Just two parties made announcements Friday on day 16 of the provincial election campaign.
The Green Party is promising to reduce the small business tax rate from 2.5 per cent to 1 per cent.
It would also raise the income threshold at which the higher corporate tax rate kicks in from $500,000 to $700,000.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and some of the very best employers in our communities,” said Leader David Coon.
“These small business owners live in and understand our communities. They generally buy local for their businesses and support other local businesses, creating community wealth.”
Coon said the Greens would also create a new Department of Community Development and Rural Affairs.
It would combine the Regional Development Corporation and Opportunities New Brunswick with Tourism to help decentralize decision-making and support community-led regional development.
Liberals make health-care announcement
Meanwhile, the Liberals were in Woodstock to announce plans to build a community care clinic.
It is one of at least 30 such clinics that the party has committed to building throughout the province if elected.
“When we envisioned the community care clinic model, this is exactly what we had in mind,” said Leader Susan Holt.
“We’ve got local healthcare professionals who are ready to roll up their sleeves alongside eager partners and space available to get things moving quickly.”
The model would bring together doctors, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, psychologists, physiotherapists, pharmacists and other health-care professionals, as well as non-clinical staff to support health-care providers.
Figures from the New Brunswick Health Council show 180,000 New Brunswickers do not have access to a family doctor.
Progressive Conservatives seek clarity on lawsuits
The Progressive Conservatives did not schedule any announcements on Friday, but Leader Blaine Higgs did respond to comments made by Holt on Thursday.
If elected, she said several lawsuits the government currently has before the courts would be taken off the table.
Higgs called on the Liberal leader to clarify if she is referring to land claims launched by Wolastoqey and Mi’kmaq communities.
“If so, this would be the most expensive election promise in New Brunswick history,” Higgs told reporters.
“If it’s the financial penalty for two lawsuits, a conservative estimate would realistically be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Higgs added that property owners, municipal governments and taxpayers deserve to know which lawsuits she plans to drop, and what impact it will have on them.
Wolastoqey and Mi’kmaq chiefs have said they are not interested in displacing residents from their homes and farms, rather they want more say on Crown land.
