New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt speaks during the reception which followed the swearing-in ceremony for her and her new cabinet in Fredericton on Nov. 2.Michael Hawkins/The Canadian Press
A rent cap, tax cuts, and payments to nurses are among the commitments New Brunswick Liberal government says it will fulfill in its first 100 days in office.
In a throne speech Tuesday, the new government said it will earn the trust of New Brunswickers by rapidly completing a series of pledges made during the campaign that ended Oct. 21 with Susan Holt and her Liberal team winning a majority.
Within the first 100 days in office, the Liberals say they will implement a rent cap,remove the provincial tax onnew multi-unit housing, and scrap a “clean fuel adjuster” that the premier said adds four cents a litre to the price motorists pay at the pump. The government said it will also distribute retention payments to nurses to show them “the respect and appreciation they deserve.”
However, the Liberals added that rather than removing the provincial tax on electricity bills as promised during the campaign, they will offer an equivalent rebate that will be delivered automatically to residential ratepayers. Holt told reporters after the speech that the change was made to bring “relief as quickly as possible” because the process to remove the provincial sales tax would take several months.
In a speech read in the legislature by Lt.-Gov. Brenda Murphy, the government outlined a long list of priorities: health care, affordability and housing, education, economic development, the environment and “trusted leadership.” “Your government understands that trust does not come easy, but they are ready and willing to work hard to earn it,” Murphy said.
During the election campaign, the Liberals promised to open 30 community health clinics over the next four years. Community clinics bring together doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health-care professionals under one roof. The government said in its speech it is “committed to support” 10 community care clinics in 2025.
Looming over the Liberals many promises is the province’s financial outlook, which dimmed last week when the new finance minister projected a deficit of $92.1 million for the current fiscal year, a reversal from the $40.9-million surplus budgeted last spring by the Progressive Conservatives. Rene Legacy blamed the deficit on higher-than-expected spending in the Health Department, particularly on private nursing companies.
The premier told reporters her party knew there would be a deficit but they were waiting to see the “real numbers.”
“We’re prepared to have to make some hard choicesabout where we’re going to save money in order to continue to achieve the balanced budgets that we’ve committed to,” Holt said. She said the target is to balance the book by 2025-26.
Progressive Conservative Opposition leader Glen Savoie said the speech was short on specifics, as is usually the case with such speeches.
“It’s going to be our job as the official Opposition to make sure that we ask what those details are going to be in order for them to live up to their commitments in what they said in the campaign and also in their throne speech.”
Green Leader David Coon said the speech had “many good commitments” but said some gaps remained. There was no real plan to tackle climate change, address the lack of public transportation or proceed with negotiations on First Nations title claims, he said.
Jamie Gillies, a political scientist at St. Thomas University, summed up the throne speech as “a competent, not quite bold agenda,” but one that reinforces the themes Holt ran on during her campaign.
“I think they’re trying to present a positive vision and working on some really recalcitrant, difficult files, like health care, and dealing with, how do you build more housing,” he said.
“And maybe they’re being cautious because of the fiscal situation that they’ve inherited.”