N.B. government shuts down debate on controversial pension legislation

No more debate will take place over a controversial piece of pension reform legislation in New Brunswick.

The provincial government used its majority to force the house to adjourn at 11:20 Friday morning, over two and a half hours early, effectively ending the debate on the bill. Premier Blaine Higgs said it became clear that the opposition was holding up the bill at second reading and that no value would come from more debate.

“If you’ve been listening, what you would hear is a rerun of no real information sharing or no real opportunity to discuss the actual details,” Higgs told reporters on Friday.

The proposed legislation would convert five union locals to one of the province’s three shared-risk pension plans, away from the defined-benefit plan they are currently on. CUPE New Brunswick has accused the premier of breaking an agreement to negotiate a new pension model, but Higgs has argued that agreement expired.

The opposition is accusing the premier of acting undemocratically and trying to force the legislation.

“He is determined to go forward with his choice of pension plan no matter what and he’s decided to shut down the house to ensure that he can do that,” said Green leader David Coon.

Last week the government proposed the assembly sit for an extra two days before rising for the winter in order to give more time to debate the bill. Yet this week they also introduced a time allocation motion limiting debate to 10 hours. Once that motion is debated and passed on Tuesday the legislation will go directly to a vote.

Higgs said the decision to end debate on Friday resulted from the opposition refusing to let the bill move to the economic policy committee, where the minister who introduced it would appear with staff to answer any questions.

“The staff was ready and I was going to participate in it as well, to share every detail and answer every question, but they don’t want to do that,” he said.

Coon says that time in the committee wouldn’t have made much difference since both opposition parties are against the bill in principle.

“All you’re getting is the minister answering questions and that doesn’t shed light on much of anything, nor do they accept amendments from opposition parties so there’s no point,” he said.

It’s expected that the bill will receive royal assent on Wednesday and that the process to convert the locals to the shared-risk plans will begin in February.