Province promises health changes, 'balance' on school strikes in Throne Speech

The Higgs government says it will push new changes in health and education as it copes with pressure from unprecedented population growth in New Brunswick.

In a speech from the throne to open a new session of the legislature, the government said the pace of growth both requires and allows the province to transform service and grow the economy.

That includes new legislation to allow more services to be delivered in community clinics rather than overwhelmed hospitals, and new incentives to developers to build more housing.

"Managing growth is not something New Brunswick has needed to grapple with in decades," said the speech, which was written by the Blaine Higgs government and delivered by Lt.-Gov. Brenda Murphy.

"While it is clearly the right path for progress and the long-term financial health of New Brunswick, it presents near-term challenges with housing shortages, affordability and access to government services."

Premier Blaine Higgs told reporters the province could step in to guarantee loans for first-time home buyers in parts of the province where there's a shortage of housing and prices are high.

"The philosophy is, can we be security for the loans? Can we in some way help offset, [when] we know the average worker cannot take on that liability? Can the government play any role? So we're looking at that. Is it possible? Is it reasonable?"

The Progressive Conservative government is also signalling a willingness to court controversy with a plan to "balance" the right to strike in provincial schools.

The speech promises amendments to "clarify the language" around strike votes, strikes, lockouts and essential workers so there's more notice and more "continuity of critical services."

"This balance is required for families and New Brunswickers who rely on schools, education and other services," the speech says.

In a scrum with reporters, Higgs wasn't clear on what the changes will be.

There is also a commitment to "modernize governance in the anglophone sector" while reviewing potential changes in the anglophone school sector.

That differing terminology reflects the potential constitutional pitfalls of trying to alter the current system. School governance by minority-language communities is guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

On language issues, the Higgs government is promising a formal response to a mandatory 10-year review of the Official Languages Act.

A report proposing changes to the act was submitted last December and francophone groups have questioned why there's still no action 10 months later.

"Your government will advance a response during this session," the speech says.

The government also plans to tinker with the legislated formula the Energy and Utilities Board uses to set the maximum price for gasoline each week.

The speech says the EUB will be given more power to use its "discretion" to ensure maximum prices are "stable and effective" when markets are volatile, and also are consistent with other Maritime provinces.

Elsewhere in the speech, the government says it will:

• Further cut personal income tax and property taxes.

• Discuss shale gas development with Indigenous people and other stakeholders.

• Introduce more legislation to implement local government reform, including new powers for regional services commissions.

• Create a Crown Lands and Forest Advisory Board to increase transparency and oversight of industrial use of publicly owned forest land.

• Set up an energy secretariat to co-ordinate the province's efforts to reduce emissions while selling more energy.

The opposition parties denounced the speech as mostly a recap of measures the government has already rolled out in recent months.

"There was nothing but statements they have already done, and things that they have already announced and committed to," said Liberal Leader Susan Holt.

Green Leader David Coon said the speech offers "absolutely no hope to resolve the most serious crises we've got: health care, the climate crisis, affordable housing, the cost of living crisis."

"You look through the economic situation, the population growth, the stability we have in the province, the investment in the province – I guess to say nothing new? I think everything about New Brunswick right now is new."

On shale gas, Higgs offered few ideas on how he would overcome the fierce opposition to shale gas development the province saw in 2013.

He said with the war in Ukraine, high energy prices and more focus on climate changes, things have changed since then.

"There's a new reality," he said. "There hasn't been a demand like we're seeing now."

The premier said the province's natural gas reserves are clean and if they displaced coal-burning power plants in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 25 to 50 per cent.