidiary of a Missouri‑based U.S. company and has been given the contract, to build, own, and operate a fossil gas plant in Tantramar, NB, even though five Canadian firms submitted bids. Let that sink in: amid ridiculous tariffs and ever-strained cross‑border trade relations, especially under Trump‑era rhetoric, NB Power chose an American provider over Canadian competitors. That reeks of either gross incompetence or a blatant disregard for Canadian sovereignty and local industry.

An American Project on Canadian Soil for 25 Years
The deal locks New Brunswick into U.S.-sourced fracked gas for the next quarter‑century. All while Canadian companies, presumably with better knowledge of local supply chains and regulations, were passed over. This isn’t just a business decision, it’s a political and moral fail. Local Green MLA Megan Mitton calls it a contradiction: “we’re in an economic war with the U.S., yet our government signed a deal with an American firm.” Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black blasted NB Power for blind-siding locals with no prior consultation or discussion before the announcement. ProEnergy’s own environmental impact filing estimates up to 900,000 tonnes/year of GHG emissions—but only calls it “worst-case” while NB Power claims a typical 100,000 tonnes/year. That gulf is nine times higher and shouldn’t just raise eyebrows; it demands a full reckoning. Meanwhile, the facility threatens sensitive Chignecto Isthmus wetlands, critical wildlife corridors, and local groundwater (nearly 7,000 m³/day draw) without adequate consultation with experts like those at the Atlantic Wildlife Institute.

What’s Worse: Ratepayers Sealed the Deal
Can you believe NB Power won’t disclose how much this will cost consumers? The company crows that ProEnergy’s bid was the “least‑cost solution” that met the 2028 deadline, but ratepayers have zero transparency.

Canadians Deserve Better
This fiasco reeks of broken promises and failed priorities. Canada‑first? Not when U.S. firms get the contracts and locals are kept in the dark. Renewable integration? Hardly, this is fossil infrastructure masquerading as “transition.” Protecting provincial sovereignty? More like outsourcing.

It’s Time We Demand:

A public disclosure of why every Canadian bidder was rejected.
A thorough review of the supposed cost‑competitiveness.
Local and Indigenous consultation that wasn’t done quietly after-the-fact.
Commitment to explore local, or at least Canadian ownership, and renewable alternatives.

We will cough up the power bills. It’s only fair we see the full picture. Why were Canadian companies kicked aside? Why does U.S. fracked gas gets priority? Why no one, or no in accountability, is putting New Brunswickers first?

NB Power, provincial authorities, Premier Holt: this is not leadership. It’s surrender.

Please sign the petition to stop this from happening: chng.it/B5tyRwnJbc

References: greencaucusvert.ca/tantramar-gas-plant-eia-must-include-robust-public-consultation-and- expert-review theregional.com/green-politican-alarmed-that-big-gas-plant-will-be-built-in-her-riding ca.news.yahoo.com/big-emissions-estimate-worst-case-090000189.html theregional.com/green-politican-alarmed-that-big-gas-plant-will-be-built-in-her-riding warktimes.com chmafm.com/welcome/gas-fired-power-plant-announced-for-rural-tantramar-environment al-impact-assessment-underway

]]><![CDATA[Vandalism at Railway Museum: Community Help Needed]]>Thu, 29 May 2025 19:09:30 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/vandalism-at-railway-museum-community-help-needed

Image of train and train station from www.facebook.com/NBrailwaymuseum

Submitted by: David Briggs, Board Member, New Brunswick Railway Museum

I have been involved with the local New Brunswick Railway Museum now for over 4 years. I am currently on the board along with a few others. The main reason I became involved is I have a huge passion in preserving our past and our heritage.

The NB Railway Museum is a non profit organization run by mainly volunteers all year round and local area students during the summer months and a few weekends during the fall. We also are open for group bookings, special events, meetings or functions. It relies heavily on support from many local area organizations, local volunteers, donations and some government funding.

During the winter months volunteers donate many hours towards the decorating of the railway museum. The museum opens it’s doors during the Christmas in the Country weekend for visitors and anyone else who would like to come and see the festive holiday decorating that has been done.

