Members of Tantramar council split their vote Thursday on whether to rescind a statement released by Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell last week following the province’s conditional approval of the proposed RIGS gas plant.
Several councillors took issue with the statement, saying it was released without their input and did not reflect council’s position on the project. Councillor Allison Butcher later moved to rescind the statement, but with Councillor Barry Hicks absent, the eight members present, which included the mayor, split 4-4 and the motion failed.
The province’s decision came after an environmental impact assessment of PROENERGY’s proposed 500-megawatt natural gas generating station near Centre Village. Wiggins-Colwell told council she released the statement following that decision, while several councillors argued council should have been consulted first.
Before Thursday’s meeting, gas plant opponent Terry Jones said the statement had left her uncertain about where the municipality stood, despite council having previously voted against the project.
“Right now, we’re in limbo. We don’t know who’s for the plant and who’s against the plant,” Jones said. “We don’t know if we have municipal support, and that was something we had gotten twice and counted on.”
That uncertainty over council’s position carried into the meeting. Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen said he was surprised when he first saw the statement because council had not discussed it beforehand.
“When I initially saw the statement come out, I was a little thrown back just at the fact that it didn’t indicate that mayor and council, that this was coming out from mayor and council,” Goguen said.
Councillor Kristen LeBlanc raised a similar concern, arguing that council had already established its position on the project and the new statement did not reflect that decision.
“Even last year in 2025 when Councillor Mike Tower and the rest of council adopted that opposition, the letter or the release, whatever you call it, that was placed on there does not reflect council and what we’ve collectively decided on at all,” LeBlanc said.
Wiggins-Colwell defended her decision to release the statement, saying she felt it was important to respond after the province’s decision. She acknowledged during the discussion that she could have brought the statement back to council first, and later said she would handle a similar situation differently in the future.
“What I probably would do going forward is saying, ‘This is the mayor’s statement.’ I would not include the council if I didn’t think,” Wiggins-Colwell said.
The mayor was not willing to withdraw the statement already released. Butcher argued that because it had been issued on behalf of the mayor and council, the rest of council should have a say in whether it remained, leading her to move that the statement be rescinded. LeBlanc seconded the motion.
Hicks was the only member absent from Thursday’s meeting, leaving eight members to vote on Butcher’s motion. Four voted in favour and four voted against, causing the motion to fail and leaving the statement in place.
Pam Novak attended Thursday’s meeting and spoke with CHMA afterward. She said she was disappointed by how the issue ended, especially after learning during the discussion that council had not been consulted on the statement.
“For it just to end where it’s a motion fail on either rescinding or somehow changing the wording of this, I think is very disappointing to at least everybody who was sitting in the chambers,” Novak said.
Novak also criticized the way the statement had been released, describing it as “poorly done and poorly timed.”
Council’s earlier opposition to the proposed gas plant remains in place. The 4-4 vote Thursday only concerned the mayor’s statement.
Theodore Ramharack holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western University and a diploma in Broadcast Journalism. He recently completed an internship with CBC News’ The National.
Originally from Ontario, he moved to Sackville to join CHMA as a local journalist and is excited to get to know the Tantramar region and share stories from the community.
