Municipal Election 2026: Jeffery Cooke, Candidate for Ward 3

Join us for a special series of CAC: In Conversation, covering the 2026 Municipal Election in the Fundy Albert Region. 

In this conversation, we chat with Jeffery Cooke, Candidate for the position of Councillor of Ward 3.  

All candidates were given a list of potential questions at least 24 hours in advance of their interview and were asked the same questions. We have completed light editing for clarity, length, and sound quality. All views and opinions represented in the interviews are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Connecting Albert County. 

Connecting Albert County thanks our presenting sponsor, the Bennett & Albert County Healthcare Foundation.

For more information on Connecting Albert County, please go to our website or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello and welcome to Connecting Albert County, the In Conversation series. This interview is part of our special edition covering the 2026 municipal elections here in Funday Albert. Today I'm here talking to Jeff Cook, a candidate for Ward 3. He is one of two candidates for this ward, and we're going to get to know him a little bit better. Thank you, Jeff, for being here today with us.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Thanks, Molly.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

So to begin, we wanted just to give the community an opportunity to get to know the candidates they'll be voting for, but also the entire community an opportunity to get to know the candidates that could be representing our entire municipality. This is a way that we are attempting to engage, increase voter turnout. We hope people will know that there's an election happening and they can go to the polls with informed choices. So thank you for giving up your time to enable us to meet this goal. We really appreciate that. So to begin, maybe you can start with a little self-introduction and uh tell our listeners about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Um hi, my name is Jeff Cook. Uh I've lived in Hillsborough my entire life. Uh we've been just getting here to uh, well, to put it this way, I guess uh I'm half Steve's and I'm married to Steve's. So that pretty well makes me Albert County. I think it brings it pretty well home. Uh I've worked here uh in the village since I was probably 12 years old. Most people in the village or surrounding village know me, but uh a little bit of blurb about myself, I guess. Uh uh in 89, I think I took a year of computer science at UNB. That wasn't what I wanted to do. So come out of that, and then you're sitting in 1989, and there wasn't a whole lot of jobs around. So I went to work at uh got a job at Hub, Meet Packers, of course everybody did at that age, uh, but it turned into working there for four years. So I come out of that, uh, I got an offer to work for a guy on VLTs, uh, video lottery terminals. So I had a computer background and I've always electronic background. So I took that, uh, worked that for four years and decided rather than working for somebody, I invested, I got a loan and uh bought my own company, and that's when I started being an entrepreneur, and I've been one ever since. Uh we did I did that until the government took the program over. Uh, and at that time I wanted out anyways. The video lottery terminals. Uh, to put it one way, uh, when I had them, I was walking into the bar and the guy would look at me and say, How do I beat the terminal? How do I beat the machine? I said, You don't. There is no way. There's no way to beat the machine. Uh, if you want to use it as entertainment, that's that's great, but that's what it's for. Uh, so I was tired of it. I was tired of seeing them do it. So my parents were outdone uh with the convenience store. Uh so in 2002, I think uh we me and my wife Tracy bought the convenience store from my parents and uh ran that for 20 years. And uh in that time I took over the other Irving that was in the village, and that was in that was in 2005, and Irving at that time wanted to close that store, and they wanted to close it and have one store in the village. And I told them, I said, I can't do diesel at I can't run that much gas and diesel through my store. Uh, it's just not possible. So I convinced them to keep the store open and we ran both stores. Luckily, my wife Tracy was able to uh help me. She ran the upper Irving in the middle of the village, and I ran Cook's Quick Merit at the in Surrey, the Surrey store that happens to be in my ward. And uh in the meantime of all of that, oh and then in 2023, we uh sold the stores and uh started uh my next adventure, which is White Rock Cabins. Uh uh I built six cabins for Airbnb, and uh that for well as long as I can remember, I have told the people of the village of Hillsborough uh and surrounding that we need accommodations. We we are a tourism community, uh, we're heavily reliant on it, and we need more accommodations. Um, so that's what I did. Uh in the in the meantime of all of that, uh in 1995 I welcomed my daughter. Uh in 96 I got married, and in 97 I welcomed a son. So there is there were some crazy times in there to say the least. But uh my my children live in my ward. They're they live a mile from me. I live in the ward and uh probably practically lived in the ward my entire life. Uh uh ward four is like 100 feet from me, and I've maybe lived a thousand yards from that for the the first part of my life. So uh yeah, I haven't moved very far. But uh no, that's that spooked me in a nutshell, I'd say.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Thank you. So being an entrepreneur and this journey you've been on um does take a significant amount, I would assume, of leadership, self- you know, self-drive and uh self-initiation, but leadership would play a huge role in this. Can you tell me a bit about your leadership style and how you've demonstrated community leadership in the past?