This past season one of our board members stored some of their keepsake ornaments from her family, along with some of the other Christmas decorations that were used at the museum, in one of the train cars located beside the station building. It disheartened me to learn that the rail car was broken into and the decorations were destroyed. This museum is private property and has been constantly vandalized for the past number of years and has become the local hangout and playground for many of the local young adults. This same museum which employs 6 to 7 young adults each year and will hopefully employ more young adult in years to come. To many of our local area youth, this place is often their first job.

I am saddened by the thoughts that some of today's youth have not learned to appreciate what is not theirs and to respect other peoples property. These young adults are headed down a road that will not be forgiving as they get older. Many people have not seen the true value of what we have here in our community and if we continue to let our children grow up vandalizing other peoples property then there will be nothing left to pass on to show the next generations.

I am looking for suggestions/ideas. Do we start up a community watch? Do we reward those who bring vandals names forward? Do we install more video monitoring? Do we hire a security guard? What are your thoughts?

Feel free to send them to us at CAC and we will forward them and share them here, or contact the museum directly at: www.facebook.com/NBrailwaymuseum, nbrailway@nb.aibn.com, or 506-734-3195. 

]]><![CDATA[Never did I think I would see what is happening now...]]>Fri, 28 Feb 2025 17:07:07 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/never-did-i-think-i-would-see-what-is-happening-nowDear friends, former students, colleagues, business operators and all who love Albert County:

I spent my youth in the rich natural culture of the Demoiselle Creek Valley here in Albert County. My memories are filled with pictures of swimming in and skating on the creek, exploring the many brooks that fed the creek and experiencing the many activities of a family who lived and loved the land.

In later years, after 27 years of teaching, I have been working on the land near the marshes and the powerful tides, and entertaining visitors who are amazed by our tides. Since my first seminar on Climate Change in 1970, I have conveyed concerns about what is happening on our earth.

Never did I think I would see what is happening now.

The past few years have resulted in the decimation of acres of land by clear cutting. People are ranting about deer invading their backyards and gardens; this past summer numerous people complained about bears on their properties. When I was a child, to see deer we would have to pack in the car in the fall at night, visit an orchard and shine a powerful light (purchased for that event) at the apple trees. The one and only time we saw a bear was when our father drove us to a neighbouring village where a hunter displayed his dead bear on the trunk of his car.

Now in 2025 we have another event occurring; a foreign mining company drilling for copper samples in the Albert Mines, Route 114 Loop, otherwise known as part of the Demoiselle Creek Watershed. It is surrounded by 327 homes, 18+ businesses and the rare earth phenomena of the Bay of Fundy Tides.

I assure you I only deal in facts. However, you may not believe me.

I am asking you to look at these situations. Do you want this obliteration to continue? Do you want to stand by while people clear cut when Forestry Practices exist to harvest and not eliminate the biosystem on that acreage? Or stand by while a foreign company is testing our Albert County for the destructiveness of a copper mine?

First, you must make inquiries and find the facts for yourself. Learn to fact check. Find information online or follow “Save the Demoiselle Creek Watershed” on Facebook page. Support organizations who care about our environment like Shepody Fish and Game, Fundy Biosphere, Fundy National Park, etc. Start talking and asking questions of your family and friends. If you do not have a computer, ask one of your grandkids to help you search. You will be teaching them as well as yourself.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you join this quest to look after our Albert County. I know you love this place!

Very warm regards,
Phyllis Sutherland

]]><![CDATA[Tips from a reader in response to the Village of Fundy Albert Information regarding registering your dogs using Docupet...]]>Fri, 28 Feb 2025 17:01:38 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/tips-from-a-reader-in-response-to-the-village-of-fundy-albert-information-regarding-registering-your-dogs-using-docupetHi, I read your news and I always enjoy it.

I have been using docupet for years. You actually get 1 - $20 for Ren's Pets in Dieppe and 1 - $20 for Global Pets. I get two of each for 2 dogs.

It also gives you a free tag. You end up getting a free licence (coupons are worth more than the cost of the license). - Lynn Thebeau

]]><![CDATA[Letter from the Chair of Connecting Albert County]]>Fri, 31 Jan 2025 02:02:46 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/letter-from-the-chair-of-connecting-albert-countySubmitted by: Heather Alward, CAC Board of Directors Chair

As the current Chair of Connecting Albert County, I applaud the talents that have put their efforts into building this publication into what it is. From the moment I had heard that there was such a way to keep Albert County connected I was in complete support of it as I felt that the four communities representing Albert County fell short on communication with each other in the past.

