The Fall 2023 Community Gatherings were held from October 2023-November 2023. MLA David Coon hosted a community gathering with Councillor Jason LeJeune on October 19 at the Knights of Columbus Hall. They each started with a report from the Legislature and then the City before opening the floor to questions and comments. The notes from the meeting are below.
David Coon’s Report: Back in the Legislature. Speech from the Throne didn’t have much information in it. David gave his response. Some legislation tabled:
– Eliminate the Beverage Containers Act. Needed to replace the redemption centres with a new system.
– Eliminate fees to unionize.
– Combine Cannabis NB and NB Liquor accounts.
Healthcare
– New ICU at Chalmers Hospital is open.
– New surgical suites opening soon.
– New surgeons being recruited.
– New Labour and Delivery unit.
– People on Healthlink List can access doctors while they wait
– Question: is the Nurse Practitioners Clinic on Regent St. still taking new patients?
New permanent Out-Of-The-Cold Drop-in Centres to open in the three major cities soon. Communication has been better on this than previously.
Jason LeJeune’s Report: The new Drop-in Centre will be in a more appropriate location than those in the past.
City is in the budget process now.
Focus is on housing.
– Affordability
– Need to build more capacity and resources for non-profits. Only 6% of housing in Fredericton is non-profit, compared to 20% in other cities.
– Full rezoning of the city. There will be public engagement in the next few months on this. Online and town halls.
-Urban core, minimum density for new builds (four units per lot). Creating more density in the city as the population grows.
Transit: Sunday transit debate in the budget is coming up. Changing population wants transit.
Environmental lens used for all issues now. Looking at resilience, larger storm water pipes, flood mitigation, hybrid buses, etc.
The struggle is having a cohesive community plan.
Open Floor Q&A
Resident: Are surgeons taking advantage of Sunday surgical theatres?
David: Don’t know. Knee and hip surgery backlog has been reduced in the province, but don’t know the situation in Fredericton specifically. For scheduling, the problem is the local hospital administration has no authority. Decisions are central at Horizon Health. Need to shift to local management.
Resident: When is the Rent Bank starting?
David: Launch is in January.
Resident: If new zoning rules for the city come into effect, will current granny suites no longer have to be torn down once the “granny” no longer resides there?
Jason: Correct.
Resident: College Hill housing is substandard for renters and over-filled. They are violating rules. What about safety and enforcement?
Jason: If notified, the Fire Marshall will inspect. Previously 80% of properties were home-owner occupied, now it is 20%. Very lucrative rental market. A lot of it is not legal. Can call it in to the city, but there is reluctance to force someone out into homelessness. Discussing remediation, offering temporary variance but requiring the landlord to make changes. Pushing for College Hill to be a pilot for a secondary plan. Typology of housing needs to change. There have been changes to levels of noise. Starting to fine landlords for party violations.
Resident of College Hill: Noticed a difference and improvement since last year, wanted to thank Councillor LeJeune and the city for being responsive. However, concerned about zoning changes. If the plan is to increase tenants and apartments in College Hill, it will only increase the problem since tenants don’t care.
Jason: The goal is for better forms of housing. And to build up on main arterial streets like Windsor St. and Graham Ave., to take the pressure off the side streets. Another problem is the sanitised campus, and fewer campus activities.
Resident: Increase in homelessness. Government closed care centres in the 1990s, they were supposed to integrate patients in the community and offer community-based care, but that infrastructure didn’t materialise. Whose responsibility is this? City? Province?
David: It’s provincial responsibility. When the hospitals closed, community-based supports were never really put in place. There was no accountability. Moved slowly to put supports in place. Community Mental Health has services and supports, like FACT (Flexible Assertive Community Treatment). But we’re still not there.
There are homeless here who can’t be housed with what currently exists. In BC there are Complex Care Housing facilities for the high acuity homeless, but these don’t exist here. There is also a lack of rehabilitation beds for substance abuse treatment. And a lack of focus on mental health in healthcare. This has improved recently, but it needs to be more of a priority. There are still gaps.
Resident: Sunday Transit is brought up at every community gathering (been to many). Data being collected now won’t tell anything about Sunday transit needs. Should look to other cities that have Sunday transit. When will we get this? Students, immigrants, wage workers rely on it, buying a car is not an option for many of them. Look at some solutions close by. Dieppe is offering free transit for under 16. Now families can use transit and not have to pay for their kids. Affordable transit is important. Should have discount fares based on need. Also Saturday service is lacking.
Jason: Agree. City needs good transit. The city has hired a new transit manager, Charlene Sharpe, she is guiding the process. But the city didn’t have any data, no passenger count. Two years ago added technology to collect data so that good decisions can be made. Advocating for 15 minute gap times between buses during peak hours. May make buses more frequent, but with fewer stops, only on arterial and collector streets. Residents should push for this with councillors in 2025. Also, pushing for $100/year bus passes for anyone.
David: Province is not supportive of transit. The province has a role to play. We have a car culture, most don’t use the bus. People don’t know what they’re missing. Lots of neighbourly community around bus-users. Maybe the city should do some marketing and the province could fund it? Bigger cities are always marketing their transit.
Jason: Need to incentivize transit. Cities can’t get funds for operation, but that’s a major cost. Promote groups to take transit: city council, NB Power, local corporations, provincial government employees, etc.
Resident: $50/year bus pass for seniors is GREAT. How about this pass for everyone? Re. the data count: how do you count those who would use the bus if they could?
Jason: Charlene tries to do bus drives with different groups, such as a universal pass for the universities. Or link bus passes with parking passes.
Resident: Will the rent bank have interest?
David: Don’t know.
Resident: Anyone else from the People’s Alliance now in the PC Caucus?
David: Michelle Conroy.
Resident: Why did the riding boundaries change?
David: Every 10 years there is a review of the ridings. Supposed to be a non-partisan, apolitical committee.
David: There are citizen engagement opportunities on climate change. A group gathered at UNB for a forum on Climate Change. Applied to the city for a climate grant. This group will engage citizens and support the city’s climate action plan.
Jason: Need to prevent sprawl and minimise our footprint. Frederictonians love their cars. Most employers have big parking lots. Need to disincentivize parking.
David: New Deputy Minister of DTI is very responsive. If there are provincial road issues, now is the time to bring it up.