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Yes. Uh uh we've well at the end we were we had 24 staff, so yeah, I'd I I juggled a lot of uh a lot of hats. Uh we were running in one store, we had the restaurant, the railway diner. Uh if the cook called in sick, I I went over and cooked. Uh you I find, well, I think you could ask any of my staff over the years, um, pretty easygoing. I I expect a lot out of them. I expect what I want out of them, uh, but I'm willing to bend to their anything. If I always told them, um there was really no time off, they didn't have to really ask for it. I said if if you're going out partying Friday night, well, maybe not, but if you needed a day off, you're you you got it. I would cover the shift. Uh whether it was if it was second cash, I was the guy there mopping the floors and sweeping the floors that night. It's you have to be able to bend and work with your staff. Uh I don't uh I don't like I've seen people that are hard-nosed and just that's that's it. And uh I don't find that style works. I would much rather be a person that can work with them. Uh and on the community side, I have uh uh I coached minor hockey for 10 years. Uh, I was on the board, the hockey minor hockey board for one or two years. Uh in 2000, something I'm very proud of, I think it was around 2003. Me, uh our kids were young, they had summertime, they were looking for something to do. Uh so me and my wife Tracy uh started the youth soccer program. Uh, and it's still running to today. Uh, I'm very proud of that. Uh at the at the time, the field, uh, the soccer field behind our local high school looked like a hay field. Uh I took my own lawnmower out and mowed it, and then found out from the school board that I wasn't supposed to do that and that that was their job. And I said, well, uh, either keep it mowed or I'll mow it again. Because uh I find we have let our school get away from us. Uh we've let the school boards take too much control over our local schools. Uh these are this is a rural community, and we should have access to those fields. Uh in oh, I'm dating myself. In 1987, I ran the youth kids program at the school uh for the summer. Uh and at that time, and this was 1987, and we were allowed to use the gym, and there was like three of us that were around 17, 18, 19 years old, and the kids ranged from oh five, six, right through to 15, 16. And we had access to the basketball courts, we had access to the full gym uh and the ball fields. And we ran that for the summer, and the kids had a great time. Uh, that's what I'd like to see us get back to. Uh so that's about it for this. And uh oh no, um we've uh now we're involved in fundy curling. I uh uh I really want to put a kick out to the fundy curling club. Uh we started that about four years ago, me and Tracy. We both love it. Uh I've done a lot of help on the uh on the building. We've done a lot of repairs on the building down there. And uh uh I joined the board of directors down there uh last year. So that's uh I try to be involved uh in the community uh uh in any aspect that we can.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Okay, thank you. Um with leadership and when you have groups of people, we know that anytime more than one person is in a room, there's going to be a potential for a disagreement or a conflict. And particularly in a council environment where we have a group of people representing a group of people, of course, that's a lot of different personalities and opinions and um priorities. How do you handle and navigate conflict and how can you see that impacting your municipal service?

SPEAKER_00 10:07

I've dealt with it at the stores uh uh over the years for for sure. Uh I find you have to listen to both sides and then weigh the odds uh and try to make a group decision that's gonna work. Uh you can't, I don't uh I don't want to be said that I like you say, I don't think I'm hard-nosed. I don't think uh that I would just that's it. Uh I'll fully admit I've been wrong before. And when I am, I'll I'll admit to it uh and work with the other person to to make it better. Uh I do have my set of morals that I find that I want to bring to this. And if it's if it's a uh a moral issue, uh there's probably not going to be a whole lot of sway in it. I I stick to I stick to my guns on that. But if it's anything else, it'll probably be something that I can work with. And anybody that knows me around the stores over the years, I think would agree that it's it's pretty easy. I'm pretty easy to work with, uh, but I really want to see us come ahead here.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Okay. So speaking of coming ahead, um, that really segues into finding out your why. Why did you decide to run in this particular municipal election?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I it was a it was a tough decision. I've long, I've long stayed out of politics. I said there was absolutely no way that I would be in politics running the stores. There would just be too much conflict, and I would not, I would not even consider it. Uh now that I've semi-retired, I think I find I have the time to put towards it, and uh and it won't I won't have near the conflicts. So I said I really wanted to put something out. I've lived here my entire life. Uh I I guess as I've told about everybody, I put it this way, I've complained long enough that I've figured I'd better try to do something about it. So I've gone to enough council meetings, I've complained about the certain things enough that I said, well, uh maybe it's time I step up and and try to do something.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

