New Brunswick Liberals release platform focused on ‘fairness’

The New Brunswick Liberals have released their full campaign platform that makes 118 commitments at a cost of $155 million over a four-year mandate.

The buzzword in the platform is “fairness” with the word, or some version of it, appearing 42 times throughout the document.

The party also makes it very clear who they appear to be threatened by this election, with the language in the platform comparing and contrasting the PC party’s platform with the Liberals’ promises.

Many of the commitments in the 25-page document have been previously released while on the campaign trail, including a four-year freeze on power rates, but there are a few new items.

The Liberals have broken down their platform into six categories. Here is what they’ve promised.

READ MORE: All our New Brunswick election 2018 coverage

A ‘fairer economy’

The Liberals say they’re going to extend the province’s $900-million strategic infrastructure initiative by two years and $150 million. The fund is used to improve roads, schools and hospitals.

They’ve also promised to raise the minimum wage to $14 by the end of their next mandate. If re-elected their platform says they’ll start off by increasing it to $12 per hour on April 1, 2019.

Gallant’s party also touted their plan for three made in New Brunswick economic superclusters to help “grow and diversify the economy.”

To top everything off the party says they would also increase the limit on how much alcohol can be brought into the province.

Education and job training

If re-elected, a Liberal government would commit to developing and implementing a teacher recruitment plan to fill vacancies created by retirements.

They’ll also expand the province’s free child care program and middle-class child care subsidy across the province by 2019.

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The Liberals will attempt to encourage university and college graduates to stay in New Brunswick by eliminating interest on provincial student loans in the province.

They’ve also committed to increasing the budget for literacy programs by 25 per cent.

WATCH: One-on-one with N.B. Liberal Leader Brian Gallant

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Improvements to healthy communities

The Liberals say they’ll commit to hiring more health professionals, including a net gain of 90 new doctors, 50 new nurse practitioners, 40 new nurses, 80 new licensed practical nurses, 80 new resident attendants and an unspecified number of paramedics and midwives.

They also say they’ll launch five non-urgent care centres in the province in order to reduce wait times throughout New Brunswick. They did not specify what that reduction will look like.

They’ve also committed to investing $400 million over the next four years in order to renew the infrastructure and equipment of New Brunswick’s regional and rural hospitals.

Finally, they’ll develop a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy for employees in the nursing home sector, and say they’ll phase in an increase of hours of care from 3.1 hours today to 3.3 hours by 2022 and 3.5 hours by 2026.

READ MORE: From humble roots to N.B. premier’s office

Women’s equality

The party says that if they’re re-elected they’ll require the implementation of pay equity in local governments and quasi-public sectors by 2020 and large businesses in the private sector by 2022.

The Liberals say they’ll create a full department responsible for women’s equality that will have the mandate to reduce gender-based violence, promote women’s equality and implement pay equity in the province,

They’ll ensure that prescriptions for all Health Canada-approved methods of contraception are covered under the province’s drug plan as well as private drug plans offered in New Brunswick.

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1:54 One week to go until N.B. election

Environment and climate

A Liberal government would ban disposable plastic bags in the province’s retail stores, while also exploring ways to boost New Brunswick’s hemp industry by encouraging retailers to use hemp bags, their platform says.

They’ve committed to creating at least two new provincial parks and boosting the amount of protected land in New Brunswick by 10 per cent by 2020.

The moratorium on hydraulic fracking will also be continued under a re-elected Liberal government. They say that issues around the environment, health and water will be addressed before their mandate will end.

READ MORE: Greens the first party to release entire platform

Social Justice

Right off the top, the Liberals says they won’t increase provincial income or consumption taxes.

They’ll maintain the current higher income tax levels on the richest one per cent of New Brunswickers and keep the tax rate for large corporations at 14 per cent.

NB Power rates for residential and small business would also be frozen for four years under a Liberal government.

The Liberals still project a budget surplus in 2021-22 but, because of extra spending, it would be $32 million — down from the original forecast of $69 million.

New Brunswickers are set to go to the polls on Monday.

— With files from the Canadian Press