N.B. premier says cost of living measures in limbo due to election possibility

New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs says measures to address the cost of living promised by his finance minister are on hold “because an election is still a possibility.”

Finance minister Ernie Steeves told reporters last month that cabinet was considering measures like tax cuts to address affordability issues in the province. Tuesday’s speech from the throne also referenced that possibility, saying the legislature would consider tax cuts in order “to ensure New Brunswick remains attractive and competitive.”

But on Thursday, Higgs told reporters that there’s no point in rolling those measures out while there’s still the possibility of an election because they would be part of his party’s platform.

“If you go into an election, when do you see the platform? The third week? You don’t see it at the beginning,” he said.

The premier has refused to rule out calling an election for weeks over instability in his caucus. But on Thursday the opposition Liberals formally called for there to be an election for the first time since leader Susan Holt took the reigns.

At the close of her reply to the speech from the throne, which often sounded like a campaign stump speech, Holt moved an amendment of non-confidence.

“I do not have confidence in this government,” she said. “My team does not have confidence in this government, New Brunswickers have lost confidence in this premier and this government.”

Speaking with reporters while flanked by her MLAs and several confirmed or hopeful candidates, Holt said that it’s time for the province to weigh in on the premier’s leadership.

“Something needs to change and it’s clear that this premier does not have New Brunswickers’ priorities at heart, so we need a new premier and we need a new government,” she said.

But a non-confidence vote still seems like an unlikely path to an election. The six rebel Tory MLAs have already said they’ll support the government on confidence votes and several have already said they’ll vote for the throne speech. One of the six rebels, Daniel Allain, told reporters earlier this week that he accepted the premier’s olive branch and is back in the fold.

Yet Higgs says that since the other five have yet to respond to his request for one-on-one meetings, he can’t rule out the possibility of an election due to the possibility they’ll withhold support or even fire off critical social media posts.

“Whether it’s a vote of non-confidence or whether it’s an ongoing situation on social media, an ongoing criticism of the government that just never ends—I mean you can’t have a government that functions that way. So that’s why we have to stay in the election mode,” he said.

When asked if it was fair to withhold cost of living measures due to possibility of an election while New Brunswickers are struggling now, Higgs said the true fault lies with Holt for not standing up to her federal cousins over climate policies.

“They should be going after the leader of the opposition and her connections with the federal party because the reason we’re in this state is because of federal energy policies,” he said.

“Let’s not put Band-Aids on a problem that originates from an Ottawa regulation.”