We've talked a lot with um other candidates about platforms. Have you had time to consider what a platform might look like that you would stand on or what the most pressing issues are that you see for Funday Albert?

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Uh I don't really have a platform per se. I just want to see us do better. Uh I have looked at it that we have been missing out. We I looked at um before I got even started this journey, uh I looked at other other uh communities. I have one of my best friends is the uh head of the municipal of uh of uh Chipman Minto, uh Grand Lake. You look them up on the on the province and they get $1.3 million in transfer payment from the province. We get $300,000. It's there's quite a discrepancy. I'm I really want to look at our books and see I'm my business background, will be definitely coming into play here. I want to look at the books and find if there's waste, we have to solve it. We need to spend money, we have to. There's no if, ands, and buts about it. But I don't I don't want to raise taxes. I really want to go like try to keep it within our our budget, but there's government money out there and we need our share of it. So I said I wasn't seeing the change that I wanted to see. So I said, well, if I'm uh that I will I will try and see if I can. So I guess my platform is uh is that find money.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

I think that's a fair fair statement for sure. Serving your community through municipal government can be quite time consuming. There are multiple meetings per month at various times of the day and evening, as well as community events, boards, other projects, so on and so forth. Can you speak to any concerns that voters might have about how you will manage your time and how available you'll be to serve your constituents?

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Yes, uh that's that's like I said before, this is this is why I never ran. One of the main reasons, too, that I never ran before. I never had the time. I never had enough time that I could say that I could put towards it, that I would feel that I was justifying being there. And that I take seriously. So it's if I can't, if I couldn't put the time forward, I wasn't gonna run. Uh now that we're semi-retired, uh, we're running Airbnbs, I've got a few staff that can help clean. Where my my life has opened up, my time has opened up that I can control it a lot better. Uh I don't get a person calling in sick and having to go run the diner for the night. Uh so uh yeah, I can I feel I can find a lot more time to really comfortably put towards it and justify it to the constituents that yeah, I'm here for you.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Earlier this year in the news and social media and that sort of thing, there was a lot of discussion around mandatory training for municipal counselors and its availability or lack thereof. The feedback, feedback we've gotten from the community is a question in here wondering if you are for or against required training and have you had any training in relation to politics or municipal work, anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yep, um that's a good question. I've never I've never had any training on it. Uh I don't like I never like the word mandatory, I guess. Uh if if uh if you're a firefighter, if you're uh if you're uh uh an ambulance or a doctor, maybe, but this is rural uh New Brunswick. It's I don't find it should be mandatory, but I really do think it should be uh made available. Uh I am a big one to uh to advance my learning. Uh if it was made available online or whether courses that we could go to, I would be gung-ho for that. I uh I've I've gone to courses uh over the years for Atlantic lottery, I've gone to courses over the years for NB liquor, uh uh through the stores, through gas problems, everything. I believe in advancing ourselves for sure, but I don't like it to like to say that it's mandatory. That would be my take on it.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Okay. Building on that, um, our questions around familiarity with policy and procedure of municipal government. The New Brunswick Local Governance Act is the primary legislation governing municipalities, rural communities, and regional districts. Following the major reforms that were effective in January 2023, there were key updates that included regional service delivery changes, new local governance commissions, and as we know, the restructuring of local service districts. The act itself sets the framework for council powers, financial duties, and bylaws. Can you share with us your level of familiarity with the New Brunswick Local Governance Act?

