New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant doesn’t deny that 2017 had its share of challenging moments, but the Liberal leader maintains that despite setbacks, his government was still able to remain focused on the priorities of residents.
“When you’re trying to govern and you’re trying to do the best you can for New Brunswickers, there’s going to be some ups and downs,” Gallant said. “We always knew that going into this job, and we always do the best we possibly can.”
2017 didn’t wait long to bring on said challenges.
A vicious ice storm ravaged the northern parts of the province in late January, cutting off power to over 100,000 residents for several days.
The emergency response included the Armed Forces, which brought in more than 200 troops to help deliver food and clean up debris.
The unfortunate situation took a turn for the worse as the indoor use of portable barbecues and generators sent dozens of residents to hospital for smoke inhalation. Two victims succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning as a result.
“It really was one of the most difficult things I had to watch and be a part of as premier,” Gallant said.
“But it was also at the same time one of the things that has made me even prouder to be a New Brunswicker,” he said of the countless volunteers and workers who stayed busy around the clock.
Around the midpoint of the year, news that a new fast-track property assessment system had erroneously raised the tax bills for thousands of homeowners made headlines and caused the provincial government to freeze assessments for the following year.
Although Auditor General Kim MacPherson’s latest report didn’t uncover any wrongdoing on the premier’s part, the issue still dominated the news for months, likely leaving a bad taste in the mouths of some voters who frustrated by the assessment errors.
If that didn’t shake one’s trust in the provincial government, longtime MLA Donald Arseneault adding another line to his resume while still in elected office might have come close to sealing the deal.
The Cambellton-Dalhousie MLA was hired on by the Canadian Building Trades Unions in a lobbyist role.
Although he was removed from cabinet (where he had been serving as Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour) and announced he wouldn’t be running again in 2018, the conflict of interest forced the premier to issue an ultimatum.
“It became very clear that there was a discrepancy with what advice was given by the integrity commissioner, and we felt that it was a situation that we had to fix,” explained Gallant. “We gave him the decision to pick one job or the other.”
Arseneault’s choice to leave his seat in the legislature, avoiding sitting as a former Liberal-turned-independent, came as a surprise to many, but one that likely helped distance Gallant from another would-be scandal.
In the year’s final quarter came the confirmation that TransCanada had pulled their National Energy Board application for the Energy East project.
Gallant, a staunch supporter of the pipeline throughout his three years in office, was disappointed by the loss of the project and the economic opportunity it presented.
“When discussions started about the Energy East pipeline a few years ago, world market conditions were a lot different than they are today,” he explained. “But with that said, we have always since the beginning of becoming the government of the people of New Brunswick focused on having a multi-year plan to grow the economy, focused in many different areas.”
The stories that were top of mind throughout 2017 will no doubt remain in the forefront for New Brunswickers as they head into an election year.
While the valleys may be the easiest to recall, Gallant says he’s banking on voters seeing more peaks in 2018, with renewed commitments to the what really matters to them.
“When it comes to the things that are important to the people in our province — economic growth, health care and education — we really are seeing some great momentum in this province.”
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