CHMA is continuing its series of short candidate interviews ahead of Tantramar’s municipal election on May 11.
This time, Mike Robar sat down with Andrew Black, current mayor and one of eight candidates running for one of four Ward 3 council seats. Black spoke about his desire to see through some projects started under his tenure as Tantramar’s first mayor and how he wants to continue to serve his community as a councillor.
Listen to the audio below:
This interview has been edited for clarity
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
 My name is Andrew Black. I’m the mayor of Tantramar and currently running for a Ward 3 council seat in the upcoming election. I was born in 1975 in Amherst, and as part of the employment migration, my parents moved to Calgary, Alberta, where I lived for the first 10 years of my life, and then moved back to Sackville in 1985, where I’ve lived most of my life. There was a brief period of seven years where I lived in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Toronto for a while. But most of my life I’ve lived in Sackville. My mom and my dad are both from Sackville and Amherst, and my family history goes back quite far.
I’m 50 years old. I have three children, all born and raised in Sackville. I graduated from Tantramar High School and graduated from Mount Allison in 1997. My background is in business management and employee relations, and I owned and operated two businesses in downtown Sackville. And as of June 1, I’ll be the new executive director for Open Sky Cooperative.
What made you want to run in this year’s municipal election?
 I’m running for a seat on council because I’ve been on council for 10 years—so since 2016—and in that time I’ve seen lots of growth and improvement: the creation of the Climate Change Advisory Committee; the retention ponds we have in town; an increase in the dollar value for community grant funding from the municipality; consistent responsible budgets with adequate reserves year over year; the creation of the Mayor’s Roundtable on Housing; and a new fire hall in Dorchester. That’s just a little bit, but there have been so many amazing things that have happened in this community.
And through all of that, I’ve been a voice for residents asking questions and being supportive of council decisions. And I find myself focusing mostly on policy, process, and procedure. I’d like the chance to advocate, celebrate, defend, and protect this community that I love, that I’ve been doing for the last 10 years, and seeing where this community can go from here.
What would you like to accomplish if you are elected?
 Well, there’s a lot of things that are left unfinished. The two biggest ones that are, I think, top of mind in the community are the fire department conversations and the RIGS project out in Centre Village. Those are just two of them. The fire department has an investigation ongoing, which I want to see to its end, and I want to continue to advocate in opposition to the RIGS project in Centre Village. But those are just a couple of them.
There’s also the Chignecto Isthmus project, something that I’ve personally been advocating, even sitting in at the Senate in Ottawa. And I’d like to continue that conversation. It’s died. And that’s worrisome because it’s a huge project for the community and I think that I’d like to at least be there as a part of council to see where that conversation goes.
Then we have a strategic plan and we have a recreation master plan. The rec master plan now includes a multi-purpose facility. Ten years out, granted, but very important conversations are coming up around the farmer’s market and other community needs in that building, and I’d like to be a part of that as well.
And then finally, continuing with the Mayor’s Roundtable on Housing and the Rural Health Action Group. Two very important committees that are looking at affordable housing, but also attempting to deal with healthcare and all of the related problems with that, like transportation and lack of service. So those are the things that I want to touch on. Obviously not all in the first year, but in the possible four years that I could be on council.
 Thank you so much for coming in today, Andrew. As I have the rest of the candidates I’ve spoken with, I wish you the best of luck in the election on May 11.
Ward 3 voters will choose among eight candidates for four council seats on May 11. CHMA will continue publishing candidate interviews as election day approaches. For more election news, visit CHMA’s Tantramar Municipal Election 2026 page.
