Seniors’ support and environmental rights were key focuses on day 14 of the New Brunswick election campaign.
The Liberals promised more support for seniors and their families as they look to lower the number of people waiting for long-term care.
Leader Susan Holt said there are more than 1,100 seniors on long-term care waiting lists, with 550 of them waiting in hospital beds.
“We see the wait lists growing. Since January of this year, it’s grown by more than 200 people, and 100 of those people are in our hospitals,” Holt said during a campaign stop in the northeastern community of Neguac.
The Liberals are proposing improved wages for personal support workers and resident attendants to fill staffing gaps and lead to increased hours of care.
Other proposals include a $250 monthly benefit for unpaid and informal caregivers of aging family members and raising the comfort and clothing allowance from $150 to $200.
Holt said her party would also work with communities to develop and implement a strategy that better supports those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Meanwhile, the Green Party said it would create legislation guaranteeing residents the right to a healthy environment.
Leader David Coon said successive governments have covered up environmental contamination over the years.
“What kinds of impacts? Premature deaths from air pollution, cancers, early onset cancers from toxic and forever chemicals, and of course we’re now dealing with the mysterious atypical neurological disorders,” Coon said in Saint John.
The Greens are proposing a legal framework to establish the right to a healthy environment in New Brunswick, and to ensure citizens have the tools to protect that right.
Party members tabled a similar bill in the legislature in December but it died on the order paper.
Coon said Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments have “almost always” taken the side of industry against public health.
He cited the refusal to research the cause of the atypical neurological syndromes, the refusal to revoke the operating licence for AIM Recycling’s Saint John scrapyard and the refusal to end glyphosate spraying on Crown lands as recent examples.
“No one’s health and well-being should be sacrificed for profit,” said Coon.
Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs did not make any announcements on Wednesday. He spent time speaking to business leaders in Moncton.
