Video shows B.C. Conservative Rustad saying he regrets getting ‘so-called vaccine’

Voters in New Brunswick are scheduled to go to the polls on Oct. 21. Here’s a look at some of the promises announced by the three major parties:

Progressive Conservatives:

— Cut the harmonized sales tax by two points, from 15 per cent to 13 per cent.

— Build 6,000 homes per year, and have 30,000 new units constructed by 2030.

— Expand the scope of practice for nurse practitioners, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, paramedics and pharmacists by working with medical professionals and governing bodies to “evaluate all scopes of practice.”

Liberals:

— Implement a three per cent cap on rent increases by 2025, to be reviewed annually based on inflation and vacancy rates.

— Construct 30,000 housing units by 2030, and eliminate the 10 per cent provincial sales tax on new multi-unit housing builds.

— Give $10,000 retention bonuses in Year 1 and $5,000 in Year 2 to all nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses employed by Vitalité and Horizon health networks.

— Eliminate the provincial sales tax on electricity bills for residential customers as soon as the party takes office.

— Create 30 community clinics across the province by 2028.

Greens:

— Invest $380 million annually to fix the primary health-care system.

— Implement a guaranteed livable income to end deep poverty by the end of a four-year mandate, in partnership with the federal government.

— Restore and improve rural services, including by launching a year-round ferry service to connect Campobello Island to the mainland, and building a “safe modern bridge” to link the islands of Lameque and Miscou with the mainland at Shippagan.

— Give households with after-tax incomes of less than $70,000 an average of $25 per month to offset electricity rates.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

FREDERICTON – As the New Brunswick election campaign entered its first full week, a new poll indicated the Liberals were leading the incumbent Tories by a slight margin in terms of voting intentions.

But when the margin of error is factored in, the parties appeared to be in a very tight race.

The results from the Mainstreet Research poll, released as the campaign began Thursday, were drawn from an automated telephone survey of 609 adults between Sept. 15 and Sept. 17.

The poll suggests the Liberals — led by Susan Holt — had support from 35 per cent of those surveyed, just ahead of the Tories at 32 per cent. The Green Party had 10 per cent and the People’s Alliance party was a distant fourth at three per cent.

All other parties, including the NDP, were at two per cent, and undecided voters made up 18 per cent of the results.

The poll, commissioned by Mainstreet, has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points with a 95 per cent confidence level.

Even when undecided voters were removed from the sample, the Liberals and Tories were only a two points apart, and support for the Greens jumped to only 13 per cent.

As for the party leaders, when respondents were asked if they had a favourable or unfavourable view of Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs, 51 per cent said they held a very or somewhat unfavourable view. Another 11 per cent said they didn’t know, with the remainder (37 per cent) saying their opinion of Higgs was very or somewhat favourable.

In general, respondents had a more positive view of Holt, with 46 per cent saying their view was very or somewhat favourable, and another 31 per cent saying their opinion of her was very or somewhat unfavourable. Twenty-three per cent said they didn’t know.

Still, the Conservatives received some positive news when respondents were asked whether they supported or were opposed to the Tory government’s decision last year to amend its school policy for sexual orientation and gender identity, also known as Policy 713.

The new policy requires teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred pronouns of students under 16 years old.

In all, 50 per cent of those surveyed said their supported the change while 35 per cent were opposed, and the remainder did not have an opinion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

FREDERICTON – New Brunswick‘s Progressive Conservative leader disrespected the province’s residents by presenting the death of a Liberal supporter as funny, the party said as it called for Blaine Higgs to apologize.

Higgs drew the party’s ire during remarks made at his Thursday campaign kickoff event in Quispamsis, N.B., held hours after he dissolved the legislature and officially triggered the campaign leading up to the Oct. 21 provincial election.

His speech to party faithful included a second-hand anecdote of a conversation that purportedly took place in 2014 between a party volunteer canvassing for votes and a newly minted supporter. At the time, Higgs was seeking re-election as the legislature member for the Quispamsis riding, which he has represented since 2010.

The conversation, the story went, began when the canvasser was leaving the home of a woman who had just voiced her intention to vote for Higgs.

“(The volunteer) said: ‘Thank you very much. That’s great.’ Then she started walking next door, and the lady said: ‘Oh, you don’t need to go there. She passed away a few weeks ago,'” Higgs said in his retelling of the story. “This campaigner — you know, very passionate individual — said: ‘I’m so sorry. Was she sick long? Or what happened? And the lady just said, ‘Oh, don’t feel too bad. She was a Liberal.'”

“I know that’s not an appropriate joke, but it was funny and it is true,” Higgs concluded.

Hannah Fulton Johnston, executive director of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, condemned Higgs’s anecdote in a statement issued on Friday in which she called the joke distasteful.

“The New Brunswick Liberal Association is calling on Blaine Higgs to apologize for this comment,” it reads.

“Making light of the death of any New Brunswicker is highly inappropriate for anyone and completely unacceptable for the premier of the province.”

Green Party Leader David Coon described the anecdote as disgusting and questioned whether the comment could be passed off as a joke.

“It’s a very dark comment,” he said on Friday.

Higgs, 70, has so far stuck to broadly populist messages as he seeks a third term as New Brunswick’s premier. His key issues so far have included bringing down the harmonized sales tax from 15 to 13 per cent and requiring teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred names and pronouns of young students in class.

When asked about the Liberals’ request for an apology, Progressive Conservative Party Executive Director Doug Williams shifted the focus back to past remarks from Liberal Leader Susan Holt and tried to draw a parallel between her and her unpopular federal counterpart.

“If Susan Holt is truly concerned about offensive comments, will she apologize for saying that concerns of parents about their children are ‘BS’? … Will she apologize for saying the Premier acts like a fascist?” the statement reads.

“The media have not paid any attention to these remarks, despite Progressive Conservatives raising them publicly. Just like Justin Trudeau, Susan Holt wants apologies for things that other people have done, and never wants to apologize for her own actions.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.