New Brunswick election 2018 cheat sheet: a last minute voters guide

What are the parties offering to you this election campaign? Here’s a brief roundup of what each party is promising on certain issues.

If specific financial details aren’t listed here, it’s because the parties haven’t made them available.

Keep in mind, this is not a complete listing of all promises – for that, we suggest you head to their websites and check out their full platforms.

READ MORE: New Brunswick election: Full ridings list

For post-secondary students and young people

Liberals:
Eliminate interest on provincial student loans (effective Jan. 1, 2019)
Expand free tuition program by raising the threshold to $70,000 from $60,000 and adjust sliding scale for tuition relief for the middle class

PCs:
Evaluate tuition access bursary program and tax credit programs
Examine the possibility of reinstating the tuition rebate tax credit
Include private universities and colleges in any incentive programs
Expand online and adult upgrading programs

Greens:
Eliminate interest on provincial student loans
Reinstate tuition rebate program
Reduce cap for the timely completion benefit program to $20,000, extend eligibility period
Reduce the voting age to 16

NDP:
Eliminate interest on provincial student loans
Eliminate tuition fees at community colleges
Reduce undergraduate tuition for all publicly funded universities by 25 per cent
Expand eligibility for tuition-access bursaries
Allow graduate students to access tuition relief program, introduce graduate student scholarship
Create mental health services, and harassment and sexual assault prevention policies on campuses

People’s Alliance:
Negotiate multi-year funding agreements with post-secondary institutions
Freeze tuition rates until tuition matches the national average
Set 10 per cent of funding to go toward applied research
Reinstate tuition tax credit

READ MORE: N.B. NDP restate their plan for post-secondary education

For parents and working people

Liberals:
Increase minimum wage to $14/hour over four years
Expand childcare subsidy programs provincewide by March 2019 (subsidy to ensure no more than 15 per cent of family income goes to childcare)
Legislate NB Power rate freeze for four years

PCs:
No new taxes
Fight the federal carbon pricing plan in court, along with other provinces
Make any federal carbon tax revenue-neutral
Create an annually adjusted minimum wage framework
Create a jobs tax credit for all existing businesses
Eliminate front license plates and make vehicle registrations every two years

Greens:
Raise minimum wage to $15.25/hour over four years, index it to inflation
Create basic income guarantee pilot, increase social assistance rates (13 per cent for single people, five per cent for others)
Universally accessible childcare: make it easier for pre-schools to become early childhood learning centres and place them in elementary schools

NDP:
Increase minimum wage to $15/hour over four years
Create before/after school care 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in schools (4,000 new pre-school spaces, 20,000 new before/after school spaces)
Childcare will cost $10 per child
Increase social assistance rates by 10 per cent, index to cost of living
Review employment standards, strengthen access to unions

People’s Alliance:
Fight the federal carbon pricing plan in court, along with other provinces
Eliminate small business taxes
Privatize liquor and cannabis sales
Eliminate front license plates and make vehicle registrations one-time only

WATCH: Campaign promises and final checks on day 18 of the New Brunswick election

2:11 Campaign promises and final checks on day 18 of the New Brunswick election

For seniors

Liberals:
Increase hours of care in nursing homes to 3.3 hours per day by 2022 (from 3.1 hours) and to 3.5 hours by 2026
Build three 60-bed nursing homes and 86 memory care beds as last phase of five-year nursing home plan
Spend $100 million over five years on nursing home renovations
Create a seniors’ navigator to help people access government services
Increase salaries for home care workers
Improve the Seniors’ Home Renovation Tax Credit

PCs:
Ensure there are enough home care workers
Increase home care wages

Greens:
Increase training requirements, salaries for home care workers
Increase hours of care in nursing homes to 3.5 hours per day (from 3.1 hours)
Explore alternative housing models for rural seniors who don’t need nursing home care but can’t stay in their homes
Launch a public inquiry into the adequacy of retirement income

NDP:
Increase wages for home care and community care workers
Expand extra-mural program using federal funding for home care
Create a Home Care Service, government agency to provide home care for all who need it

People’s Alliance:
Increase funding to support non-profit organizations that provide in-home senior care
Enhance assistance for family members who provide at-home care
Increase property tax rebate

READ MORE: All our New Brunswick election 2018 coverage

For women

Liberals:
Legislate pay equity on local governments, universities, nursing homes, etc. by 2020
Legislate pay equity on large businesses in the private sector by 2022
Create a Department of Women’s Equity
Subsidized training for small business owners to promote diversity
Maintain gender parity in government-controlled appointments to agencies, boards and commissions
More generous parental leave for medical professionals and other public servants
Ensure breast density information is provided to family physicians and patients

PCs:
Establish a provincial advisory council on women’s health
Create a N.B. Women’s Health Research Trust with an initial endowment of $5 million
Ensure breast density information is provided to patients by health care professionals

Greens:
Legislate pay equity in the private and public sector
Integrate midwifery in health care system

NDP:
Legislate pay equity in the private and public sector
Work to end gender-based violence
Public funding for Clinic 554 in Fredericton
Increase role of midwives in health care system

READ MORE: N.B. party leaders clash over bilingualism at second televised debate

On bilingualism

Liberals:
Make second-language training available to all adults for free

PCs:
Develop a plan to make second-language conversational skills a universal expectation of all graduates
Make second-language training available to adults (working with universities and colleges)
Review second-language training programs

Greens:
Ensure all students get effective second-language training in both school systems
Develop comprehensive adult language programs through community colleges

NDP:
Emphasize bilingual exposure in childcare centres

People’s Alliance:
End “duality” by combining health authorities, allowing shared use of school buses
Eliminate the office of the Official Language Commissioner
Base bilingual hiring requirements on demographics and base government hiring on “qualifications and ability to perform the job”