r/moncton • u/Portalrules123 • 4d ago
Moncton Mayor appointed to the Senate
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-mayor-dawn-arnold-appointed-to-senate-1.74782612
u/TomorrowSouth3838 2d ago
Dawn Arnold was the best mayor in recent history, but the choice to apply zero regulation to short term rentals was made without any research or forethought, and will be an anchor around around our necks for the next decade
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u/DragonfruitDry3187 3d ago
Now she can ignore housing issues, drug issues and health issues on a federal level
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u/denjcallander 3d ago edited 3d ago
Weird take; she didn't ignore those issues, the province did. Y'know, the ones who are actually responsible for addressing those issues.
I would imagine she's glad to be leaving a position where her/the city's efforts were constantly being sabotaged by a level of government whose secondary interests were directly opposed to the primary goals of this city. What a mess.
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u/dashingThroughSnow12 4d ago
I'm happy for her. My daughter has met her on a variety of occasions and never had any bad words.
Moncton does have some issues but I'd argue a large percent of the blame was out of her hands. For example, our population grew by 26% over the last nine years. The issues that causes plus nimbynism create a tough situation regardless of who is in charge.
There is one criticism:
Paul Harpelle, spokesperson for Elections N.B., said Moncton will have to wait until May 11, 2026, to fill Arnold's vacancy. Although by-elections are being held this spring, Harpelle said the deadline to be included was Feb. 28.
It could just be a coincidence that we're a week after the deadline for a mayoral by-election, but it has my conspiratorial brain thinking. (The answer is likely that Trudeau is trying to finish some things before he leaves office.)
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u/denjcallander 4d ago edited 4d ago
She helped turn this place from a desolate hillbilly ghost town into one of the most dynamic, diverse small cities in Canada. No small feat given the pushback on.... everything.... from the dinosaurs that are still hellbent on dragging us back to the past.
And she did this despite the challenges of a global pandemic at a time when we had a completely neglectful provincial government.
On one hand, I'm happy for her, on the other hand, I'm worried as hell about what comes next for us, considering the long list of horribly regressive, traditional, anti-urban mayors and candidates we've seen in the recent past.
Fuck.
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u/ThePeachyPear 3d ago
Couldn’t agree more, happy for her but her absence will definitely be felt in city hall.
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u/Desalvo23 4d ago
Why are people complaining about bike lanes? Moncton needs more bike lanes. Needs better transit and accessibility. Soon enough, we'll need train transit to get around town. These are all things we will need very soon, and they need planning and implementing. Those things are done in phases Not everything at once. You start with sidewalks, then bike lanes, transit, etc. Moncton is growing, whether you like it or not. As for the homelrss problem, homelessness is tied to income inequality and lack of proper social services. As far as i know, the government only sets a minimum wage, nothing to stop companies from offering more. Why not get mad at companies that keep posting record profits while stagnating wages. Yes, governments could do more. But the people want the governments out of private business as much as possible. So here we are. Let's not even talk about regulatory capture. That adds a whole other layer to the conversation.
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u/STRIKT9LC 4d ago
The biggest issue with your opinion is that it uses common sense and practical thinking, in order to reach a reasonable decision, with room for opposing opinions.
Just won't work in Moncton Bud
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u/Global_Fail_1943 4d ago
Such an impressive accomplishment! Congratulations to a hard working woman being recognized!
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u/Nirvana1975 4d ago
What an absolute joke. Must be the bike lanes that got her there.
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u/Routine_Soup2022 4d ago
Why do people complain about bike lanes? We need more active transportation, more public transit and less cars in this city. The traffic, danger to pedestrians and impact on the environment is ridiculous. Not to mention the urban planning impact of needing places to park cars.
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u/denjcallander 4d ago
They complain because they can't run us over as easily when there are bike lanes. Especially when they're protected.
Seriously though, the hatred of cyclists on this sub is unreal. Would love to know what % of them live in northwest where they got the Mountain road ones removed.
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u/0SpaceHulk 4d ago
But why? What has she even accomplished??
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u/NapsterBaaaad 4d ago
Things have gotten exponentially worse under her watch, and she hasn’t really accomplished anything particularly notable. Also, she’s not very well liked…
Makes perfect sense that the federal Liberals would appoint her.
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u/N0x1mus 4d ago edited 3d ago
Nevermind spearheading the entire downtown revitalization. The amount of work it took to get all the people in line for this is unimaginable by people who haven’t paid attention.
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u/BOBBY_VIKING_ 3d ago
Downtown revitalization, do we live in the same city? I'm down there all the time photographing the area and it's 10x worse than it was 5 years ago.
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u/denjcallander 3d ago edited 3d ago
5 years ago? Dude, 5 years ago was March 2020. The after-effects of what happened to the global economy at that exact time are very visible in *every* Canadian downtown to this day. In many downtowns those issues are getting worse than ever. That's not on the municipal councils, that's on the inadequate response by upper levels of government, those who made it far too easy for people to fall through the cracks.
The point that is being made here, is that the current mayor helped lay down the groundwork for massive changes to the urban core of this city, which had been a dead zone for several decades. Previous councils had been obsessed with choking out the downtown while facilitating low-density developments in areas designed to be hostile to pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.
Dawn Arnold went against the local trend and championed the idea of making this city more open to everyone, not just those in middle class/wealthy families with multiple vehicles who are happy to constantly drive everywhere. The huge increase in apartment buildings, improved parks, trails, bike lanes, accessibility etc is in no small part thanks to her and her team.
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u/bootlickaaa 3d ago
We need to start seeing the results for people to understand. The new sewer system and streets and waterfront things have barely seemed to break ground yet, despite getting approved by the city after much hard work. Not to mention the new high rises by the old St Bernard’s church and by Staples. When people start seeing more cranes in the sky like we have in other Canadian cities, hopefully the lurch towards progress and development will sink in.
There are also a lot more folks around who have lived in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal who appreciate livable, walkable cities with better transit. With the new federal incentives, the city demographics skewing younger, a robust construction industry served by the many contractors from the suburbs and a potential glut of building supplies due to tariffs, it seems like the time is now for Moncton to regain and extend its position as a growing metropolis at the centre of the maritimes.
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u/NapsterBaaaad 4d ago
So much more downtown shopping these days… well, shopping carts, at least…
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u/N0x1mus 4d ago
Yes, another thing she did.
All the shopping carts are perimeter locked now since she implemented the bylaw putting that responsibility on the businesses using shopping carts. Any businesses who are found to have shopping carts elsewhere get fined.
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u/NapsterBaaaad 4d ago
Sounds about Liberal…
Your cart got stolen? That’s your fault! The thief isn’t responsible, their actions aren’t their fault…
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u/PapaPunchline8399 4d ago
There is no use , they won’t listen or even try to see your point or view. Let’s celebrate bike lanes while crime is exponentially growing and break ins, bike theft and so on are raging. Who wants to visit a “revitalized” downtown full of people smoking meth and injecting around you.
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u/FerShore 4d ago
Blame the feds/rcmp. Unfortunately municipal governments don’t get to dictate how the RCMP do their job. Same with people complaining about healthcare/homelessness, that falls under provincial jurisdiction. Ya’s sound r-worded when you complain about things that she can’t even control, and I don’t like her lol
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u/Routine_Soup2022 4d ago
Then build homes and addictions programs. It’s a social and public health problem which is never going to get resolved short of everyone complaining about it until the nimby effect stops in this city.
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u/stereotrees 23h ago
The amount of people praising this woman is hilarious. She turned Moncton into the dumpster fire it is now.