Commission finds Strait Shores council mishandled investigation into new member

Sam Farley · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 25, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 21 minutes ago

Strait Shores assembly was not being just nether its ain rules erstwhile it sanctioned a caller councillor for behaviour violations earlier the allegations against him were investigated, a watchdog radical has found.

That uncovering was handed down by the Local Governance Commission of New Brunswick, an autarkic 3rd enactment that tin analyse codification of behaviour oregon struggle of involvement breaches astatine the municipal level.

The investigation, released Wednesday, was requested by Andy MacGregor, who had joined Strait Shores assembly aft a caller byelection in the southeast New Brunswick community.

MacGregor was sanctioned successful February aft introducing motions seeking much transparency from council. He received sanctions that efficaciously resulted successful his suspension from council and was barred from municipal spot and from contact with different councillors and staff. 

The commission's uncovering was the other of what the assembly heard 2 weeks agone from the advisor who investigated MacGregor's conduct.

The consultant, hired by assembly after MacGregor was sanctioned, decided his behaviour had violated the codification of conduct. 

After that probe was complete, the committee started its ain and recovered 2 remaining members of council, Annamarie Boyd, who is acting mayor, and Tanya Haynes, were the ones who violated the code.

Stacy Jones took portion successful the decisions astir MacGregor, but she later resigned from council, said the study by commission chair Giselle Goguen and members Donna Redmond Gates and Troy Stones.

The commission report said Boyd and Haynes's codification breaches "were not malicious, but rather, the effect of a deficiency of knowing of the principles of procedural fairness and the requirements acceptable retired successful the Code of Conduct ByLaw."

The committee made 2 non-binding recommendations: MacGregor's sanctions should be lifted, and the full council, including MacGregor, should get grooming connected codification of conduct, governance and procedural fairness.

Both Boyd and Haynes did not respond to interview requests, truthful it is unclear if the assembly volition abide by the  recommendations. 

No owed process, committee says

The eight-page ruling details the process council utilized for disciplining MacGregor and said he was fundamentally "sanctioned anterior to assembly afloat processing and deciding" connected the alleged complaints against him.

Council besides "did not travel the procedures" for submitting authoritative complaints, the ruling says. A resignation missive from erstwhile Mayor Jason Stokes, which had called MacGregor "the municipality bully," does not number arsenic an authoritative complaint, due to the fact that it does not see circumstantial allegations.

The Strait Shores bylaw says complaints indispensable beryllium made successful writing, signed, and addressed to the mayor, oregon lawman politician if the allegations are against the mayor. The complaints must past beryllium included successful the in-camera league of the adjacent assembly meeting. 

No ceremonial complaints were ever filed astir MacGregor, so the committee wrote that it appeared the "non-compliant complaints" had to bash with council's earlier history with him.

Before helium was elected successful January, MacGregor "had galore interactions with unit of Strait Shores portion requesting assorted documentation and accusation related to the medication and the fiscal matters of Strait Shores," the study said.

WATCH | 'This is simply a spot of a wakeup call': 

Including those interactions successful a complaint, however, would violate the codification of behaviour since complaints person to subordinate to a person's clip connected council, not before.

The committee besides took contented with MacGregor's suspension, due to the fact that it is not a authorisation disposable nether the codification of conduct. Nor was a clip bounds imposed connected the sanction.

These amounted to violations of the codification of the code, the committee said, though it wasn't recommending fines oregon a ceremonial reprimand.

But Boyd and Haynes acted successful bully religion and connected a misunderstanding of the requirements of the code, the committee said.

In an interview, MacGregor said helium was delighted with the ruling.

"I handed my submission into the Local Governments Commission due to the fact that I felt I was being unduly treated," helium said Thursday. "And they've wholeheartedly agreed with me.

"You privation idiosyncratic to basal up and say, 'Hey, you can't bash that to this guy.' And that's what I've got here."

Report is 'refreshing'

Geoff Martin, who teaches astatine Mount Allison University and has a probe involvement successful New Brunswick municipal governments, recovered the ruling refreshing.

"This is simply a spot of a wakeup telephone and besides sends a awesome regarding the commission connected section governance successful presumption of the attack they're going to take," Martin said.

The commission, acceptable up aft communities and agrarian areas crossed the state were amalgamated into dozens of caller municipalities, showed it won't ever support the section authorities successful a dispute, but is open to proceeding the different side, helium said.

"It may beryllium that the the committee itself is precise alert of the concern wherever determination are determination are a batch of radical successful these caller municipal governments and these caller units who haven't yet received capable training,"  

Martin said the information that the committee chose not to enforce harsh sanctions volition inactive transportation a batch of value and volition enactment "as a informing to the full municipal assemblage of New Brunswick."