Election Day 28: Announcements focus on students, fishermen and workers
CBC News | Posted: September 18, 2018 11:52 PM | Last Updated: September 19, 2018
3 of the party leaders made campaign commitments Wednesday
A re-elected Liberal government would continue to increase spending on post-secondary education, party leader Brian Gallant pledged on Wednesday.
Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs vowed to stand up for the fishing industry by fighting the carbon tax if elected on Sept.24, while NDP Leader Jennifer McKenzie said her party is committed to improving the daily lives of workers.
With only a few days left in the campaign, Green Party Leader David Coon and People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin were also busy canvassing across the province, highlighting their election platforms.
Gallant, who attended a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Saint John before heading to Riverview and Moncton, said the Liberals want to provide more opportunities for young New Brunswickers to study and work in the province.
His party recognizes the critical value of a free or affordable public education — both to individuals and to the province as a whole, he said.
To that end, they plan to raise the threshold for the previously announced free tuition benefit for low-income New Brunswickers to $70,000 from $60,000 and then index it to inflation, adjust the sliding scale of the tuition relief program for middle-class students and eliminate interest on all current and future provincial student loans.
"We are investing in a stronger and fairer economy for all New Brunswickers," he said.
Gallant also announced plans to make an online mental health tool available to post-secondary students experiencing psychological problems and addictions by partnering with universities, colleges, and student associations.
Higgs travelled to Grand Manan Island, whose economy relies heavily on the fishing industry, to reiterate the PC party's plans to fight the carbon tax. He said fisheries will feel the effects of the carbon tax because fuel makes up nine per cent of the sector's production costs.
"Adding a carbon tax to the fuel they need to do their work is a financial hit many fishermen can't afford," he told the crowd gathered at North Head Wharf.
If the fishing industry suffers so do the communities and families that depend on it. - Blaine Higgs, PC Leader
"Our fishing industry is already under pressure — from restrictions and closures that shortened the lobster season in some areas of New Brunswick — to competition from countries that don't play by the same rules we do."
Lobster fishermen are particularly vulnerable, he suggested, because they have no control over the market price of lobster and no way to recoup added costs.
"If the fishing industry suffers so do the communities and families that depend on it," he said before heading to his home riding of Quispamsis to visit a seniors' residence.
Higgs has previously estimated a 12-cent-a-litre carbon tax, on top of gas tax, would cost any family $1,200 a year, but a leading expert on the issue has said that figure is dramatically exaggerated — nearly double her calculation.
During a campaign stop in Saint John at the Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre, McKenzie said the NDP would put more emphasis on a culture of safety in workplaces across the province and ensure employer assessments are sufficient to meet the costs of WorkSafeNB.
'The only real way to reduce WorkSafe costs is to reduce workplace injuries," she said.
Other measures in the NDP platform aimed at helping workers include plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and to create $10-per-day child care in schools, said McKenzie.
Later in the day, she visited a care home in Saint John before canvassing the city.
Coon visited a class at Connaught Street School Wednesday morning before speaking with students at the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University about the Green Party's plans in the afternoon.
At 4 p.m., he was scheduled to participate in an on-campus candidate town hall, hosted by the Faculty Association of the University of St. Thomas, followed by visiting his riding of Fredericton-South.
Austin was expected to spend the day campaigning in his riding of Fredericton-Grand Lake. According to his schedule, he planned to discuss the People's Alliance position on forestry, which includes making private woodlot holders the primary source of lumber and ensuring the Department of Natural Resources directs policies and planning "without political or corporate meddling."
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