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Municipal Election 2026: Peter Jubb Candidate for Ward 4

• Connecting Albert County

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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 Peter Jubb,  Candidate for the position of Councillor of Ward 4.  

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.

SPEAKER_00

Hello and welcome to Connecting Albert County in Conversation series. This is part of our special edition covering the 2026 municipal elections. I'm Melody, the coordinator of CAC. And this afternoon I'm here with Peter Jump. He is one of the three candidates in Ward 4. And thank you, Peter, for being here with us today.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, you're welcome. It's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00

I'm appreciative of your time. Part of what we're doing and why we're doing this is to help um candidates get the word out and then also help the constituents be able to make informed choices on voting day and hopefully get lots of people out there.

SPEAKER_03

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00

Super. Well, let's begin by having you just tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_03

Well, myself, as I say, uh I've been a I'm a Canadian citizen and I've uh lived in Hillsborough area, a Salem Road, Route 910, for the last 25 years. Well, my background is I'm married, two children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so I'm very, very involved family-wise. And uh my professional background uh is in telecommunications. I joined the army at 18 doing telecommunications, and uh I was in the army for nine years, and then when I came out, I got headhunted by a private company, which was awesome, and uh uh did work within communications, which involved computers, microwave networks, etc. All communication-style jobs. And uh I then came over with my first wife, came over to Canada, took out Canadian citizenship. I've been here 26 years, I've been involved in communications on contracts back to England uh for oh right, oh, let's say for approximately 20 years. And uh the level of work I was uh second engineer doing communications for a power company. Uh so I was in charge of uh communications for the power company. This is including radios, computer networks, uh protection networks, everything that involved communication. And uh I was also project manager, and the highest one I did was for $2 million Canadian, which involved uh obviously finance management, project management, management of staff, management of contractors, all the usual things associated with a large uh contract. It was a decommissioning of a power station on the communications. So, as I say, came here when I retired, and uh I haven't looked back since uh my involvement. Uh my wife is an ordained deacon and I'm involved with the church as well as a lay reader. So we go to St. Mary's Anglican Church here in Hillsborough, just down Mill Street, the quaint little place with the shingles sides, real nice. Uh my main my main thrust of work with the church is outreach, mainly within Hillsboro. But we cover from, believe it or not, from the uh Dawson Road, right the way down to Alma. So on the outreach side, I'm dealing mainly with the centre of Hillsborough, but also uh as far as Alma, which I have one client I help down there. So all that's interesting, it keeps me busy, it stops me getting lazy. Uh as I say, that uh has been the main part of the civilian life, is on the outreach with church. I also involved with the Legion, obviously being a veteran, and also Riverview Veterans Association and various other military organizations. Uh, and through that, they also do outreach within the community as well. I'm also a Freemason where we do a lot of outreach, including the dyslexic center in Moncton. So we interact with an awful lot of people of every shape and size and stripe you can think of.

SPEAKER_00

That's incredible. And it sounds like all of these experiences have given you opportunities to be in significant leadership roles. How would you describe your leadership style? And do you have any examples of how you've demonstrated that type of community leadership in the past?

SPEAKER_03

The leadership role has got to be what I call inclusive. Uh, when I was uh working as a communications engineer and have staff working for me, and the thing was to a make sure their education was up to date on communications, but enable them to take charge of projects, to be able to uh not micromanage, to be able to delegate and let a person be pulled to their maximum potential and be aware of them, assist them where we can. But also you've got to, there's a rule that I go by, and it's uh it may sound a bit uh, you know, but it's uh my phrase is and what I work with is three things love, care, and compassion. So when you're working with people, you've got to show love, care, compassion, as well as leadership and management skills. You've got to be aware that when you're working with people, they are human beings, they are sensitive, they have good days, and sometimes they have horrendous days. And that's where the love, care, and compassion comes in. You've got to be able to understand them, guide them and help them where you can. Don't just say it's being an idiot. Ask why, what's the problem? Can we help? And that is what I believe is one of the reasons why I want to be a counselor. It's because of that, the love, care, and compassion to help the community, to be with the community and let them know that they're not alone or isolated, that they have got somebody they can talk to and they will get answers back. It may not be the answer they want, but they will get an answer back.