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Uh there is none. I I have not looked into it a whole lot. I've been to a few council meetings, and that's that is basically about it. Uh I will look into it before the before the election. And if I'm elected, I will definitely look into uh follow up on it and uh and flu familiarize myself with it. Uh it is definitely something that I'll have to do. So uh with some time and everything, yes, I will be getting myself up to speed on it.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Moving on into the areas of transparency and conflicts of interest. There have been many public conversations in coffee shops, social media, and everywhere in between around concerns in regards to transparency of local council and perceived conflicts of interest that have occurred around decision making of counselors. What's your response to this concern and how do you see it has impacted local governance?

SPEAKER_00 18:41

My response on this is basically, yeah, that's uh that's really why I've never run. I I've running the stores uh the way they were uh with my multiple businesses, there would have been no way I could run uh comfortably and say I could do my job. Uh I would probably be out of almost every vote. Uh I it is a very tricky subject in in a rural community. Uh everybody knows everybody, every half of us are related. Uh so there are going to be conflicts. You there's no way around it. Uh I look at it that if you're transparent about it up front about it, and recuse yourself if you have to, uh it just depends on the level, I guess, of what's being done. If uh if uh uh a road is being paved and it's going past four people's houses that are your cousins, I you shouldn't be a problem. Uh but if they're paving their driveways, well, there should be a problem. But I I I just look at it that it's got to be taken with a grain of salt, that it is going to come up. Uh be transparent about it and recoose yourself if you have to. That would just it's it's that's the only way.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Okay. And so building on that, um, can you demonstrate or give suggestions on how you would hold yourself transparent, how you would avoid conflicts of interest, and institutionalize this in your municipal work?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Basically, it is look at what we're doing. If if we are, if as I said, if we are paving a road, then we'd have to look at it and say, is that going to affect me? Uh, is it affecting my mother? Is it affecting my family? Uh if if we're going in and fixing up something, it's it's got, as I said, it's got to be taken with a grain of salt, but you just have to look at it and be fair. You have to be transparent. Look at it and say, this is a big deal. This is this is gonna be thousands of dollars spent that's going to affect these these people. If it affects me or my close family, then I have to step aside. And I and I will. It's just it just basically comes down to whatever we are doing. You have to look at it and say, who is who is this affecting? And is it affecting my best friend? Uh, and like uh I've I'm friends with a most of the community. Uh, so I really have to look at it as that side and justify, be able to justify what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Moving into some more specific questions, as you know, um Connecting Albert County has taken questions from the community, and uh, there were quite a few of them. Some were very specific. Uh, the next questions that I've kind of pulled together are related to specific files that connect to the municipality. So um we will go ahead with those, and if there's anything. That you want to share that I don't ask specifically related to each one, please feel free to jump in. So the first file to discuss is under nature and environmental concerns. We know the village of Funday Albert has a lot of resources, but perhaps the most obvious is our connection to the natural environment. It is so significant that it is highlighted in our tagline, friendly by nature. We are also part of the Co Funday Biosphere Region, a very globally significant designation. How do you see the municipality's role in maintaining, managing, and utilizing our natural resources?

SPEAKER_00 22:37

I see it that it's basically what I my tagline is too. My tagline for the cabins uh for uh White Rock Cabins is uh welcome to our little slice of heaven. Uh that's what I'm promoting. Uh outdoor life, and that's what we have. We we have such a beautiful, and I honestly, honestly have gotten away from it with the stores and not not notice it much until I did the cabins. Uh probably 70% of the people that come to the cabins or or ask the question, the first question is, how close are you to the Hopel Rocks? I said, I haven't been there in years. I've got to get myself down there and and uh really encompass it again. But I said, 10 minutes, perfect, yeah. That's great. But it's and it's all questions about is there hiking trails, is there is there kayaking, is there this and is there that? We have to um embrace it. We have to embrace it, we have to uh build upon it, and but yet we have to have industry too, we have to have so we have to have a mix, but it's got to be a heavily leaning towards looking after our environment. Um that is what we have.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Okay, and specifically, I did receive a number of questions about glycophate spraying of the forest. And specifically, what are your thoughts about the spraying of our region's forests with glycophate?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

