From left to right: People's Alliance leader Kris Austin, Green Party leader David Coon, Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs, NDP leader Mackenzie Thomason, and Liberal leader Kevin Vickers. (Photos submitted)
The five party leaders continue looking for votes from New Brunswickers.
A second debate was held on Wednesday night hosted by the CBC.
One of the issues discussed was education. Green Party Leader David Coon says when it comes to French language training in our schools, the province should be making improvements all the time, “It’s the Educators who should be working on those things. We have amazing Educators in our school system, and we have amazing Education experts in our University systems, both Anglophone and Francophone. Let’s put them to work to make the best recommendations to meet the needs.”
NDP Leader Mackenzie Thomason says the more people we have in this province who can communicate in both languages, the better off we will be.
“We need to make sure the funding is there. What we are trying to is, we are trying to bring funding levels, back to where they need to be after, what is now, decades and decades or Liberal cuts.”
PC Leader Blaine Higgs says through this COVID-19 experience, it has changed views on education and how it can be done differently, and he believes a lot of the education services in the future can be done online.
Health care is also an important issue for New Brunswickers, and the leaders were asked what changes they would make to make it more accessible.
Peoples Alliance leader Kris Austin says his party has pushed for more doctor recruitment, “We did push in the last election for the elimination of billing numbers in the enhancement of recruiting doctors so that they can come to the province and practice where they choose.”
PC leader Blaine Higgs says while in power they have hired more doctors, but they’ve also seen many leave the province as well.
He feels we have learned new ways of providing healthcare through this pandemic, “We need to look at areas of virtual care, which we’ve gone from zero to 85 per cent through the COVID crisis. We need more Nurse Practitioners and we’ve already set that up in three areas to reduce the load on primary care and the doctors’ load because we’re just not going to be able to get more doctors.
Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers says if elected, his party will come up with a concrete plan to find a way to attract the best doctors and nurses to our province.
The economy was another theme in the debate, and how the provincial leaders will help reshape it.
Higgs says the COVID experience has taught us a new way of thinking, with innovation and working together throughout the province, “But most importantly, it has taught us confidence in ourselves. We can go on with the political distribution model that has plagued our economy for years, or we can work with different regions about what their strengths are and we can look at local entrepreneurs that can actually help to develop a region sustainably, where people will want to come back.”
Vickers says we must move forward with a plan of growth and investing, “Making our economy grow. My friend, Mr, Higgs, his view is cuts and hysteria, that’s the choice, that the path. Mine is of investment and growth.”
The leaders will meet again tonight for a round table on CTV Atlantic.