SPEAKER_00

And speaking of not getting an answer that we want, we know whenever we put a group of people together, conflict is bound to happen. And I'm a firm believer that conflict can be a really positive thing because it can really elicit change and forward-growing movement if we utilize it correctly. How do you handle and navigate conflict? And how do you see yourself um managing that like in a municipal council role?

SPEAKER_03

The thing is, with any organization, whether it be council, church, or whatever, you as you say, when you get a number of people together, every person has different ideas. What you've got to do is you've got to quietly sit there, note the pros and the cons of the different arguments coming up. All my ideas are not good ideas, and but sometimes I do have good ones, and it's the same with everyone else. You've got to look at the pros and cons, you've got to look at the what the benefits are of their argument if they're going for a certain policy. What's the benefits of it? How will that benefit the people of Fronby Albert? How will that detract if there's negatives? You've got to actually look make a list of the pros and cons and discuss it with them, not argue, discuss, do your homework, come from a point of information, and it's got to be discussion, not conflict. Conflict achieves nothing except creating a bad workplace. It's got to be discussion, meaningful, and from an intelligent point of view, from an informed point of view.

SPEAKER_00

And you did mention a little bit about why you're running in this election. Did you want to speak a little bit more about why now, why ward four, and how have you been preparing to run for this candidacy?

SPEAKER_03

I must be insane. No, I'm joking. I'm joking, I'm joking. Uh for the last two elections, I went forward as a candidate for mayor because I felt there was a need for guidance in that aspect. And then Jim Campbell got in last time. Now, Jim Campbell, he hasn't paid me, by the way, to say this. He is a great guy. He's first class, he's been a mayor before, he knows what he's doing, and I've seen how the village of Fundy Albert has gone forward under his leadership. So as a courtesy, he rang me up and said, Pete, I'm going for mayor again. My reply was, Well, I'm not then. You can put all your banners on my front lawn, fill it up. I don't care. I'm 100% behind you. And that says, Okay, Peter, you've got good leadership in the in the at all vergia from the Albert. No need to change that. Where can you do more help? I understood that uh Councillor Jonah wasn't running again. So I looked, I thought, Ward four is my area. A lot of the people I deal with, which are underprivileged, are in ward four. They need representation. The seniors in the two nursing homes in Caledonia Place, the Kwanas Place. I've talked to them and most of them don't even know they had a counselor. And I said, Well, do people visit you regularly? Reference council. No. So I thought this is not the way to go. If you're a counselor, you are represented everybody. The rich, the famous, the poor, the unwanted, the unwashed, everybody. So therefore, I said, okay, if I do get in, I'll visit those establishments once a month. And they will get replies to their questions within 48 hours. I will hold a coffee morning the first and third Wednesday of the month. Probably the most easiest place that's open is the Gateway Market. Coffee there. People will be able to come there. And if they don't like what I'm doing, tell me to my face. No talking behind backs. Tell me to my face. Throw rocks at me if you don't just if you don't agree with me. Come and discuss things. Be open, be honest, discuss and move things forward together, not as individuals or fighting behind backs. I will be there, up front, available, transparent to all the people of Ward Four.

SPEAKER_00

So, how have you been preparing your campaign, I guess, thus far?

