After provincewide consultations on local governance reform in New Brunswick, the 77 local governments and 12 rural districts which have been established now have proposed names.
Nature, regions and history have figured prominently in the names.
One example of nature is Maple Hills which includes portions of local service districts north of Moncton such as Saint-Paul and Dundas.
Moncton Local Service District chair Paul LeBlanc said Maple Hills, which was chosen as the proposed name for Entity 32, came about in two ways.
“Firstly, maple denotes a strong Canadian identity as well as enterprises that are found here in our area such as maple syrup production and camps in the springtime. Hills indicate the type of terrain that most of us live in,” he said.
“In one direction the whole Moncton basin can be seen. The other direction overlooks the valley going into the Kent County area and the fall colours are breathtaking.”
Already a familiar regional name in the southeast corner of the province, Tantramar is the proposed name for the merger of the Town of Sackville, Village of Dorchester and area local service districts.
Five Rivers encompasses the Village of Rexton and several local service districts which stretch along the Richibucto River.
Fundy Albert includes the villages of Alma, Riverside-Albert and Hillsborough and neighbouring local service districts.
Beausoleil is the proposed name for Cocagne, Grande-Digue and nearby local service districts.
The names of the communities in which people reside and their mailing addresses are not changing.
The new names are for the local government administrative body.
“We know how much New Brunswickers identify with the areas they call home,” said Local Government and Local Governance Reform Minister Daniel Allain.
“I will always be from Lewisville and people from Irishtown will always be from Irishtown. Local governance reform is taking what we value and ensuring it is there for our children and grandchildren.”
Section 60 of the Local Governance Act will allow for a local government to change its name in the future if it chooses to do so.
The proposed names become official when adopted in the legislature which is expected by September.
A complete list of the proposed names can be found HERE.