Saint John Civic Watchdog

10/09/2026

My sincere heartfelt thoughts and condolences to Ron's family and friends. It was devastating to me in speaking with one of Ron's colleagues on Wednesday, hearing this unbelievable news of Ron's passing that hit me hard. Ron and I go way back to the 70's, a lot of awesome times training in the gym together and over the years with business. Ron was truly one of the best, the most down to earth genuine guy anyone could know and have as a friend, always giving and going the extra mile, lots of good memories especially way back at Smitty's Pub, where Ron was the best during those fun times years ago. It's unbelievable trying to understand asking God "WHY", such an amazing guy Ron was to his family, friends and colleagues in the Real Estate business. May you RIP Ron, I will hold all the conversations and memories dear to my heart my friend. You will never be forgotten and never be replaced. So unbelievably sad I find myself writing these comments, so hard to understand.
Randall Goodwin

View Ron Young's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

10/08/2026

Life is just not real at times, especially today. Received news that a great guy I've known since the 70's passed suddenly, he was in good health, always kept fit working out, successfull real estate agent for 35 years plus, in the end he leaves his family and friends behind, that's devastating asking WHY, God.
May you RIP Ron Young, I will cherish all the memories pal over the years. So unbelievably sad I'm reflecting all the years I've known you Ron. You were an amazing guy pal...gone way to soon. In the name of God, WHY.
Randall

10/07/2026

10/02/2026

Again, Moncton leads...Saint John council sits on its ass

Look around the province and across Canada. Other municipalities are treating modern street safety with the urgency it demands.

Moncton just announced plans for a pilot project to test 30 and 40 km/h speed zones on residential streets. Meanwhile, the micromobility crisis is making national news. A recent CBC Marketplace investigation revealed retailers caught unlocking factory speed limits on e-bikes for minors and selling modified e-scooters capable of hitting dangerous speeds up to 120 km/h. Cities like Toronto have issued over 300 tickets and warnings for illegal sidewalk riding and reckless operation, while municipalities like Stratford, St. Marys, and Perth South have outright banned e-scooters on public roads and sidewalks. Closer to home, Moncton has moved forward with e-scooter rental bylaws to establish local control.

And what has Saint John Common Council done? More useless speed bumps.

Instead of establishing proactive municipal regulations, Saint John Council has otherwise opted to sit on its collective ass. They chose to "monitor" the situation while waiting and hoping for the province to step in. Their entire strategy consists of adding gentle educational reminders into road safety campaigns, completely ignoring the mounting risks.

When it comes to traffic, skeptics will point to Chesley Drive and Rothesay Avenue and say lowering speed limits doesn't work because nobody follows the new 50 km/h limit anyway. But changing a sign on a wide multi-lane arterial road and walking away without visible enforcement or traffic calming isn't a safety strategy. It is lip service. Drivers ignore those limits because council treated a sign swap as a complete solution and then abandoned it.

Meanwhile, on narrow, congested residential side streets where cars park on both sides, visibility is restricted, and blind curves increase the danger, the city still allows a 50 km/h limit. Driving 50 km/h through a tight neighborhood leaves virtually zero reaction time if a child steps out from between parked cars. Lowering residential limits to 30 or 40 km/h gives drivers a real buffer to stop, but it only works if council pairs lower limits with actual design changes and real enforcement.

Public safety cannot be managed through a wait and see approach until a serious crash or fatality forces action. Waiting for tragedy before implementing basic safety measures and real traffic enforcement is irresponsible governance.

Our council needs to get off its ass, look at what responsible municipalities are doing, and enact real protections for residents, pedestrians, and motorists in Saint John.

09/26/2026

$780,000 a year? For THIS?

The City of Saint John is spending $780,000 a year for private security guards to provide a 24/7 visible, proactive presence in designated zones like Uptown and Waterloo Village.

The goal? Help police deter crime and keep our streets safe.

So where are they when it matters?

One night this week, while two people were being threatened Uptown by someone with a knife, Civic Watchdog spotted the City-marked security vehicle parked behind a bush at Long Wharf—well outside their assigned patrol zone.

One guard was in the City car; another was in a personal vehicle. They sat chatting for over an hour. Just two days prior, two guards were spotted inside the City vehicle parked with their seats reclined.

When we tried to document the latest example, a guard turned her attention on us—following our observer in her car in an attempt to photograph him.

What the hell is going on? This is costing us $65,000 a month. Are we really getting value for money?

Post a comment and tell us what you think.

09/08/2026

Safety is an Infrastructure and Enforcement Problem, Not a Clothing Choice

The City of Saint John released its annual back-to-school safety reminder this week, advising parents to plan safe routes and keep kids visible during their walk to school. However, placing the burden of safety on vulnerable road users highlights a major contradiction in municipal governance: The City is asking residents to follow rules that the City itself refuses to consistently enforce.

Daily traffic reality in Saint John includes: Chronic red-light running at major intersections with minimal police presence or automated enforcement. Persistent speeding through school corridors outside of occasional photo-op blitzes. A complete lack of regulatory oversight or enforcement for e-scooters and micro-mobility vehicles on sidewalks—a dangerous gap, especially as Canadian pediatric and health data show e-scooter hospitalizations jumped nearly 40% in a single year, with severe injuries and hospitalizations among children nearly tripling nationwide.