SPEAKER_03

Uh, thus far, I took my I took my lessons from when I failed twice as mayor. No, I looked at that, I looked at the information, and I held back before I started uh really deciding and pushing to go for this. And uh I held back about a week after everybody else had got in. I walked, I'll see you. You know, if there's somebody better than me, I'll keep out of it. But I feel that I am the best person for the job. The the lessons I learned as going for mayor, I've taken that on board. It's again information, information, information, transparency, transparency, transparency. And above all, completely above all else, strict honesty. If you're talking to somebody and you have something that's going to upset them, tell them, apologize in advance and say, I'm sorry, I'm going to upset you. I haven't got the answer you want. But complete honesty, complete transparency, and be there to help anybody within your constituency that needs help that's within your power to do so. And that is what you're there for. It's your constituents first, secondly, and mostly, and also very importantly, is the whole of Fundy Albert. We are one body. We can no longer go forward with, oh, I'm Alma, I'm Riverside Albert, I'm Hillsborough, I'm just Peter, I'm just Fred. It is the village of Fundy Albert. One unit, one entity. Work together for the betterment of the whole place, not just one small part.

SPEAKER_00

So picking backing off of that statement, when we're looking at running platforms and the most pressing issues for the village of Funde Albert, um, do you have a platform developed, or what would you say are the most pressing issues facing the village today?

SPEAKER_03

That's a very good question, Melody. Thank you. I love it when you put me on the spot. This one, no, when you look at this one, there's there's there's two, shall we say, there's two beasts that sat on the back of the council. One is the provincial federal government. When they set up this uh the new system of council representation and reducing the number of councils, etc. They did not make adopt funding. They know that they did it on the cheap. They looked and said, okay, we're a provincial party. Let us get rid of councils, they're costing us more money. How can we do this? Let us transfer some of the provincial responsibility to the councils. Let them have the headache of not having the money, and then the province looks really good. Hey, as far as they're concerned, that's good, good business. But it left fundy Albert underfunded in many, many aspects, and that is still evident today. The second part is that is the thing that we're pushing is more provincial or federal funding or any funding I can get anywhere. The other part is the infrastructure. Let us micro scale it down to a person that owns a house. Very simple. You've got a beautiful house, brand new house, year one. You get to year 10, and there's some maintenance needs to do new guttering, $500. Yeah, it's okay. The water's still going down the downspite, I'll leave that alone. And then you're thinking, ah, well, three years later, that's eight years on now. Well, it's still okay. But you don't see the water going up under the roof, the roof rot setting in, the gut trim falling down. So then all of a sudden, in year six, the gutter falls down and the roof is rotten. So instead of $500, you suddenly sat there thinking, I've got to spend $15,000. What went wrong? What went wrong is fiscal planning, proper work as regards infrastructure, looking at the depreciation of assets, covering financially the depreciation of your asset. If you don't do that, you'll get horrendous bills later on. And that is what the New Brunswick government did when it dumped everything back onto the villages. There was lack of funding for infrastructure. And the thing is, it's got to be done. There's got to be, as regards infrastructure, a proper three-year plan, five-year plan, ten-year plan, 15-year plan. Funding has got to be looked for all those sections of what's going to come up. You've got to have a look at maintenance of structure, renewal of structure, finance for it, budget for it, get your funds all lined up that you can. If there's a shortfall, hit government if you can, i.e., provincial government. Look for grants that you can get through government for infrastructure. It's something you've got to fight aggressively. Because at the present moment, that is one of the hardest parts there is. We know about the culvert on Lake Road and golf club road, whatever, all that carry on. It's a matter of the council saying to province when it comes to say building a culvert. We have, I think the company is Mr. Tingley, I believe, that does wooden bridges. And he does the wooden bridges all over the world, like Australia and the like. Talk to him. He is part of Fundy Albert. What can you do for us? Or do we get the French company in at five million when he can do it for two million? There's got to be common sense, and there's got to have backbone to stand up to provincial planners that try and put their favorite people in for doing the contracts. We've got to get a backbone. We've got to fight, and we've got to look after our interests. Because if we don't, we are doomed. We've got to fight our corner, we've got to do budgeting, and we've got to actually control what we do.

