residents of the new Entity 51 were invited by the Naming Committee to participate in a two phase naming process. The first phase of the naming process was a public contest. Residents were asked to submit potential names for the new town along with a short written explanation of their choice. Notably, it was predetermined by the Town Council that the name “Grand Bay-Westfield” would automatically be included on the final voting ballot. The contest ran from March 11 to 28. From 369 total submissions, 116 were unique names. Once all submissions were received, the Town created a decision-making tool based on Canada's Guiding Principles for Geographic Naming. The tool – a name matrix – was designed with and approved by both the town's Transition Facilitator and the Province's appointed toponymy expert. The naming committee used the matrix to narrow the list from 116 to a top 15. Those top 15 names were then reviewed by the Province. Some names were eliminated for being too long, too general, or for not meeting the Province's standard of full and proper consultation. Next, the committee voted on the ten remaining names using ranked ballots to arrive at our final five choices. On April 6, the Naming Committee held its final regular meeting. After a detailed review of the process from Town staff, the committee resolved a tie between two names by eliminating one of two finalists with very similar names. Ultimately, the 5 names selected to appear on the ballot were Hillandale, Nerepis Valley, Three Rivers, Westfield, and Grand Bay-Westfield. The voting period ran from April 13 to May 2. Residents and businesses within the boundaries of Entity 51 received a flyer in the mail with complete details including voting access keys for vote. The ballot used preferential voting and was operated through the ElectionBuddy voting platform. At the final meeting of the Naming Committee on May 4, 2022, the winning named was revealed to be Grand Bay-Westfield. There were 2,165 votes cast, with Grand Bay-Westfield receiving at least 51% of the vote. Pending approval by the province, Grand Bay-Westfield will come into effect as the name for the governing body of Entity 51 on Jan. 1, 2023. Prior to the official creation of the new local government of Grand Bay-Westfield, there will be a by-election in the portion of the Local Service District of Westfield West. While Grand Bay-Westfield's councillors are