Issuing warnings to pedestrians while ignoring systemic traffic violations is a strategy of deflection. A policy that relies on children being "predictable" and "brightly dressed" rather than holding drivers accountable is fundamentally flawed.

Real road safety requires structural accountability: engineered traffic calming, continuous active transport lanes, and predictable traffic enforcement across Saint John year-round.

Until municipal policy matches municipal public relations, these announcements are just more corporate gaslighting. It's long past time for city council to put public safety at the top of its agenda.

08/21/2026

Taxi Safety Blitz. Everyone else be damned!

The latest Saint John taxi inspection blitz has produced some pretty startling numbers.

According to a CBC report, police and public-safety officials checked 31 taxi vehicles in Saint John. Eighteen failed the spot inspection and were immediately taken out of service. Eight were towed because of safety concerns, and two drivers were found operating without valid licences.

The City's interim chief operating officer, Kevin Loughery, said the inspections check things such as lights, tires, meters, cleanliness, licences, insurance, registration, and inspection requirements.

We're not complaining about that.

If a taxi isn't safe, it shouldn't be carrying passengers.

But the story raises another question.

What about the way the cars are being driven?

Not just taxis. All cars.

Anyone who drives around Saint John knows speeding and running red lights are not occasional events. Neither are drivers failing to yield, racing through intersections, or simply driving in ways that put everyone else at risk.

And yes, we're sure we'll hear that the police conduct an annual traffic blitz and issue plenty of tickets.

But that's exactly the problem.

A blitz is not the same thing as enforcement.

If dangerous driving is happening 365 days a year, enforcement can't be an occasional event.

There is something rather ironic about how much attention can be devoted to checking what's inside a vehicle while comparatively little seems to be done about what's happening behind the wheel on an ordinary day.

And perhaps there's a reason for that.

A taxi inspection produces wonderfully neat numbers:

31 inspected.
18 failed.
8 towed.
2 unlicensed drivers.

It's visible. It's measurable. It's something City Hall can announce.

It's also the sort of thing visitors to Saint John might notice.

But the driver who blows through a red light on a Tuesday afternoon doesn't come with a news release.

The speeding driver doesn't produce a photo opportunity.

And changing everyday driving behaviour requires something much less glamorous than an occasional blitz: consistent enforcement.

We aren't suggesting the City shouldn't inspect taxis.

We are asking why public safety seems to get so much attention when it can be seen, counted and announced, while the dangerous driving that residents encounter every day doesn't seem to receive the same sustained attention.

Because public safety isn't just about making sure the taxi is properly inspected.

It's about making sure the person driving the taxi — and every other vehicle on the road — actually drives safely.

Maybe Saint John needs fewer enforcement events designed to demonstrate that something is being done, and more enforcement that actually changes what happens on our streets every day.

08/17/2026

Shape Your Budget 2027: "Big" Input or Just More PR?

City Hall has launched its annual Shape Your Budget: 2027 Survey, asking residents how to spend tax dollars in the coming fiscal year. On the surface, asking citizens for input sounds like good governance. In reality, it looks like another slick PR exercise from an administration that spends more energy on image management than on actual leadership.

It gets worse: you can’t even submit feedback for Question 7 without completing the rest of the form. Every single multiple-choice field is marked as required, which forces residents to play along with a flawed guessing game just to get their actual thoughts heard.

Real political leadership isn't about throwing a forced, context-free questionnaire at the public. It’s about taking responsibility, making tough decisions, and presenting clear, honest choices to the community.

Here is why this survey misses the mark and why it shields Council from doing its real job:

It Creates the Illusion of Choice: The survey forces you to rank basic everyday services alongside major tax decisions, all without giving you a single price tag. Asking residents whether they want better roads or lower taxes without showing what those options actually cost isn't consultation. It's a trap.

It Hides Behind "Consensus": True leaders don't need an unscientific online poll to tell them that roads need paving, basic services need funding, and tax dollars should be spent wisely. Forcing participation lets politicians claim "the public asked for this" when a decision is popular, or throw their hands up when a hard choice gets ignored.

It Treats Governance Like a Customer Feedback Card: Instead of opening up the books, hosting detailed ward meetings, or using real budget tools that show true financial trade-offs, City Hall gives us a mandatory click-through form that ends with a question asking for a compliment on overall service value. That is corporate PR, not democratic engagement.

Most of a city’s operating budget is already locked into fixed costs like labor contracts, debt servicing, and emergency services. Real leadership would be transparent about those realities from day one, rather than pretending everything is up for a vote on a multiple-choice form.

What You Can Do:

If you take the time to complete the mandatory fields on the Shape Your Budget: 2027 Survey, make sure you use Question 7; the open-ended text box at the end. That text box is one of the few places where your actual, unscripted feedback gets entered into the official record before budget talks begin. Use it to tell City Hall exactly what your neighborhood needs, rather than playing along with their PR framework.

Better yet, ignore the survey and phone or email the Mayor and councillors and demand true accountability. Tell them if they want feedback on where to spend your tax dollars...hold a series of public meetings and ask citizens directly.