SPEAKER_00

Doing all of those things and advocating in that way, serving through municipal government, can be incredibly time consuming. It does take a lot of. So we know multiple meetings per month, various times the day and the evening. There's events and boards and all these other things that are responsibilities of counselors. 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_03

I have got one joyful thing to say. I'm retired. I'm available during the daytime. I'm available on the evenings. Obviously, you know, you've got to control your time. You mean you have family life, you have church life, you have military life, etc. You've got to allocate time for everything. But being retired, you can attend meetings during the daytime and you can then meet attend meetings on the evening. Remember, counselors are given certain files to look after. They don't look after the whole council. Every councillor has a file to look after. That's his responsibility. And he will attend the meetings appertaining to that file, and he will do the work responsible for that file. Therefore, the meetings, daytime, evening, whatever, going and getting information for the people who you're responsible under that file and giving every assistance that you can.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you. Earlier this year, there was a lot of discussion in social media and in the news around mandatory training for municipal counselors and its availability or lack thereof, all those sorts of things. We have questions from constituents asking if you are for or against required training. And have you taken any of that training in the past?

SPEAKER_03

That is a superb question, Melody. You're really doing some really good questions here. As regards compulsory training for counselors, yes, yes, yes. Being a counselor is different to being in business. Being a counselor is different than being an architect or an accountant. There's different rules, different regulations, the municipal bylaws. You need education. And I say a counselor must go through mandatory training. Definitely. If he doesn't, he hasn't got the full grasp of the importance of the job. He hasn't got the full grasp of the legalities of the job. Because remember, a counsellor is representing the people, is also legally responsible for the decisions he makes. So he must know that he's making them within the bounds of the law and the municipalities act. Counseling, uh training, rather, for counselors, to me is mandatory. It should happen and there should be no excuse. And it's provincial and federal government that's got to provide it because they started this ball rolling.

SPEAKER_00

And speaking of that, um, you've alluded to the different acts. The New Brunswick Local Governance Act is the legislating, the legislation that governs municipalities, the rural communities, regional districts, so on and so forth. It has had some key updates since January of 2023 when amalgamation happened. Um, and it is the framework, for instance. What is your level of familiarity with the New Brunswick Local Governance Act?

SPEAKER_03

Very limited. Very limited. And this is why I say there must be mandatory training. Because my understanding of one part of the municipal's act, it may sound common sense to me, but considering the political and legal jargon, it may mean something completely different. I'm no expert on the municipal. Act. I have limited knowledge of it. I myself, if it wasn't provided, I myself would request to go on it. Because I would need it. There is no doubt about it. My knowledge is limited on the municipal act. And therefore, back to the old business. Training, training, training. You mean if you train as a telecoms engineer, you are trained and trained and trained. Same for being a counselor. You must be trained. And I haven't got the level of knowledge required yet. Therefore, I demand, not asking, I demand that I get the training required.

SPEAKER_00

You made mentioned earlier about transparency. And we do know that there have been many, many public conversations in coffee shops all over Funday Albert and on social media around concerns in regards to transparency of local council, perceived conflicts of interest, and perceived conflicts of interest around decision making. So, from your perspective, what is your response to this concern and how has it impacted local governance?

SPEAKER_03

Things have happened in the past. Right at the very beginning of uh, shall we say, um, the uh the new fundie Albert? Uh some decisions I believe and may not have been taken in full openness, they may have been taken behind closed doors. People have seen this, and this is what has been this is the animal that's reared its head up at people asking the question. Transparency is paramount. If there is any conflict of interest, and as a counselor, if I know another counselor is in conflict, i.e., shall we say, or what can you think of? Shall we say, building a new road, and the grandfather owns a company, and he's sat there smiling. He has got to turn around and recuse himself and say, sorry, my grandfather owns a company, he's going to put in a bid. I must step back from this and all discussion. The person should do that, but it's a council's responsibility if they know another council is in conflict. Talk to the mayor. The mayor is in charge and say, I believe they're in conflict. We have got to have open transparency, it's got to be squeaky clean. It doesn't matter how good you are, but the transparency has got to be seen by the public. The public have got to see it and say, yeah, they are squeaky clean. They are completely transparent. If things have got to be done behind closed doors, it's got to be explained in a manner that the people understand. You're talking about personal, shall we say, employment items, uh things of that nature, or large contracts that will impact uh other things other than yourselves, i.e., if you let out the names of contractors, it can cause problems right the way through the contracting spectrum. And I mean that in two ways. One, you're showing there's no favoritism, but if you don't do that, people will be saying, well, oh yeah, they're looking after their own friends. This is where the transparency has got to be. There's got to be explanations for everything you do, you've got to be fully accountable, you've got to stand there in front of the public and answer for your actions. If you can't do that, don't be a counselor.

