This Week Uncut on CHCO-TV: September 15-21, 2025

On the latest episode of This Week Uncut, anchors Vicki Hogarth and Nathalie Sturgeon examined two of the most pressing issues facing Southwest New Brunswick: the stalled plans for St. Andrews’ Market Wharf and Market Square expansion, and the province-wide debate over NB Power’s future.

Produced by CHCO-TV and The Courier—two nonprofit outlets working in tandem to provide independent news for the region—the weekly program offers viewers a chance to see how local decisions and provincial policies shape everyday life in Charlotte County.

St. Andrews Wharf Expansion Put on Hold

Hogarth and Sturgeon opened with the wharf project, a proposal that has drawn both anticipation and scrutiny.

The Town of St. Andrews recently voted against accepting the lowest construction bid for the expansion, halting a plan once estimated at $7.9 million. Formal bids submitted this year ranged from $9.4 million to $17 million, far higher than earlier projections.

While staff recommended moving forward with the lowest bid, councillors questioned whether the town risked significant overruns. Unit pricing, a contingency of about $700,000, and the prospect of rising costs left several councillors unconvinced.

Councillor Darrell Weare said the tender brought the issue to a head and that rejecting the bid was the "right thing financially.”

A turning point in the discussion came with new clarity on project deadlines. For months, council had been working under the assumption that federal funding required completion by March 2026. Reporting by The Courier revealed otherwise: federal guidelines allow until 2033, and provincial timelines extend to 2027, with the possibility of extensions. Acting Mayor Kate Akagi confirmed the updated deadlines, noting that council would reconfigure, not abandon, the wharf.

The anchors noted that council plans to reassess the structure’s condition, consider phasing the project, and form a committee including engineers, scientists, councillors, and residents. While no one disputes the wharf’s importance to the town’s economy, the question now is how to proceed without repeating past mistakes.

Questions for NB Power

The program then turned to the NB Power review panel, which made a stop in Charlotte County as part of its province-wide consultations.

Chaired by Michael Bernstein, Duncan Hawthorne, and former provincial access-to-information commissioner Anne E. Bertrand, the panel fielded questions on the utility’s finances, reliability, and future.

Much of the conversation centered on the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station, which has faced extended outages. Residents questioned whether nuclear power can be considered reliable when its flagship facility struggles to stay online.

Audience members also pressed the panel on transparency: Would the review’s findings be made public? Would the government follow through? Bertrand did not mince words, identifying 2040 as a critical year when many of the utility’s major assets will reach the end of their lifespan. Hawthorne added that the panel intends to provide recommendations that are practical and actionable.

Journalism Under Pressure

Hogarth and Sturgeon also reflected on the challenges of reporting through a summer of resignations at town hall and slow responses to information requests. Both CHCO-TV and The Courier have relied on access-to-information filings and persistent questioning to clarify basic details, including the real deadlines for the wharf project.

“Journalism serves the public, not politicians,” Sturgeon said on air, highlighting the newsroom’s commitment to providing clarity in uncertain times.