I'm against it. I'm I'm strong against it. We've uh uh NB Power and Irving uh when they probably started spraying what in the late 70s. They may do without it before. Uh all's all it does, you take away the glycophate, it'd be it's more jobs. We're putting people in those woods to clear to uh thin them. It all is is jobs. I would much rather employ some people to go out and clean and thin rather than spray. I I do not agree with it. I don't uh that's it. I'm I'm uh I'm an avid outdoor person myself, and uh I don't hunt as much as I used to, but I still fish and hunt partridge, and I do not agree with uh having this spray.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

We know, you and I know there's always discussion around the challenges of living. I think it's safe to say that the cost of living now, especially is having a huge impact on our residents. I just saw a statistic actually this morning, and food prices, for instance, risk of homelessness or being dismissaled, use of food banks and other food security resources, and I could go on and on. How have you or how will you use the full range of the municipality's tools and resources to increase access to affordable housing, reduce, eliminate homelessness, increase food security, or in general have a positive effect in any area of poverty reduction?

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Our yeah, that's a it's a great point. Our our job of that, and honestly, I've seen it. I had the store. We've owned the stores either through the family, and I've been involved with them since 1977. We have seen a lot of hard times, we have seen good times, and we've seen the hard times, and we're back into the hard times. People don't really see it as much, but that we are. Uh so my my thoughts on the council are basically as I said, we have got to find more money. We've got to find more government funding on our projects. Uh, we've got a ton of projects to that need done, and some are like huge projects. We need to find government funding. Uh they whether it be provincial, whether it be federal, we need to keep the tax taxes base as low as we can. We cannot start taxing people out of their houses. So that's that's to me is uh one of my big parts. Uh the other part on is finding young people, finding young people that are entrepreneurs, that want to start the businesses, want to build houses, want to build affordable housing. We've uh we we've got one coming up that I know of that uh is looking at some big infrastructure, uh maybe 20, 30 uh unit housing units. We need that. We we and this is a younger person. This is a younger person willing to invest in our pro in our community. So we need that. And I my thoughts on it would be we have to look at it and say some of these units have to be affordable housing, uh put up towards it. There's government money for it, so uh let's let's get these people involved and let's not hold them back. Uh if we if we can help them, we need to help them.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

And some of what you shared definitely gets into the next questions about economic development. What do you see as the municipal council's role in regards to economic development? And do you have ideas for the best ways to grow our community?

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yes, I'm a business background, and it's basically anything we can do to help people coming in. We have to weigh it, uh, you have to look at industry and environment. You can't just say we're gonna dump uh uh an oil refinery down by the wetlands. You're not like we have to be realistic, but we have to look at what we have and what we can offer to them and how can we help them. Uh, if there's people coming in here that want to invest in this village, we have to help. Anything we can do has to be done to look at it, but it has to be weighed out. But my my thoughts always uh were over the years. I was I was asked uh to do pizza. Uh I could have done pizza 20 years ago. I said, no, we have a pizza place, we have trio pizza. Uh I was asked to do fried chicken. No, we have fried chicken. We have Patty's places doing fried chicken. We don't need duplication. We need new. We need new ideas coming in. Uh I look at Oliver Hoffer at the at the old church as a prime example. He took an old building, reconverted it into everything that we need here. Uh, if we can convert other buildings, great. Or if we have properties that can be built into new new construction, great. But that's uh that's my business background will definitely come out in play.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

Moving into the arts, culture, and history file. Do you think that art, culture, and history adds value to our municipality?

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Absolutely. We have uh we have some great artisans. Uh we have we have some awesome museums. Uh uh Stuart Lipte has done uh an a simply amazing job down at down at the Hopel Cape Museum. Uh uh we have the railway museum sitting right in the middle of the village, that's that's a huge attraction. We need to do what we can to help them. We there's there's only so much money, and but we need to help them any way we can. And basically that drops back again to getting money from the government. If if if we have if they have somebody there that that's not quite as good on computers or anything, we need a person in our office, in our municipal office, dedicated daily to find money. There's there's tons of it out there. That that person's job, Monday to Friday, should be looking for government money. That's it. And and I'll tell you, Grand Lake, uh, Grand Lake has that. They have one person, one girl. Uh last year they got a $750,000 grant from the federal government to put in an outdoor pickleball courts. That's what we need. One person. Uh and they should be accessible to our museums, our businesses should be able to walk in and see this person and say, Can you help me? I I'm I'm I'm gonna try to apply for this grant. So that's I that's what I see.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Moving into infrastructure, we know roads are always a concern for residents, especially at this time of year.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Yeah, I'm off the road. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Exactly. Um, but roads aren't you know the only area, though they are probably one of the first things people say. And with the amalgamation, we do have a really huge area, and we have pulled together and inherited a wide range of types of infrastructure. How would you see utilizing the full range of the municipalities' tools and resources in managing, maintaining, or improving important municipal infrastructure, or potentially developing new projects or initiatives?