SPEAKER_00

To build on that, how would you hold yourself, if you are the um the new counselor, how would you hold yourself transparent and avoid the those conflicts of interest and institutionalize that in your municipal work?

SPEAKER_03

Well, shall we say uh shall we say the council is going to, I'm a member of the Legion?

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_03

So as a councillor, I'll say I'm also a member of the Legion. If the councillor was going to do something for the Legion, i.e., the flagpole, and do work on it, I'd immediately an open council say, Whoa, I'm a member of the Legion, I must step back in every aspect appertaining to this business brief. And that would be an open council recorded for everybody to see. And if anybody had any questions, see me at 10 o'clock on that coffee morning. Approach me, ask the question, throw the rocks at me. That is what a counselor's got to be. Available for discussion for the good, the bad, and the ugly. He's got to be there. He's got to take it. We must be transparent and honest. Integrity is the only thing he's got. Lose that, and it shouldn't be a counselor.

SPEAKER_00

So moving into some of the files that municipal council holds, um, as I mentioned, we have taken questions that have been reflected in the previous ones I've asked, as well as specific questions in relation to specific files. I've done my best to kind of collaborate them to give you an opportunity to speak to each of those things. In uh otherwise, we'd like I said, we you and I would be here all day chatting about it. So the first area is nature and environmental concerns. The village of Funde Albert has a lot of resources, but perhaps the most obvious is our connection to the natural environment, which is so profound and highlighted in our tagline, friendly by nature. We're also part of the UNESCO Funde Biosphere Region, which is huge and globally significant designation. How do you see the municipality's role in maintaining, managing, and utilizing our natural resources?

SPEAKER_03

I'm assuming that the council has an environmental plan statement, etc. You look at Fundi Albert, you're going from review boundary all the way through to the national parks. It is unbelievable. So any major work that's done, you've got to do a full environmental impact statement on it. You've got to make sure that there is no negativity that will impact any of the natural resources we have. Looking at that, and I'm going to step on people's feet probably on this one, you've got the business of spraying the forests with glyosphates. They are poisonous, they're carcinogenic, they should not be sprayed. I know notice is given, everybody shouldn't be in the area, they're heavily forested areas, but we have a problem. These forested areas are just one single uh type of tree, i.e., spruce or pine. I'm an Englishman, I don't know the difference between pine tree and a spruce tree, but they are one type, fast growing for pulp. The livestock and the wild animals in our area, they need a diversification of trees. Not just one kind. There's got to be a different, there's got to be a complete collection of hardwood, softwood, everything else. As a council, this is something we've got to look at and control where we can. We've got to keep the biodiversity going, especially in the forests. We've got to try and get the limitation or the limiting of the actual spray, uh aerial spraying of uh of the forests around, I believe, is very important. The other thing is looking at our natural resource we have, Fundy Park, beautiful place. As a village, how can we help them? And how can they help us? Works two ways. They have expertise that we don't have, we have things that they don't have, work together in cooperation. Then you come to places like uh, or if you're working up the up the hill there, you come to the uh or the museum, superb place, marvelous displays, help them, support them where we can, try and find funding for them because remember, as a council, we've got inroads to different places, to different fundings to see where we can assist them to get funding from other sources that influence that the council can put influence on to get for them. And then you've got uh Hope Rocks. That was when I was thinking of you've got Hope or Rocks. I believe that the okay, I'm gonna say rumor has it, right, that the provincial government's going to dump it. They're talking about, no, not no, not Fundy Rocks, the other one.

