The dust is settling in Strait Shores. After a tumultuous three months which involved multiple resignations and reports into council behaviour, the Local Governance Commission of New Brunswick has appointed a supervisor to replace the remaining, defunct council.
CHMA has reached out to the new supervisor, Greg Lutes, to ask questions about his work before municipal elections in May 2026 will elect a new council for Strait Shores. We are waiting to hear back.
In the meantime, former councillor Andy MacGregor has met with the new supervisor, and stopped by CHMA studios this week to talk about what he learned, and what’s in store for Strait Shores in the next year.
“He’s experienced and he knows how to get things done,” says MacGregor of new supervisor Greg Lutes. “So I have all the confidence in the world that Greg’s going to do a great job for Strait Shores.”
While the appointment of a supervisor to replace council means that all council committees are also out of commission, MacGregor says the group of 12 who had been meeting to focus on tourism development will continue as a citizens committee. And any projects they propose will go to Lutes for consideration.
“It’ll operate just like it always has… The decision makers, instead of being, you know, an elected body of councillors, will be the supervisor,” says MacGregor. “The budget is still the budget… We still have a functioning municipality.”
MacGregor is also a member of the Age Friendly Committee of Strait Shores, which is celebrating its one year anniversary with two town hall events this June. The meetings will happen in Cape Tormentine on June 4 and in Baie Verte on June 17, and feature speakers from Urban Rural Rides and the Regional Service Commission talking about transportation.
It’s still not clear how much the hiring of a supervisor will cost the municipality. Supervisors appointed over a 10-month period in Lakeland Ridges in 2023 and 2024 cost that municipality just over $118,000. But it all depends on how much times Lutes spends in his duties. The cost will also be offset by savings on remuneration for mayor and council, which was set at about $27,000 in 2023.
“I’m guessing the cost municipality would be minimal if Mr. Lutes is in the office one day a month, opposed to, you know, once a week,” says MacGregor. “It’s not going to be as much as people were thinking at the onset of all this.”
‘How did we get here?’
MacGregor was at the centre of the storm that ended with Lutes being appointed supervisor, but he still has questions about how it all happened.
In February, just two months after being elected to council in a by-election on an campaign promising to bring more transparency to municipal operations, MacGregor proposed a series of successful motions aimed at doing just that.
But ten days later, MacGregor was suspended from council in an motion passed by councillors Stacy Jones and Tanya Haynes, based in part on a scathing resignation letter from former mayor Jason Stokes, in which he called MacGregor “the town bully”.
MacGregor immediately called out the proceeding as unfair and complained to the Local Governance Commission, who issued a report on April 23 which found that council violated their own code of conduct by-law in suspending MacGregor. The Commission report noted that council failed to produce a detailed, written complaint against MacGregor, and that their suspension of the councillor was outside the purview of their bylaw.
In the meantime, Strait Shores council had proceeded under advice from the Southeast Regional Service Commission to hire an HR consultant, MC Advisory, to investigate the complaint against MacGregor. HR consultant Rollie King did not flag any issues with the process for the complaint against MacGregor. Rather, King found MacGregor in violation of the code of conduct for a statement made at council on February 10, and for MacGregor’s dogged pursuit of his transparency objective.
Training needed
Despite their very different takes on the situation, the recommendations of both King and the Local Governance Commission focussed on training, with King also calling for mediation involving all staff and council.
MacGregor says he’s hoping training will be in place in May 2026, when a new council is slated to be elected. But he’s still undecided as to whether his name will appear on the ballot for Strait Shores. “I have time, so I’ll use it,” says MacGregor.
MacGregor is also undecided on whether he will pursue answers to questions about what went wrong in Strait Shores.
“I ask myself that frequently, because in my mind, there’s a big question as to how we ended up here,” says MacGregor. “And there’s a lot to consider, you know. I have my mental health to consider, and my wife’s, and just everybody in the community.”
But in addition to his desire to move on, MacGregor is also motivated to unpack what happened. “Somebody needs to look at it and say, how did this happen?” says MacGregor. “So that it doesn’t happen again.”
“People giving advice were giving bad advice. They were giving the wrong advice, and it didn’t cost them anything, but it cost us our government,” says MacGregor. “It cost us our dignity. It cost us our pride.”
MacGregor has commented previously that the silver lining of the recent conflict and controversy has been an increased awareness and involvement from Strait Shores residents. He’s hoping that will continue. “Stay engaged, pay attention and get involved,” says MacGregor. “It’s all of our community, and it’s what we make it.”
“Strait Shores is still Strait Shores,” he says. “Things can still get done… We have a very experienced fella running the community who’s got years of experience, he knows how to get things done,” says MacGregor. “So I see this as a great opportunity for Strait Shores.”
