'There are a lot of unknowns': Amalgamation could lead to a name change for Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B.

The renaming of N.B.'s Grand Bay-Westfield A renaming process is underway for the town of Grand Bay-Westfield, N.B., and part of the neighbouring local service district.

GRAND BAY-WESTFIELD, N.B. — What's in a name? For those living in New Brunswick's Grand Bay-Westfield – a lot.

Grand Bay-Westfield is a town of about 5,000 residents, located on the outskirts of Saint John, along the St. John River.

The area is undergoing amalgamation and, with it, a possible change of name and identity as the province redraws its municipal maps.

“Grand Bay-Westfield is going to be joining with the local district service LSD of Westfield West, so 55 per cent of the LSD is going to be coming within our borders,” said Brittany Merrifield, the mayor of Grand Bay-Westfield.

The merging is part of the province's municipal reform plan, unveiled in November 2021, which will see New Brunswick go from 340 local governments and districts to 90.

This isn’t the first time that the area has gone through an amalgamation. Back in 1998, the province merged the then town of Grand Bay with the village of Westfield.

“There are still scars from that amalgamation back in 1998, so that's one of the reasons that we're going about this in such an intentional fashion,” said Merrifield.

However, Merrifield says there are still concerns and mixed feelings in the community about the merging.

“There are a lot of unknowns, so people are nervous. Some people are angry, some people are resigned and some people are looking forward to it,” she said.

The two communities are now known as Entity 51 and a naming committee will be formed to help with the renaming process. The committee will include representatives from the local service districts and from Grand Bay-Westfield.

Daniel Allain, the local governance reform minister, says the name will need to be confirmed within a few months.

“We need legal boundaries and council composition by the first of March, by the first of June we need the entities new names,” said Allain.

Applications for the naming committee are open until Friday.