Rexton, New Brunswick - Charles Murray, New Brunswick's ombudsman, was on the scene at the ongoing blockade of an Irving-owned compound along highway 134 that contains key pieces of SWN Resources Canada's seismic testing equipment.

With his office flooded by an unprecedented number of complaints (Murray estimates that over 1,000 shale gas-related complaints and communications have arrived at his desk), the ombudsman, appreciative of the 'eyes-on-the-ground' approach, decided to pay a brief visit to the encampment himself.

“[This] sort of response is unprecedented in the history of our office,” says Murray. “We've never had this kind of outreach to our office like this...In a typical year, we'd have 3,000 - 4,000 complaints on all the issues reach our office. So if you can imagine within the period of six weeks to receive 1,000? It's strained our capacity to process them and we have a backlog that we're working through.”

Murray's office remains in a observation - rather than investigation - mode, and the ombudsman was also clear that the power of his office lies in the ability to determine the precursory steps that have escalated to the current stand-off. If an investigation were to occur, it is likely that it would focus on the consultative process – or lack thereof – that the current Alward government has undertaken.

“A lot of the government consultation on this issue has been effectively to say 'How could we best develop shale gas in the province of New Brunswick?' says Murray. “That's a very specific form of consultation. And that's a very different form of consultation than to say: 'Should we develop shale gas in the province of New Brunswick?'

“So when you start your consultation process by determining that you're not going to ask specific questions, you're only going to ask others, then you've set the consultation in a certain direction. Now, the question then becomes: Does that colour the consultation that happens after that? Have you pre-judged the result when you've done that? And what are the mechanisms that you do, so that even given that you've limited your mandate to discuss, [that you're] still having a real conversation and not, for want of a better term, a show consultation?”

Murray was clear that in his observations the Alward government remains at the exploration stage when it comes to shale gas, and that they have not yet opened up the question of whether to develop the resource itself. The question of whether to explore at all, however, does not appear to be one that was asked of the general populace.

“[The Alward government is] saying to themselves 'We're going to explore, how do we best explore, and if we were to develop how do we best address those issues?'” says Murray. “So those are slightly different questions than a very basic question which is 'Should the province develop this resource?' There's a nuance there, but it's an important nuance in terms of what the consultation process is.”

As for shale gas opposition in New Brunswick – including those against even the exploration process – Murray noted that there was “a substantial portion of the population” who share this view.

As for how that opinion is voiced to the government, writing letters to Murray's office is certainly one resort. His office, however, is limited in it's power vis-a-vis the government; recommendations or investigative findings do ultimately risk falling on deaf political ears.

“The question is how [does the anti-shale gas movement] express that view to government and what's the mechanism," says Murray. "So if a portion of the population is of that view, is government required to listen to that portion? What do they need to do to their policy to respect that? Or is that something that ultimately gets resolved in a ballot box and we basically count heads and see which side has got the most numbers.

“Our office is about trying to find the common ground between people, notwithstanding the fact that we know that they have very strong committed positions. We're still trying to find the common ground.”