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Two Moncton business owners say crime in downtown Moncton is “out of control” and are challenging city councillors to do something about it.
Patrick Gillespie and Jo-Anne Phillips appeared before council on Monday to put forward demands from their coalition called Enough is Enough.
“The crime is escalating,” Phillips told council. “And we do not have enough boots on the ground. We do not have the capacity to look after this.”
Gillespie told councillors that his business, Ashford Investments, operated for decades with no budget for security, but then toward the end of 2024, “things started to go in the wrong direction.”
By 2025, he said crime had exploded. Now, he said the company spends $171,000 annually on security.
Those who are committed to solving this problem will have our support. Those who are not will be held accountable by voters.– Jo-Anne Phillips, Enough is Enough
Gillespie also said tenants are moving out of his company’s downtown rental properties because of concerns about crime.
The coalition called on council to acknowledge the scale of the problem, commit to adequate policing resources and create a task force focused on downtown crime.
“This is an election year,” Phillips said to councillors. “Will you make crime your top priority, if elected?
“Those who are committed to solving this problem will have our support. Those who are not will be held accountable by voters.”
Coun. Bryan Butler responded with some frustration and defended council’s efforts to curb crime in downtown Moncton.
“We’re kind of caught looking sometimes like the bad person,” Butler said. “But we would love to solve the problem.”
Butler said council had asked the RCMP about adding five new officers to help patrol and respond to the downtown area, but said the force did not want to turn over operational decisions — such as where officers are deployed — to council.
“When you say boots on the street, I agree,” Butler said. “We need more boots on the street, but as a council, we still do not have the power to do that.”
Another issue Butler and some other councillors highlighted was the lack of authority for Moncton’s 16 community safety officers. Butler said the officers are not currently authorized to go onto private property or to give trespass notices, because they have not yet been designated as special constables.
That’s something Serge Doucet, Moncton’s chief administrative officer, said he’s been working on remedying for the past year alongside the province and the RCMP.
Action postponed on property crime proposal
While Gillespie and Phillips called for urgency on the issue, councillors postponed a decision on a proposal that might have helped alleviate some of their concerns.
Coun. Charles Léger put forward a motion calling for dedicated downtown security patrols, and the establishment of a fund to help cover security and damage costs for downtown businesses. Léger called for a two-year pilot project based on a similar program in Saint John, asking that it start by March 1.
A city staff report on the idea said the expanded downtown patrolling would mean hiring eight more community safety officers at an annual cost of around $750,000. It also said that finding the new officers could be challenging in the current labour market.
The report also said that city staff would need time to develop the criteria and rules for the proposed fund for downtown businesses needing help with security and damage costs.
Gillespie and Phillips were lukewarm on the idea of the fund. Gillespie said he wouldn’t say no to some financial help, but he would rather see property crime addressed directly.
In the end, council decided to hold off on a decision regarding Léger’s motion, instead sending it to a relatively new committee on crime reduction, which includes councillors Léger, Butler, Danielle Bourgeois and Monique LeBlanc.
That committee intends to file a report with recommendations in mid to late March. But according to Bourgeois, a report could be ready with a recommendation on Léger’s plan as early as Feb. 17, when council is set to meet again.
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