No state of emergency exists and none existed when St. Stephen Council declared one on Monday, according to the public safety minister.

In a letter to Mayor Allan MacEachern on Wednesday, Kris Austin revoked the local state of emergency.

He says it is his responsibility to invoke emergency powers only when absolutely necessary to respond to a problem which cannot be resolved by any other means.

At an emergency council meeting in St. Stephen on Monday, council declared a state of emergency as a result of the death of a man over the weekend in the park.

It stated there was a “lack of response” by the New Brunswick government for the homelessness crisis.