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Exactly. This this goes back to our first discussion of the the three community mentality. We've got to get away from that. Uh we are a fund day Albert and we have to treat ourselves as that. Uh infrastructure projects have to be, I will be driving around and I'll drive on every street in all of the communities. I am counselor for Ward 3, but I've we are here to look after our entire community. So if my residents, if I drive over Taylor's Lane, I'll be looking at trying to do something for my constituents too. But if I drive through a road in Elma and you can't drive across it, then that is priority. We have to prioritize and we have to, and I'll be looking as with my business background, I will be looking for where we're wasting money now. So I want to see the budget, I want to see where we can save a few dollars here to reinvest it here. Um and if we can invest in projects that are gonna have a return, great. But as I said, as you said, there are a lot of roads and they all need done. So again, it goes back to fighting for more money from the government so that we have a little more cash to spend on that and not have to raise taxes to do it. Um, that's gonna be my biggest concern is trying to keep our expenses down so that we don't have to raise taxes. Uh and that doing that, and the best way to do that is find money elsewhere.

unknown 33:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

And building off of what you said, uh you made reference to amalgamation and and your desire to serve the different community groups, regardless, we know, of individual feelings on amalgamation, we're now living in it and it's not going to go away. So, how will you approach challenges related to this experience of amalgamation? And are you prepared to serve the greater community at Sunday, Albert?

SPEAKER_00 33:58

Absolutely. I uh I said um this is not going to change, uh, whether we like it or not. And I'll be honest, I don't like it. I like the old system better. It would have been much easier as a counselor to manage, but that is not going to change. Uh, there's we have to make this work. Uh, there's communities in New Brunswick now that are being managed by the province because their counselors and their mayors have given up and they just won't do it. We we do not want that. The alternative to us doing it right is them doing it right for us, and we definitely don't want that. We've we've seen how the province manages, we don't want that. Uh so yes, I plan on working with all of the counselors. I will fight for my ward as best I can uh to get the stuff that we want, but at the end of the day, we are Funde Albert, and that is what we have to look at. And whether it's Lower Coverdale, whether it's Albert Mines, whether it's Alma, whether it's Riverside, it does not matter. It we have to look at that. Everybody will be coming to us, they'll go to their local MLA and their MLA, a local counselor, and uh and bring this to us, and we have to prioritize, and that's and we have to explain ourselves. Uh that we have to be held accountable. If uh we're we're we should be an open book, I fully agree that we have to be open and transparent about it. Uh I don't want to see any backroom deals being done. Uh, I do not like that at all. Uh so that is where I look at.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Thank you so much. So as we wrap up our conversation together today, is there anything we haven't covered that you would want municipal residents to know about you and your bid in this election?

SPEAKER_00 35:57

I'm open. I put my phone number on my on the on the thing. I put my email. Um open to people. I'm not able to really travel around and see people, but um my door is always open. Uh if any of my ward or if any of the any of the entire funding Albert want to ask me a question, I'll answer their phone, I'll answer the call, I'll answer the email, or I'll if they want to knock on my door, it's open. So that would be basically it for the question side for sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

Thank you so much. I appreciate your time, Jeff. And if you are listening and you want to know how to get a hold of him, you go to the Elections New Brunswick uh main page online, and there is a section there. You just click candidates for the 2026 municipal elections. Sunday Albert will pop up and you click there and it gives you the list of everybody's contact information and all who's running there. So, or you can alternatively give us a holler at Connecting Albert County, and we'll make sure to help you get connected to whatever municipal counselor um candidate that you would like to connect with. So thank you again, Jeff, for your time today. It is always a pleasure to have a chat and we appreciate your support and our initiative here as well.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Great. Thanks. Thanks, Melanie. Thank you so much.