PC brass beat back calls for more pandemic relief spending

The New Brunswick legislature returned to regular business Tuesday with a nod to the province's success fighting COVID-19, and a quick return to partisan debate over whether spending public money can help the economy.

The Opposition Liberals used the first question period since March 13 to push the Progressive Conservative minority government to spend more money to help small- and medium-size businesses recover from the pandemic.

They pointed to a report from Scotiabank two weeks ago that ranked New Brunswick 10th out of 10 provinces for how much it was spending per capita to stimulate the economy.

"Economists, even the most prudent economists, are telling us that we have to invest, that governments … have to invest to stimulate the economy," Opposition leader Denis Landry said.

But Premier Blaine Higgs rejected that idea, saying achieving top scores in a ranking of government spending wasn't a priority for him.

"I don't care about being 10th or first place on that list," he said. "I care about being in first place on the list that sees our people get back to work and sees our economy start to get back into positive territory." 

Federal criticism

Higgs repeatedly took shots at the federal government for spending large amounts of money on a range of COVID-19 programs. 

"Who haven't they given money to?" he said. "Who haven't they thrown money out to?"

Higgs said he's worried that it will leave Ottawa deeply in debt and unable to maintain the current level of transfer payments to the provinces — payments that injected $3 billion into New Brunswick this year alone.

The PC government tabled a budget March 10 showing a $92.4-million surplus, but that black ink evaporated within days as large parts of the provincial economy began shutting down to comply with Public Health directives.

The forecast now is for a deficit of $300 million. Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said government forecasts now project the provincial economy will shrink between 4.5 and 5.5 per cent this year.

That's why New Brunswick can't afford a spending blitz on the same scale as the federal government, Steeves said, and will opt instead for carefully targeted spending.

"We're not just going to spread the money and throw it, higgly-piggly around," he said. "We're going to come up with a plan."

Tone shift

The sharp disagreement marked another incremental step in the return to conventional partisan disagreement after two months of four-party co-operation on a cabinet committee set up by Higgs.

The committee, which includes the leaders of the Liberal, Green and People's Alliance parties, meets regularly and tries to achieve consensus on all government pandemic measures.

But in recent weeks the consensus began to fray, especially after Higgs banned temporary foreign workers from entering the province, a move he reversed last Friday.

The premier also sounded skeptical over the last two months about a return to the legislature, saying its noisy debate would only encourage parties to criticize each other rather than strive for a common purpose.

He made clear to reporters Tuesday that his prediction had been confirmed by the first question period.

"When you think of how much good discussion and harmony we've had in our COVID cabinet meetings, [with] all issues discussed and facts presented to the four leaders … the decorum certainly changes when you get in the legislature," he said.

The government said it had taken steps to blunt the impact of the COVID-19 shutdown on employers, including the deferring of WorkSafeNB premiums and some tax deadlines.

Opportunities New Brunswick put a $50-million program in place to help companies continue to operate despite the downturn.

But Liberal finance critic Roger Melanson said Tuesday the government needed to spend more.

"Small- and medium-sized businesses are hurting now. They're having a cash flow issue, a working capital issue. We need to understand from this government: what is going to be the plan?"

Sitting at a distance

Tuesday's sitting was historic for its unusual seating arrangement to comply with physical-distancing rules. 

Nineteen MLAs, including some cabinet ministers, sat at a distance from each other upstairs in the public galleries, creating space on the floor to allow the desks for 28 members to be positioned further apart.

"We're the first house in Canada that is resuming with all its members," Speaker Daniel Guitard said at the start of the sitting day. "We're the first one." 

That's in part due to the province's success in limiting the spread of the virus. As of Tuesday, there had been 122 cases in the province. Only two, including a new one first reported Tuesday, are active.

The province entered the yellow phase of its recovery phase last Friday, allowing more businesses to open — a step that led Alliance Leader Kris Austin to joke about some of his shaggier looking colleagues.

"You probably wouldn't know it from looking around this room but hair stylists are now open," he said.