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 incumbent Michael Tower, one of eight candidates running for one of four Ward 3 council seats. Tower spoke about policy changes he would like to see, like increased allowances for questions during council meetings, and a desire to finish what council started regarding things like the fire department and the accessible elevator in the civic centre.
Listen to the audio below:
This interview has been edited for clarity
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
 Well, I was born and raised in this beautiful town. I’ve lived in Sackville and Dorchester. My roots are from Dorchester, Dorchester Cape, Rockport. So that’s all there.
I have two beautiful children and four beautiful grandchildren, which I helped raise. And I served nine years with the 8th Hussars reserves. I worked 47 years for NB Liquor, and now I’ve been doing what I can, the best I can, working for the town, which I enjoy very much. So it’s pretty straightforward—I know this area and I think a lot of people in town know me.
What made you want to run in this year’s municipal election?
 I think I’m running for the same reason I’ve always run, and that is to be a voice for the people in town. When I first got on, there was a problem with transparency, so I ran on the idea of transparency, and the new council immediately changed some of the policies they had to open up more information.
But I have also always wanted to work for the people. It’s been an honour so far to be working for them, and when I hear questions or concerns, I like to bring them forward to let council address them. And that’s, you know, where I did speak up and I thought I had the ability to convince council. So I argued the RIGS project should be opposed by council. We can’t change the government’s point of view, but we might be able to encourage them to change their point of view. And the council agreed and we passed the motion. So I try to do those things for the people. The idea of free skates, I got that from citizens, so I brought it to council, convinced them and we got them. So I enjoy doing that. I enjoy walking around, talking to people, seeing what they’re thinking and what they think we’re doing.
What would you like to accomplish if you are reelected?
 Well, there’s so many of those things. You know, we still have to solve the fire department issue, but I think we’ve got that process happening. And then we have the accessibility at the civic centre, which we are now addressing to have come forward for the new council to decide on the elevator and move forward. And then there’s also the hospital. I think that’s something we have got to stay focused on and push the government to bring it back to 24/7 service at the emergency ward.
I also want the procedure policy updated. I want an extra question period (at council meetings), and maybe bring back what we used to have, a question period before council on anything that came forward. And then of course, we have the incentive policy. I want it updated. We’ll bring up the minimum and lower maybe the percentage a little just to bring things in tune. It costs more to build a house, and so therefore it costs more to build buildings. So let’s bring that minimum value up.
But then we also have the library, which we have to address, but we can’t do that until we find out how to do the lagoon, which the government is telling us we have to do. And so therefore, I want us to focus on that. We got the farmer’s market, there’s so much. So I really want the people to look at their ballots and go to the bottom and start voting from the bottom up and find Mike Tower and vote Mike Tower so I can continue this battle.
Thank you so much for talking with me today, Michael. As I have the rest of the candidates, 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.
