Latest news with #HoltLiberal
CBC
27-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
With rules in place, N.B. PC leadership race kicks off — unofficially
The leadership race for New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative party is unofficially underway — with one potential candidate being forced to make a decision before Canada Day. Rules for the race adopted last week include a proviso that anyone holding the position of interim leader on July 1 of this year is ineligible to run for the permanent position. That means Saint John East MLA Glen Savoie would have to relinquish the interim job soon if he wants to have the option of running. Savoie says he's been too focused on scrutinizing the Holt Liberal government in the legislature to give it much thought, and he won't make up his mind until after MLAs adjourn the session for the summer on June 6. "I'll look at that at that time, but it takes discipline to say, 'I'm not dealing with this right now because I have an important task in front of me,'" he said. "And I have been disciplined. I've put 100 per cent of my energy into holding this government to account." Traditionally, MLAs who become interim leaders of their parties don't become candidates for the leadership, though there's often no rule prohibiting them from running. PCs will choose their new leader Oct. 17, 2026, with the official kickoff for the campaign set for October of this year. Several party members are already thinking about it. Fredericton-Grand Lake MLA Kris Austin, a former leader of the People's Alliance who moved to the PCs and became a cabinet minister in 2022, is one of them. "I am still considering the possibility of a run for leader," Austin said in an email. "I will take the summer to gauge support and have discussions with my wife, family and supporters before making a final decision." Former cabinet minister Daniel Allain, who was shuffled out of cabinet in June 2023 after being part of a caucus revolt against then-premier Blaine Higgs, has been open about his interest in the job. "I'm seriously thinking about it," he said. "It's a family decision. It's a decision based on what the members think. … There's lots of time to decide." WATCH | 'I have been disciplined': interim PC leader faces deadline: New rules mark unofficial start of N.B. PC party leadership race 42 minutes ago Duration 1:53 To quality as a candidate, a party member has to amass $35,000 in donations to the party earmarked as support for their bid. He or she also has to collect 500 endorsements from party members, with at least 20 each from seven out of nine regions of the province as defined by the party's constitution. A ranked-ballot system will allow party members to vote in advance by mail rather than at the main convention venue or a satellite polling location, the system the party used in its last leadership content in 2016. That led to a long day marred by delays in the three rounds of voting, with large numbers of party members giving up and drifting away as the process stretched from the noon hour into the late evening.
CBC
18-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Holt Liberals project $549-million deficit in their first N.B. budget
Social Sharing The Holt Liberal government is projecting large budget deficits as far as the eye can see. In his first provincial budget, Finance Minister René Legacy is projecting a fiscal shortfall of $549 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year. That deficit could go as high as $599 million if the province draws on a $50 million contingency fund it has set aside to help New Brunswick businesses and workers cope with the impact of U.S. tariffs. "Make no mistake: as this government's finance minister, it is difficult for me to stand here in front of you today announcing such a significant deficit," Legacy told reporters at a news conference. And there's no return to balanced budgets on the horizon, either. WATCH | 4 key numbers in the Holt Liberals' first budget: The Holt Liberal budget in 4 numbers 3 minutes ago Duration 3:38 Legacy's four-year fiscal plan projects budget deficits — albeit smaller ones — in every year of the Liberals' mandate through 2028-29. That is despite Premier Susan Holt's campaign promise to balance the budget in every year of her term. In his budget speech, Legacy was unapologetic. "We will not sacrifice fixing health and education, and addressing the very real affordability challenges New Brunswickers are facing or shirk our responsibility to tackle the impacts of tariffs head-on in favour of satisfying the bottom line," he said. "For too long, government's singular focus has been on balanced budgets and debt reduction, which has served to the detriment of the needs of New Brunswickers. Fiscal responsibility can and should be measured in more ways than just the bottom line." The new spending includes $30 million in health care to support new collaborative care clinics, the centrepiece of Holt's commitment to improve access to primary care. But overall, health spending in 2025-26 will increase only 1.8 per cent over what the province is spending this year. Economist Richard Saillant said the Liberals are actually increasing spending at a slower rate than the Progressive Conservative government of Blaine Higgs did. But because the PCs had the benefit of large tax windfalls each year, it was able to stay in the black, he said. With those windfalls slowing down, the Liberals had less room to spend. "This [Liberal] government was a bit boxed in by the structural deficit [it] inherited. … It's having to contain its ambitions, spending-wise." Legacy said the more than $2 billion reduction in the province's accumulated debt — a result of PC frugality he criticized when he was an opposition MLA — gives the government flexibility to do that spending. But the Liberal financial plan will wipe out all that PC debt reduction, with a return to a $14.3 billion accumulated debt, the previous all-time peak, projected for 2026-27. "The previous government has brought this up often times, saying, 'We're putting that money aside for certain hard times, when we'll need it,'" he said at the news conference. "Well, we may be at the point now where we can't push it forward anymore." The minister acknowledged, however, that the trend of big spending increases is not sustainable, and he warned of "hard decisions" in the coming years. That's why the government is launching "a transformation initiative" to end spending that doesn't produce results, and to spend money more wisely. Legacy told reporters those decisions haven't been made yet because the government wants to consult widely, including with community organizations. "We have to involve them in the process," he said, rather than imposing an across-the-board cut that may have unintended consequences. The budget includes no money for travel nurses following the Vitalité Health Network's recent cancellation of remaining travel nurse shifts for nurses employed by private company Canadian Health Labs.