I have volunteered on the board for half of the time Connecting Albert County has been around. In answering the call for volunteers, I started out by adding events into the calendar, being a board member and then by taking on the position of Chair; all the while I was learning a lot about this publication. I’ve always had interest in the many qualities that Albert County has to offer. Whether you are in Alma or Lower Coverdale or back in Elgin, we have the history, tourism and family connections to keep us all sitting around a table talking together for hours.

As the community comes together and supports our little publication it will grow to become a needed fixture in our home. As my five years are up and it’s time for me to move on to other interests, I know Connecting Albert County will be here for the extended future and will see even more challenges than we did in the last 10 years. So here’s to hard work, a great publication and a community of inspiring people.

Congratulations on year 10!
]]><![CDATA[News from the New Brunswick Senior Citizens’ Federation In Memory of Percy Huntington]]>Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:04:01 GMThttps://www.connectingalbertcounty.org/opinions-letters-and-reflections/news-from-the-new-brunswick-senior-citizens-federationin-memory-of-percy-huntington

Image of Percy Huntington provided by NBSCF

Submitted by: Lise Guignard, Office Manager  

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Percy Huntington, current Past President and a devoted and longtime member of the New Brunswick Senior Citizens Federation (NBSCF). Percy’s commitment to enhancing the quality of life for seniors across New Brunswick shone brightly through his decades of dedicated service, where he made a lasting impact on both the organization and the broader community.

Percy, a resident of Upper Salmon Creek, first joined the Minto Senior Citizens’ Club in 1993. He quickly became a valued leader, taking on the role of Vice-President in 2003 and President in 2004. His engagement with the NBSCF grew from there; Percy served as Chairperson of the Transportation Committee in 2005 and 2007, and later, as Chairperson of both the Ways and Means and Nominating Committees in 2007. His leadership extended to the 55+ Games, where he served as President from 2008 to 2015 and continued as Past-President on the Committee thereafter.

Percy’s role as President of the Capital Zone, which he held from 2007 to 2016 and resumed from 2017 to 2022, reflected his unwavering commitment to seniors. He was also Grand Knight for Council 3502 of the Minto Knights of Columbus for eight years, serving additionally as a 4th Degree Knight in Fredericton, and as a faithful scribe for the Reverend Dr. Everett Grant Council from 2013 to 2015.

Always a passionate advocate, Percy joyfully represented the Federation during countless visits to clubs and zones across the province. As Vice-President of the Federation, he served on several committees, including Perfect Partners in Saint John and the Home Support Group in Fredericton, and represented the NBSCF at nursing home inaugurations across New Brunswick.

Between 2015 and 2022, Percy chaired the Programs and Services Committee, where he spearheaded Leadership Sessions for Seniors’ Clubs across the province. These sessions covered essential topics such as club constitutions, by-laws, and the roles and responsibilities of club officers, along with courses like 55 Alive, Winter Driving, Senior Assisted Travel, and Home Safety. His tireless efforts in these areas earned him the NBSCF’s Volunteer of the Year Award and a Lifetime Membership from the Capital Zone and the Federation in 2017.

Percy remained a steadfast presence at NBSCF events and in the lives of members throughout the province. He served as President of the Federation from 2022 until this past May. Despite being a unilingual Anglophone, he ensured bilingual representation during visits or exchanges with zones, clubs, and members, often bringing bilingual companions to assist with translations. His mission was always clear: to work for all seniors and to make a positive difference in their lives.

Percy will be remembered for his passionate service, dedication, leadership, commitment and the positive impact he made on the lives of seniors across the province. His unwavering commitment to improving the quality of life for seniors in New Brunswick was evident in all his endeavours. He has left an indelible mark on our Federation and the communities he served, and his legacy of dedication will continue to inspire us all.

Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with his wife Janet, his family and friends during this difficult time. 

Phone: (506) 857-8242 |Toll Free: 1-800-453-4333 | Email: info@nbscf.ca or liseguignard@nbscf.ca

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