SPEAKER_00

Cape and Rage.

SPEAKER_03

Cape and Rage, that's it. Cape and Rage. I'm coming up the road here, right? I'm left funding, I'm up to Cape and Rage. I believe that the provincial government's going to drop that and put it into private hands where they can. That's the rumour I've heard. So rumor has it. So that could be an area where the council has got to give every assistance that we can. I don't mean give them a bag of money because there's no bags of money available. But like I said, the council and the uh the staff on the council have got ways of finding out what fund is available where. You can sit somebody down, you know, uh maybe you know, grade 12 student doing a summer seat project, and you say, right, you're computer literate. Sit here for the next 24 hours and find out every bit of funding available in any way, shape, or form for you know, Fundy Rocks or anywhere else, or kept in Rage. Funding is there, but it's a matter of digging through the mound of paperwork to find it. And the village can help in that aspect and possibly get them funding in that aspect and expand the area, expand the tourism. There is a lot of uh oh, what you call tiny homes being built for the Airbnb business. Maybe we should look at controlling that a little bit if if it's going haphazard. I I don't know. Um I I don't know the Airbnb business or the tiny home business, but it's something that could be looked at. A, if it's controlled, can we help them? Or can they help us? It's it's a it's a things that's got to be looked at that can't be ignored to expand the tourism. And again, the shipbuilding that went on in the area. I'll take the church that I'm in, St. Mary's. You walk in there, you look at the roof, it's like an upturned boat. Shipbuilders did the woodwork in there, so expand the tourism, turn around and say, Okay, St. Mary's Church, we want you to open on Saturdays and Sundays. We open on Sundays, we do a church service, but for tourism, like on a Saturday, that kind of thing, and other businesses that are like that, you've got the Steve's Museum, they get funding from the council. Anything like that, they can enhance the tourism aspect. And then the next big thing is promote it. Don't just think, oh yeah, people will love us. No, they won't because they don't know you. Promote it, get it out there, get it in the face, and say, come here and give us all your money. No, sorry, I got that wrong. Come in and spend your money within the community.

SPEAKER_00

So, speaking of spending money, um, if we look at the housing poverty, cost of living situation right now, um, there are always conversations around this, but I think it's safe to say that we're in a little bit of an unprecedented time where the cost of living is having a huge impact on our residents. We know that precarious housing is a problem in our region, and many statistics suggest that there is a quite a significant number of our residents that are within a couple of paychecks to be at risk of things like homelessness or displacement. There is an increased use of food banks and other food security resources. The list goes on, and I don't need to go through it all with you because I know you're familiar with it. How have you or how would you use the full range of the municipalities' tools and resources to do things like increase access to affordable housing, to reduce or eliminate homelessness, to increase food security, or in general have a positive effect in any area of poverty reduction?

