As the first full week of campaigning nears its end, the Liberals kicked off the morning to talk about property taxes.
During Wednesday night’s debate, which aired on CBC, party leader Susan Holt mentioned she would reform property taxes.
This morning, she added that her party would start working on the project in 2025 with hopes to implement the property tax changes by 2026.
“A comprehensive overhaul of the property tax system will ensure that everyone is paying their fair share and that New Brunswickers are not getting the financial shock their property tax bills have given over these past few years,” the party wrote in a news release.
Green Party Leader David Coon was in Pont-Lafrance to announce his five-part plan for sustainable forests, which includes:
- Shared decision-making with First Nations
- Ending Herbicide, including glyphosate, spraying on Crown land
- Restoring private woodlot as the primary supplier to mills
- Letting communities manage local crown land
“Communities like Tracadie have innovative ideas for the use of local Crown lands, particularly the former firing range, beyond simplistic economic exploitation, which the current government is doing,” said Coon.
Conservatives take aim at Liberals
Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs took aim at Liberal Leader Susan Holt today, accusing Holt of copying the PC’s approach to health care campaign promises.
“The Liberals have no new ideas when it comes to health care,” an emailed statement read.
Higgs accused the Liberals of copying them by offering “financial incentives to doctors who see more patients.”
He said he made a promise to do that on Sept. 12, ahead of the campaign, when the provincial government announced a plan to pay private-sector family doctors more for taking on more patients.
But Holt’s announcement on Tuesday was a little different.
She said her government would pay health-care staff more for after-hours care, on top of generally overhauling the compensation model.
“We have to make sure that the rates for after-hours care reflect the fact that we want clinics that are open at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Folks would be equally compensated for delivering that type of service no matter what time of day it is,” she said.
Elections New Brunswick documents filed by the Liberals link to the Sept. 12 announcement, which Higgs pointed out in his statement, citing that as another piece of evidence they copied the PCs.
In the documents, the Liberals said that there would be money in the budget to pay health-care professionals working after hours because of the money the PC government would have used to fund their Sept. 12 announcement.
The election happens Oct. 21.