New Brunswick’s Tory leader has officially joined forces with his counterparts in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, promising that his government won’t bring in a carbon tax on consumers if elected on Sept. 24.
Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs said today that he believes a Tory government would “meet its obligations to the environment” with methods other than raising levies on consumers, but he was not clear in a news release on what precisely that means.
READ MORE: All our New Brunswick election 2018 coverage
Ottawa has said the provinces must place a levy on carbon and that this tax should be sufficient to meet the federal government plans for carbon reduction.
The federal government has said that if provinces don’t place the levy on consumers aimed at reducing their consumption of fossil fuels, Ottawa will do so, and Ottawa will then have final say in how the revenue-neutral tax is funnelled back to the taxpayers in New Brunswick.
Higgs has been on the record saying he would join with other Conservative governments in opposing Ottawa’s carbon emissions law in the courts.
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Also today, Liberal Premier Brian Gallant announced the province will increase the province’s minimum wage to $14 by 2022 if re-elected.
The first increase would come on April 1, 2019, when a 75 cent raise would increase minimum pay to $12.00 hourly.
The Gallant government has raised the minimum wage four times since 2014, representing a 12.5 per cent increase.
The New Democrats have pledged a $15 per hour minimum wage.
READ MORE: N.B. NDP introduces first transgender candidate in province, promises to improve LGBTQ rights
New Democrat Leader Jennifer McKenzie says, if elected, an NDP government in New Brunswick would create a new government agency in its first mandate to provide home care services.
She said the Home Care Services agency would work with the Extra Mural Program to provide medical needs and service supports to seniors and other New Brunswickers needing care in their homes.
McKenzie said all home care workers would be public servants with decent wages and benefits.
She said the plan would allow more patients to receive health care services in their own homes rather than in a hospital.
The Green Party officially launched its campaign platform at its Fredericton headquarters on Monday morning, with leader David Coon calling it “Our Pathway for Change.”
The platform includes a wide range of policies aimed at reducing carbon consumption.
The party’s campaign platform says there would be a cap set on industrial carbon emissions, major increases to public transportation, and it will support the building of infrastructure to “support walking and cycling lifestyles.”
The party, which has a single seat in the legislature, would also prohibit the extraction of shale gas, require that half of electricity is produced by renewable energy for 2025 and provide financing to homeowners and businesses to convert from oil and gas to local sources of renewable energy.