Liberals promise 3 per cent rent cap if elected
PCs focus on health care, and Greens look at poverty
Latest
- PCs would let some health-care workers do more
- Greens add liveable wage to list of promises
- Policy 713 may not drive votes, poll suggests
Liberal Leader Susan Holt promised a three per cent rent cap as the first full week of campaigning for the Oct. 21 New Brunswick election got underway Monday.
New Brunswick does not have a hard cap on annual rent increases, as other provinces do. The Blaine Higgs government implemented a one-year 3.8 per cent cap in 2022, but that ended in 2023.
Other measures were put in place instead, including a rent bank that was launched in December and an option for some rent increases to be phased-in if exceeding the rate of 4.7 per cent.
Holt said the legislation would be introduced immediately so tenants would be able to benefit from the rent cap beginning in 2025.
As well, she said, her party is committed to a comprehensive update to the Residential Tenancies Act
"We have to look seriously at renovictions because many New Brunswickers have found themselves without a place to live," she said during the announcement.
"As landlords look to improve and increase the stock and the value of their properties, we need to make sure that we have a predictable and stable housing market in New Brunswick and that New Brunswickers have the ability to pay for a roof over their heads."
Holt said the rent cap would be reviewed yearly based on inflation and vacancy rates.
PCs would let some health-care workers do more
In an announcement in Saint John on Monday, PC Leader Blaine Higgs said his party would expand the scope of practice of nurse practitioners, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, paramedics and pharmacists.
"Health-care professionals undergo significant training, regardless of which specific profession they pursue," Higgs said in Saint John.
"But as things currently stand, we believe there is untapped potential within the health-care professionals who are already here and who aren't using the full scope of their training."
The cost of this would be $24.8 million, according to a party news release, which says the budgeted amount would allow for a 10 per cent increase in patients seeing a medical professional.
Higgs said a PC government would work with health-care professionals to see what services they could provide to improve quality of care. One of these changes could be cutting the regulations that prevent nurse practitioners from practicing independently., he said.
Another example, said Higgs, could be allowing registered nurses to prescribe some medications.
Greens add liveable wage to list of promises
Green Leader David Coon announced in Fredericton on Monday that a Green government would implement a guaranteed livable income for all working age adults receiving social assistance.
He said it would be modelled after Prince Edward Island's proposed guaranteed livable income program.
Upon election, Coon said a Green government would work to design a similar program to "eliminate deep poverty and significantly reduce overall poverty in New Brunswick while negotiating a cost-sharing agreement with Ottawa."
In the meantime, he said, he would immediately increase social assistance by 20 per cent.
Coon said the program would significantly reduce health-care costs in the province, which is why he believes the federal government would partner on the project.
Policy 713 may not drive votes, poll suggests
A new poll by a nationally known polling company suggests a majority of respondents support the Higgs government's controversial changes to Policy 713 when it's described as a "parental consent" issue.
But the same survey suggests that the topic may not determine the outcome of the election because some voters plan to vote against the Progressive Conservatives despite their support for the policy change.
Mainstreet Research found that 50 per cent of respondents said they strongly supported or somewhat supported the changes by the Progressive Conservative government, compared to 35 per cent who were strongly or somewhat opposed.
The poll described the change as requiring that school personnel "seek and obtain parental consent before school teachers can students' preferred pronouns or name changes, if the students are under 16 years of age."
The question did not mention the potential harm to 2SLGBTQ+ students that critics of the change have warned about.
Despite the apparent support for the PC changes, more poll respondents said they planned to vote Liberal than PC.
Among decided voters, 41 per cent of respondents said they would vote Liberal, 39 per cent said PC, 13 per cent said Green and four per cent said the People's Alliance. Three per cent said they would vote for other parties.
And Liberal Leader Susan Holt was seen favourably by 46 per cent of respondents and unfavourably by only 31 per cent.
By comparison, PC leader Blaine Higgs was seen favourably by only 37 per cent of respondents and unfavourably by 51 per cent.
Mainstreet surveyed 609 adults from Sept. 15 to 17. A sample that size is considered accurate within a margin of error of four percentage points in 19 out of 20 surveys, the firm said, though the margin of error would be higher among decided voters only.
Standings at dissolution: PCs 25, Liberals 16, Greens 3, Independent 1, vacant 4
Where the leaders are today
Green Leader David Coon is in Fredericton.
Liberal Leader Susan Holt is in the Saint John area.
Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs is in Saint John.
For complete coverage: Links to ll New Brunswick Votes 2024 stories
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Radio-Canada