New BrunswickOfficials from New Brunswick’s Local Governance Commission heard questions and suggestions but mostly praise during a legislative committee meeting on Wednesday.Liberal MLA urges own minister to act on request by Local Governance CommissionSam Farley · CBC News · Posted: Oct 01, 2025 4:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoLocal Governance Commission chair Giselle Goguen, right, and commission director and general counsel Mary Oley, left, spoke to a legislative committee for the first time since the commission was formed last year. (Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Livestream)Officials from New Brunswick’s Local Governance Commission heard questions and suggestions but mostly praise during a legislative committee meeting on Wednesday.Commission chair Giselle Goguen presented its recently released annual report, which includes a call for mandatory training for municipal councillors and senior officials. “The need for training in specific areas that we’re suggesting is especially evident in recently amalgamated communities,” Goguen told the committee. “And I think that specifically confusion over governance, policy principles and legal obligations is leading to avoidable conflict, expense and stress.”The previous PC government of Blaine Higgs brought in Local Government Reform in 2023. Since then, two of the newly amalgamated municipalities — Strait Shores and Sunbury-York South — have needed supervisors installed by the commission after their councils fell apart from resignations. WATCH | ‘Confusion over governance principles’ leading to stress, says commission chair:Local governance committee takes questions from MLAs A report issued last month called for mandatory training for all municipal councillors and senior staff. Goguen said the phones started ringing “on Day One” after the commission opened up shop in May 2024. She and her staff have fielded about 100 inquiries, which she said made it “clear that there’s a lot of misunderstanding out there in terms of especially roles and responsibilities.” Goguen noted that the commission was not specifying what form the mandatory training should take, leaving that to the province. But she did suggest that it could be done virtually and could possibly take a day or two at most. MLAs from all three parties at Wednesday’s meeting were supportive of the commission’s work so far, as well as Goguen’s recommendations.Committee member and Liberal MLA Jacques LeBlanc said his party will look at the recommendations with a view to making changes through legislation. (Michael Heenan/CBC)Liberal MLA and committee member Jacques LeBlanc said he recently spoke with Local Government Minister Aaron Kennedy.”He’s very, very proactive and we’re going to look at these recommendations and bring forward the legislation or the pieces that he feels that we need to move forward,” LeBlanc told CBC News in an interview. PC Leader and committee member Glen Savoie said the recommendations were “wonderful” and pledged that his party would support having them implemented.When asked why the PCs hadn’t included mandatory training when they enacted the reforms two years ago, Savoie said the changes were complex and the need for training is now part of an evolution.In her remarks, Goguen said she was proud of her “small team” for starting a new entity from scratch, adding that they had spent lots of time interpreting the legislation that set up the commission as they got started. Several MLAs asked her if she anticipated needing a larger staff or budget, but she responded that the commission is currently able to work well with existing resources. Working in a local government is challenging, Goguen stressed several times.”No one runs for council or mayor or takes a job at a local village because they don’t want to help their communities,” she said.”These are people who are motivated to help their communities. They just need the tools to do it correctly.” ABOUT THE AUTHORSam Farley is a Fredericton-based reporter at CBC New Brunswick. Originally from Boston, he is a journalism graduate of the University of King’s College in Halifax. He can be reached at sam.farley@cbc.ca
MLAs back commission’s call for mandatory training for municipal councillors and officials
