One year after election win, New Brunswick Tories lay out priorities

A year to the day after squeaking out a narrow victory in New Brunswick’s provincial election, Premier Blaine Higgs says being in a minority government is no excuse for inaction.

The Tory premier said Tuesday his government will move ahead with initiatives in six key areas aimed at turning around a province with a $14-billion net debt and a shortage of skilled workers.

Higgs said the status quo is not an option and New Brunswick’s challenges “must be faced head-on.”

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“Changing the culture is the goal,” Higgs said during an hour-long news conference in Fredericton. “Institutionalizing what we do, spreading it through the government – not only in the bureaucracy, but in the municipalities.”

Higgs said the government’s ongoing goals include affordable and responsive government, dependable public health care, a “world-class” education system, an energized private sector, sustainable communities and a high-performing civil service.

He said details of proposed initiatives and changes in each area would be released in the coming weeks and months.

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Higgs also revealed his Progressive Conservative government would soon be making its final offer to nursing home workers embroiled in a simmering contract dispute that is currently tied up in the courts.

The more than 4,100 workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees are looking for better pay and working conditions.

Higgs said any settlement would have to fit within the government’s stated goals, and its offer would not contain a big money increase.

“Let’s address the actual work-life balance,” Higgs said of the coming offer. “If they are looking for a big wage settlement, that’s not what it is.”