Voters in New Brunswick are scheduled to go to the polls on Oct. 21. Here’s a look at some of the promises announced by the three major parties:
Progressive Conservatives:
— Cut the harmonized sales tax by two points, from 15 per cent to 13 per cent.
— Build 6,000 homes per year, and have 30,000 new units constructed by 2030.
— Expand the scope of practice for nurse practitioners, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, paramedics and pharmacists by working with medical professionals and governing bodies to “evaluate all scopes of practice.”
— Make financial literacy part of the school curriculum, with lessons on subjects such as budgeting, bank accounts, interest rates, inflation, mortgages, leases, loans and RRSPs.
Liberals:
— Implement a three per cent cap on rent increases by 2025, to be reviewed annually based on inflation and vacancy rates.
— Construct 30,000 housing units by 2030, and eliminate the 10 per cent provincial sales tax on new multi-unit housing builds.
— Give $10,000 retention bonuses in Year 1 and $5,000 in Year 2 to all nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses employed by Vitalité and Horizon health networks.
— Eliminate the provincial sales tax on electricity bills for residential customers as soon as the party takes office.
— Create 30 community clinics across the province by 2028.
— Recruit more health professionals by changing the compensation model for doctors, increasing the number of residency spaces for medical students and streamlining the process for recognizing the credentials of foreign health professionals.
— Overhaul mental health services by adding community outreach workers to deliver front-line support.
— Modernize New Brunswick’s property tax system to ensure it is “transparent, competitive, affordable, and fair.”
— Recruit and retain teachers, educational assistants, support staff and bus drivers by improving school working conditions.
Greens:
— Invest $380 million annually to fix the primary health-care system.
— Implement a guaranteed livable income to end deep poverty by the end of a four-year mandate, in partnership with the federal government.
— Restore and improve rural services, including by launching a year-round ferry service to connect Campobello Island to the mainland, and building a “safe modern bridge” to link the islands of Lamèque and Miscou with the mainland at Shippagan.
— Give households with after-tax incomes of less than $70,000 an average of $25 per month to offset electricity rates.
— Create a provincial heritage plan to preserve historical and cultural assets.
— Impose a 2.5 per cent cap on rent increases.
— Make forestry more sustainable by halting clearcuts, ending herbicide spraying and working with First Nations to make shared decisions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2024.
The Canadian Press