Small deficit is big problem for pricey PC and Liberal promises

For a few short days, it looked like the two main parties in the New Brunswick election were offering voters a clear choice.

The Progressive Conservatives under Blaine Higgs were selling their sound fiscal management — a record that, after six years of budget surpluses, would allow them to cut the provincial sales tax if re-elected.

The Liberals, meanwhile, vowed to spend $115 million, starting next year, to open 30 new collaborative-care clinics, implicitly telling voters what might be possible if they rejected the PC tax cut.

"We do have a choice to make in this election," Higgs said at a PC nominating convention in Bathurst last week.

"I don't think there will ever be a time where there'll be an election with a clearer definition. … The distinction will be very clear." 

But in that same Bathurst speech, Higgs acknowledged the prudent fiscal management at the centre of his re-election campaign now includes a caveat. 

Health-care costs, including pricey travel-nurse contracts, "will throw us into a little negative position," he said, previewing a new first-quarter fiscal projection for the 2024-25 year.

The next morning, Finance Minister Ernie Steeves revealed the number: a $27.6-million deficit, based on revenue and spending data from April to June.

It's "pretty small," Steeves argued — just two cents per $100.

Still, the opposition Liberals, long accused of fiscal irresponsibility by Higgs, gleefully threw the accusation back in his face.

"Blaine Higgs has been so worried someone else would take NB back into the red," Fredericton North candidate Luke Randall said in a social media post.

"We knew it would be him all along."

The deficit figure results mainly from $164 million in unforeseen health-care costs, including an additional $97 million on travel-nurse contracts.

Those contracts have proven to be a troublesome story for the PC government, which the Vitalité health authority accused of having rejected other, less costly options.