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N.B. government reaches tentative agreement with school bus drivers, custodians
N.B. government reaches tentative agreement with school bus drivers, custodians

CTV News

time3 days ago

  • Business
  • CTV News

N.B. government reaches tentative agreement with school bus drivers, custodians

The New Brunswick government has reached a tentative collective agreement with hundreds of school bus drivers, maintenance workers and custodians. The government says it recently reached a deal with CUPE Local 1253, which represents roughly 3,300 workers in school districts. 'Both negotiating teams have worked diligently to reach this point, and I appreciate their commitment,' said Finance and Treasury Board Minister René Legacy in a news release. 'As a government, we value the essential work they perform every day. We are pleased to have reached this tentative agreement, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with the union.' The details of the agreement will not be disclosed until the deal is ratified. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.

8.8-cent surcharge on N.B. gas not going away yet
8.8-cent surcharge on N.B. gas not going away yet

CBC

time14-05-2025

  • Business
  • CBC

8.8-cent surcharge on N.B. gas not going away yet

New Brunswickers appear destined to keep paying a provincial surcharge on gasoline for a while longer, despite a seven-month-old Liberal election promise to quickly eliminate it. The cost-of-carbon adjustor is adding 8.8 cents to a litre of regular gasoline this week. The Holt government committed to repealing the adjustor during last fall's provincial election campaign, but they hit the brakes after gas distributors and retailers warned it could put some of them out of business. A committee of MLAs that held a day of hearings into the repeal legislation in February issued a report last week that didn't take a position on whether the adjustor should stay in place or be removed. Instead, it tells the government to talk to the Energy Utilities Board about whether the current adjustor formula reflects the true cost of federal climate regulations. Progressive Conservative Opposition Leader Glen Savoie said that virtually guarantees that the repeal bill won't pass before the legislature adjourns for the summer on June 6. Minister wants to know impact of eliminating adjustor Energy Minister René Legacy said the committee report was "smart and well-thought-out" and his office would contact the EUB this week to discuss the issue. "We just want to make sure that before we make any changes, we know the impacts." The Higgs PC government introduced the adjustor legislation in 2022 so that the cost of federal Clean Fuel Regulations could be passed from producers through New Brunswick's regulated gas pricing system to consumers. Critics denounced it as a way to protect Irving Oil from the regulations. The cost per litre is set by the EUB every week. It is 8.8 cents per litre this week. Legacy called that "quite high." "There's something to be looked at," he said. "I think it came out in the committee that there is something to be fixed there." The Holt Liberals promised in the 2024 election to repeal the surcharge "immediately" but after they introduced a bill to do that last fall, gas distributors and retailers fought back. They told MLAs on the law amendments committee in February that without a law in place forcing the EUB to pass the cost to consumers, it would hit their bottom line instead. Legacy said upcoming EUB hearings on what profit margins gas wholesales and retailers are allowed to make could also affect the decision. He said the adjustor may have been helping retailers stay afloat at a time when the limits on their profit margins haven't kept up with costs. The minister wouldn't say whether the bill will advance and be adopted this spring. "I'm not sure if it will go as-is, or if it will go with an amendment," he said. Opposition leader worried about retailers Savoie said the government should abandon the repeal or risk seeing some gas retailers go out of business. "Anything that causes gas operators to close in rural New Brunswick is a bad thing," he said. "This government has obviously broken many of its promises. … I would hope that they do break this one, because this one, if they keep it, will cause gas stations in rural New Brunswick to close." When the bill was being debated last fall, Premier Susan Holt said another option would be to eliminate the provincial regulation of gas prices altogether.

Property assessment freeze for one year proposed by Holt government
Property assessment freeze for one year proposed by Holt government

CBC

time06-05-2025

  • Business
  • CBC

Property assessment freeze for one year proposed by Holt government

Social Sharing The New Brunswick government has introduced legislation to freeze property assessments for homeowners, landlords and businesses for one year while it works on a promised plan to reform the province's property tax system. Finance Minister René Legacy submitted what he called an Act Respecting Property Tax Affordability Measures for first reading Tuesday afternoon. The freeze is meant to buy the government time to make changes in the way nearly $1.8 billion in New Brunswick annual property tax revenue is calculated and apportioned among more than 400,000 properties and their owners. About two-thirds of property taxes in New Brunswick, more than $1.2 billion this year, fund municipal governments, with the rest flowing to the province. "Our government has committed to overhauling the property tax system to ensure stability, fairness and affordability, and while that process is underway, we are committed to property tax relief measures," Legacy said in announcing the plan. WATCH | have been 'loud and clear' about wanting relief, finance minister says: Province hopes to stop huge property tax jumps with one-year assessment freeze 57 minutes ago Duration 1:03 If passed, legislation that would freeze assessments for a year would benefit the owners of about 430,000 properties, New Brunswick government says. Property taxes in New Brunswick have soared in recent years, mostly for homeowners and landlords, as the cost of housing has escalated. In Moncton, residential assessments are up 73 per cent in six years, more than double the increase in inflation or the increase in business property assessments. In Saint John, where a number of business properties have had assessment reductions in the last two years, Mayor Donna Reardon said she doesn't understand why those would be frozen if the problem of rising assessments has been with housing properties. "We didn't anticipate this at all," said Reardon. "I don't think any municipality would recommend to have a freeze because it's a blanket freeze. You know, everybody gets the freeze. Our costs won't be frozen." Assessment freezes have been used in the past in New Brunswick with mixed results. In 2018, the former government of Brian Gallant implemented a one-year assessment freeze during a controversy over how Service New Brunswick was valuing houses. Eventually, 41 New Brunswick municipalities raised their property tax rates to save their budgets in response. A partial "permanent" freeze implemented in 2013 by the former David Alward government on homes that experienced large assessment increases in 2011 and 2012 was eventually repealed in 2021 by former Alward cabinet minister Blaine Higgs when he became premier.

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