SPEAKER_03

Looking at it from a municipal point of view, let's first of all start with the housing. As I said, I'm I do outreach work for church. I've got two people now couchsurfing, they know where to go. They couchsurf friends put them out and a week later to go somewhere else. I've seen them in accommodation that is less than favorable for families. So when you're looking at this, I would say, okay. Has the council well no, never mind the council. Council's got no money. Let's let's let's be realistic. You know, there is no bags of gold hanging on the tailcoats of the actual mayor, money is tight everywhere. So let's look at other ways, like let's look at the say the Legion. I'm gonna get beaten up for this. What's gonna happen is just imagine there's a large field at the side of the Legion, tiny homes, sewerage is there, hydro's there, right? You could put, in my estimation, in a semicircular format, a set of one, two, three, four, five, maybe six tiny homes that could take single person or a couple. It would be minimum housing. It would be, you mean it'd be like it almost like a bed seat. It would be bathroom, toilet, shower, bedroom, just one bedroom that take a double bed, etc. Living room, stock kitchen, very minimal. Setting up a small, tiny housing, shall we say, complex. But the important you do that and look at uh MB housing for funding and co-funding from the Legion, the Kawarnus, the hockey rink, any person that's got a bag of gold, try and get it from them. But doing something like that, and also remember we have a small health center here in Hillsboro associated with Riverside Albert, the Penny Foundation. Look at making sure there is drug addiction services available, making sure there is the full scope of medical available, and if those homes were built, making sure that those homes, the people living in them, had direct access to a doctor or a nurse, you know, so they have got full access to medical, including drug addiction services, including poverty, including food management. Because you know, I know myself going around, I give food out, and some people you say, well, here's some raw food, you know, carrots, potatoes, celery, etc., and some beef. Nice beef stew. Just give it a wash and toss it all in one pot and let it boil away. It'll end up as a beef stew. But some are not in that level of being able to cook. The knowledge sometimes isn't there. So it's a matter of don't just dump people into tiny homes, continue their education, try support them. Again, those three things love, care, and compassion. That has got to be there. It's got to be there as a council, and that is one possible way. Now, then if the Legion say gave the land free, did fundraising throughout the area, put the squeeze on all businesses for money, and got MB housing to pay for half or three-quarters. It's a possibility. It's a possibility. And there's other places that's available that the council has got land that's not being used. And don't tuck them away where you don't want them to be seen. Let them be there, middle of the village, where they can take a pride in being part of the community, not being as deemed as the unwanted and unwashed. They are people, they have lives, they have personalities, they've got compassion as well. Treat them as human beings, love, care, and compassion.

SPEAKER_00

Moving into the area of economic development, which I think is a natural segue here. Um, what do you see the municipal council's role is in regards to economic development and growth of the community?

SPEAKER_03

That is very difficult. The main income stream at this moment in time is basically, I would say, tourism. So, in the short term, they've got to look at enhancing tourism to maximize that benefit. But also, they've got to look at coming to the old three-year plan, five-year plan, ten-year plan, got to look at ways to attract industry. What natural resources do we have that are wanted? Gypsum is no longer wanted because the gypsum plan moved over to work Quebec. Uh, but other businesses, is there any way we can attract them? Now then the turnaround and the top, and I hate to say this, I hate to say this, a lot of industry went abroad for cheap labor. We have a large unemployment body here. We have minimum wage. Now then to turn around and pay somebody $20 an hour compared to the Midwest and out in Toronto, etc., 20 bucks an hour is poverty-wise, but it's more than what a lot of people are getting. Look at trying to encourage industry to come. Look at what federal grants or provincial grants are available. How about a fish processing plant in Almore? How about getting a large company to come in there? We know there's two small companies, Collins, etc. lobsters and all that, but I know they wouldn't appreciate a large company coming into Almer. But if a large company was outside Alma, just outside, not in the tourist town that's beautiful, but in a more, shall we say, industrial park, whereas the lobster that's been caught by the fishermen of Alma can be sold directly to a processing plant or a canning plant? That way, a normal small place where it only works what 16 weeks a year for the fishery. Look at a processing plant working to you know every day of the week, every day of the year. And then other things going up the countryside. Is there any minerals that we can take take advantage of? Is there any rare metals that's available that's within the geological side of us? Look at other industries. Maybe there's one that just crept in my mind then, which is dangerous when I think a plastics recycling plant. Because plastics can be recycled. A lot of companies don't do it because they say there's not enough money in it. You know, we'll throw it in a landfill, it's cheaper than building a plant. Maybe if government law came to a point where it's more expensive to Dump it and process it. Maybe we could look at plastic processing plants or anything we can to encourage bigger business. When I say bigger, I mean it other than the small local firms, the big business that's got the money that will pay the tax base that would help enhance the village of Fundy Albert. And then when you're looking at the entryway from Riverview, try and make it a more touristy attractive entrance. You're driving from Riverview, there's nothing there really that hits you in the face to say that you're coming into Fundy Albert. So maybe we need something doing there. There's all these things that can be looked at. You've got to look at the highest you can go and then work your way down. It's no good starting at the bottom because you'll never climb above the parapet. Start at the top and fight the way.

