‘The Speaker’s Honey’ produced at N.B. legislature bound for tables around the world

New Brunswick Health Minister’s rooftop beehive.

New Brunswick’s Health Minister Dr. John Dornan was seen lifting large, white, wooden boxes out of a truck parked alongside the province’s legislature in October.

His colleague, Matt Garnett, appeared with tools to slip under the boxes, so they could carry more than one at a time.

They were beehives.

The duo was returning them up to the roof of the legislature’s departmental building.

Dornan has been harvesting honey in Saint John for about 25 years. First alongside his father, and then with his wife and children. After getting elected, he brought the bees with him, to Fredericton.

“I thought it was a fabulous idea,” said the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Francine Landry.

Dornan and Garnett carried the hives up the stairs to the roof one morning in spring.

“One day early in the morning we were at the beehives with our bee suits on, and there was a guard in the legislature that didn’t know who we were, and he called the Sergeant-at-Arms and said, ‘There appears to be two guys in hazmat suits, climbing the roof of the legislature,’” Dornan said.

Everyone quickly got used to the new arrangement – especially the bees who appeared to enjoy their change of scenery. Dornan said his Queen bees, Anne and Britannia, had their most productive harvest to date.

“It’s kind of exciting,” he said. “It’s a chance for me to share apiculture with people of New Brunswick. One out of three mouthfuls that you consume, whether it’s apples, other vegetation, requires pollination. And that’s what our bees do.”

Last week, their sweet success was bottled. The entire process – from hive to harvest to honey – happened at the legislature.

“Downstairs in the basement, in the kitchen,” said Landry. “We did the bottling with the help of some employees.”

The two hives produced 250 bottles of “The Speaker’s Honey,” bound for tables all over the world.

“We’re going to offer some to the ambassadors, to the visitors that are coming to visit our Legislative Assembly,” Landry said.

A queen bee’s mandate lasts about four years, the same as an MLA, so the plan is to harvest as long as they can.

“They’re hibernating now with a few thousand bees around each queen and each hive,” Dornan said. “We’ll leave them there for the winter. We won’t disturb them at all. And come spring, we’ll open up the hive and then start all over again.”

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.