The Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick and the Local Governance Commission continue to ask the province to bring in mandatory training for municipal officials. They say an optional two-day training in Saint John this year wasn’t accessible to all municipalities.
Municipalities union identifies issues with 2-day optional training offered by province
Erica Butler · CBC News
· Posted: Oct 19, 2026 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
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Grand Bay-Westfield Mayor Brittany Merrifield said it’s a “stretch” for many municipalities to send council and staff members to on-site training. (Pierre Fournier/CBC)
When the province of New Brunswick hosted training for new and re-elected mayors and councillors this past June in Saint John, none of the six councillors nor the mayor from Grand Bay-Westfield could make it.
Months before the province announced the two-day, in-person-only training session at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre, officials in the town had scheduled their own orientation session for a new council.
“[The province] booked their training the same weekend,” said Grand Bay-Westfield Mayor Brittany Merrifield, who is also president of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick.
“We chose to attend our own because it had already been set up and we’d expended some resources to make sure that it was going to happen,” she said.
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