‘It’s Purely An Election Budget’: Higgs

New Brunswick’s premier says he was not surprised by the “huge spending” included in Monday’s federal budget.

“It’s purely an election budget,” Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters during a news conference Monday evening.

Higgs said one thing he thought was missing from the 700-page document was more money for health care.

The premier said he and his counterparts wanted to see federal health transfers gradually increased to 35 per cent.

“It was a pretty big miss,” Higgs said. “We never expected to get it all at once, none of us did, but we did expect there would be movement.”

Higgs also described the $30-billion set aside for a national child care system as a “great election ploy.”

He said Ottawa is committing every province to cover 50 per cent of the costs without even discussing it with them.

“We have to weigh that against what we’re providing right now,” said Higgs, noting the province has made strides in improving wages for early childhood educators enhancing quality standards for child care.

Monday’s budget also proposes extending emergency pandemic supports — the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and Lockdown Support — until Sept. 25 to “bridge Canadians and Canadian businesses through to recovery.”

Higgs said a phase-out of these programs is necessary and he is encouraged to see a defined end date as part of the budget.

“Every business in our province, no matter where I go, are telling me they can’t get employees,” he said. “It’s not my personal belief, it’s the employers of this province who are driving the economy and making things happen.”

“It’s good to see there’s a defined end date because we have lots of jobs here and we need to fill them. Let’s move in that direction.”

Higgs said he did like to see the $3-billion investment over five years to create national long-term care standards, as well as the additional $1 billion added to the rural broadband fund.

“We know that that’s a key to economic recovery,” he said. “When you think about the strategic value of that particular program in our country, in our province, it’s real.”