With the election campaign behind them, two of Moncton’s newest councillors are ready to take on the challenges of their downtown ward. Marc Leger and Kristin Cavoukian are first-time city councillors who hope to bring some fresh ideas to an area dealing with crime and social issues. Leger said while canvassing neighbourhoods during his campaign, many people told him they don’t feel safe walking around downtown. “We need to make sure we’re taking the steps to address that by, I think, more of a presence by whether it be by-law officers, RCMP, literal boots on the ground is what people are wanting from what I’ve heard at the door,” said Leger. Leger said more affordable housing is needed for homeless people and the number of detox and rehab beds needs to increase. “We’re not even halfway to our needs, so it’s essential that we have those services if we want to address the addiction crisis in our city,” said Leger. Cavoukian believes the number of vacant buildings and empty lots in the downtown core needs to be addressed. “If you’re running a small business and you’ve put your life savings into it and right across the street is effectively a patch of grass owned by some developer or landowner who’s neither developing it or selling it, that is a really big problem. We can’t continue to allow that on our primary streets in the middle of downtown,” said Cavoukian. Cavoukian also spoke about the St. George Street Improvement Plan and said the previous council approved a great vision for what the downtown street will look like. “Between a plan and shovels in the ground, I want to make sure first that we have full consultation with the public and specifically people who live within the St. George neighbourhood,” said Cavoukian. Cavoukian, who lives in the area, said it’s important St. George is treated like a residential neighbourhood. “Which is what it is. It’s also a really important strip of our downtown,” said Cavoukian. Both were asked about the Enough is Enough anti-crime coalition and if they would be willing to work with them moving forward. Enough is Enough was started last fall by a group of residents and small business and property owners who are calling on all levels of government to reduce crime in the Greater Moncton area. Leger said he’s always eager to talk to anyone about finding solutions to their challenges. Cavoukian doesn’t believe Enough is Enough got the electoral results it wanted. “But I applaud them for bringing up a very important conversation that needs to be had,” said Cavoukian. “My safety and security focus throughout this campaign has been on schools. So I have a slightly different focus than other folks. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about safety and security.” Both new city councillors said they want to engage with their constituents as much as they can. “I think it’s important for Ward 2 residents to know that they can find us throughout the ward, that we are accessible to them and that they don’t need to wait until they’re really angry about something and come to city hall and speak publicly in front of cameras in order to get our attention,” said Cavoukian. They will officially begin their new roles on June 1. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