SPEAKER_00

There you go. Now we have talked a bit about things like the alt arts and culture history profiles, and we have talked a bit about infrastructure. Is there anything you would like to add about either of those? Their value, any uh perspectives you bring to the arts, culture, history, or infrastructure?

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I love the history of this place. Seriously, you mean I I laugh and joke quite a bit, and sometimes people think I'm not being serious, but you know, you take away, you actually have a look at the churches in the area. If all the churches got together and put together their histories and formed, you know, a how can you put it, a Christian mosaic of Fundy Albert or the old Albert County of the Baptist churches, the evangelicals, the Anglicans, the Catholics, all of them together and see how they're fitted in from the 14-1500s right the way through to the modern time. Do a timeline, and the more this will sound crazy, all working together to achieve it on that side, and then look at the culture, the shipbuilding. Grace Island, there was shipbuilding down there. Crazy as it may seem, you've got a road left-hand side going down towards Funday called Shipyard Lane. I wonder what's at the bottom of there. Must have been a shipyard. Look at expanding all these, possibly, you know, a demonstration of shipbuilding.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_03

You know, in obviously smaller version, you know, showing how to build a small ship and say, okay, you're five years old, there's a caulking tool, cork between the planks. So a practical demonstration, improve the culture. So we see you all interlinking all the way down.

SPEAKER_00

And do you see council having like a municipal council having a role in this, or is this primarily the nonprofit, the ownership of the separate organizations?

SPEAKER_03

I would say council has got to be involved in it as they push it forward and it expands. Everything's interlinked, nothing stands by itself. The council can't stand by itself, it's got to interlink with the people and the business and everything else. So you've got museums. The council cannot take over the museums, the cannot, the council has not got the money to do all the work, but the council can encourage, the council can has got in touch with other historical societies that are far larger than, shall we say, the Albert County Historical Society. You've got some that have got money, some haven't. It's a matter of remember, a council is an influential body, it's just not a body of men and women sat there. It is an influential body. The mayor goes into a meeting and says, I'm the mayor of Fundy Albert. I've come to talk to you about you know uh demonstration of shipbuilding. Hello, Casey Irving. You've got a bag of gold. We'd like to advertise your company by you putting up a display on shipbuilding. You can't do it unless, again, aim for the top. I'd hope you get in the middle, aim for the bottom, and you'll stay there. You've got to go and as a body of influence, and that's the key word, a body of influence, try and influence larger entities to help and assist in the projects you want to do to enhance Fundy Albert.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you very much, and I want to thank you for your time and chatting with me today. Um, as we wrap up, do you have anything that we haven't covered that you want municipal residents to know about you and your bid in this election?

SPEAKER_03

The only thing I can say to the residents and vote for is those three words again love, care, and compassion, and in arm, transparency, and truth. Those are the five things I stand by. That's what I stand by. And if anybody wants to argue about it, come and see me on a Wednesday morning for a cup of coffee. But the point being is I am there to represent the people, I'm there to represent all of Fundy Albert. It's not just it is a combined unit, everything is interconnected. The people, the council, the whole area. It is a single living entity, and we've got to treat it as that, and we've got to treat each other on the council and everyone within Frontier Albert. Guess what? Love, care, compassion. And that's the only way I can say it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and I think that's a great way to wrap up this conversation, Peter. Thank you so much again for your time. I really appreciate it as you support Connecting Albert County and helping folks engage and make educated choices on election day. And uh this uh thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03

It's my pleasure, Melody. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_00

And this is Melody from Connecting Albert County, the In Conversation Series special edition for the municipal elections for 2026. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for the next one.