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David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others


Methinks everybody knows April Fools Day is coming fast and NB Power's bottom line could embarrass Premier Higgy bigtime N'esy Pas? 


https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-brunswicks-two-week-old-budget.html



#nbpoli#cdnpoli



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-higgs-budget-covid19-1.5504103

New Brunswick's two-week old budget already a 'mess' in wake of COVID-19 crisis

Blaine Higgs says economic cost of pandemic is high, but government will pay what's needed to prevent spread

Robert Jones· CBC News· Posted: Mar 20, 2020 9:26 AM AT



Premier Blaine Higgs told CBC's weekly political panel Thursday the cost of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the province's finances but he will worry about that later. (Stephen MacGillivray/Canadian Press)

Just 10 days after the New Brunswick government delivered what it believed to be a balanced budget, the COVID-19 virus has swung a wrecking ball through most of its underlying financial assumptions.
Premier Blaine Higgs is acknowledging the document is already obsolete.

"We know this is really going to mess up the books," Higgs said during CBC's weekly Political Panel on Thursday about the far-reaching financial effects of the virus.

"We had a budget that had some ability to manage through a crisis, but none of us expected a crisis like this."

Higgs declared a state of emergency in the province on Thursday to combat the spread of COVID-19, ordering an array of businesses that serve the public to close indefinitely. That has constricted wide segments of the New Brunswick economy, put thousands of people out of work and shut down businesses that feed the province critical tax dollars daily.


At a news conference Thursday, Higgs listed the businesses and operations that have been ordered to close immediately. 2:59

That, added to the steep decline in worldwide stock markets, promises to deliver a crushing one-two punch to next year's planned $92-million budget surplus unveiled a week ago Tuesday.

But the economic effects are so immediate and significant it is not beyond possible for the virus, with 11 days left in the current fiscal year, to undo this year's provincial budget surplus as well, projected just last week to be $97.8 million.


Thousands of New Brunswick businesses, like the Saint John Bowlarama, have laid off employees and closed because of the COVID-19 virus. The closures bring down tax revenues to the province. (Robert Jones/CBC)

Higgs said it is a financial calamity he will deal with later when the danger posed to people from the virus has passed.

"We're seeing some projections that, depending how long this goes on, it's going to have a huge impact on not only employment activities but on the finances of the province," said Higgs.

"But that's secondary at this point."

Last week's budget, delivered by Finance Minister Ernie Steeves, was built on an assumption of one per cent growth in the New Brunswick economy this year.

But private forecasters are already casting doubt on that number.

On Wednesday, the TD Bank lowered its estimate of growth in New Brunswick for 2020 to a nearly stagnant 0.1 per cent, joining the Royal Bank, which cut its growth estimate for the province in half to 0.5 per cent.


Finance Minister Ernie Steeves delivered his second budget on March 10 but already its projected surplus is in doubt. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

"Like most of its provincial peers, New Brunswick's economy will take a hit this year as COVID-19 temporarily weighs on its business and consumer spending," said the TD report.

The New Brunswick government has several revenue sources in harm's way. It normally raises $4 million per day from the HST being applied to goods and services sold in the province, but that has already been sagging under the weight of so many business closures.

Corporate and personal income taxes which were budgeted to bring in another $2.3 billion this year are also likely to be suppressed.

The decline in HST revenue is also something attacking this year's budget surplus even though the end of the fiscal year is just 11 days away.

But a larger threat is the sudden collapse in stock market values and the effect that may have on NB Power.

More than half of this year's expected provincial government budget surplus rests on NB Power's projected profit of $49.7 million.

But the utility has significant financial exposure to financial markets — mostly through $766 million in funds it has invested to pay for the future decommissioning of the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station and the management of its spent radioactive fuel. 


NB Power has hundreds of millions of dollars invested with significant exposure to worldwide financial markets and stands to lose substantial amounts if there is not a major rebound before March 31. (Michael Heenan/CBC)

According to its last annual report, nearly one-third of that money, $237 million, is invested in stock market-related equities. Some of those market have lost up to 30 per cent of their value in the last month.

NB Power's Marc Belliveau could not say Thursday if the market slump will be enough to wipe out NB Power's expected profit for the year when its books close on March 31, but barring a significant rally the impact of the markets on the utility and the province will be noticeable.

"It's a completely reasonable question, but the COVIDcrisis is only a few weeks old," said Belliveau in an email.

"We have a team of workers at NB Power that are examining the effect that these unprecedented events may have, but it is too early to determine with any amount of precision what those effects will be."

Higgs said the Finance Department is preparing an update on the province's finances for the all-party cabinet committee that has been steering the province through the current crisis, but he's not concerned with how grim the numbers might be.

"We're not watching day-to-day finances," said Higgs.

"I've committed to [get] through this and what we've collectively committed to — we'll do what is necessary to protect the citizens." 



 




79 Comments






David Amos
Methinks Mr Jones should reveal to the folks the contents of the letter the Boss of NB Power sent to the EUB and Higgy like I suggested yesterday/ FYI Thomas is asking the EUB not to allow the request to increase the power rates and to delay the decision on the "Not So Smart" Meters until he confers with Higgy et al N'esy Pas?









David Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise

"NB Power has hundreds of millions of dollars invested with significant exposure to worldwide financial markets and stands to lose substantial amounts if there is not a major rebound before March 31"


Lou Bell
Reply to @David Amos: NB Powers embarassing bottom line has been around a lot longer than Higgs has ! Or didn't you know that ????


David Amos 



























David Peters
Every story about NB Power seems to be a case study in how to not run a regions energy sector.

Decentralization, involving real competition and private investment is the solution, imo.


David Amos 


Michael durant
Good news the Dow only went -4.47%. some people where expecting -9%. So when you think about it the Dow gained +4.53 % using the new economics.


David Amos  
















Andre Legault
Unfortunately the headline and the first sentence demonstrates the shameless editorializing of news articles. The remaining of the article is mostly reporting the facts. Just disregard the former and the evaluate the rest with some critical thinking.


David Amos  


























Michael durant
Guess he didn't see Italy a few weeks ago.


David Amos  



























Matthew Locke
Do your best Premier Higgs. To my understanding Nb'ers should be thanking their lucky stars it isn't the past Lib gov't leading the way through these trying times.



























Lou Bell
If Mr. Jones understood Markets he'd realize they DO bounce back ! Unless NB Power is planning on decommissioning Lepreau in the next year it's investments in the stock market should be fine .


BruceJack Speculator 


























David Peters
Walk-ups should be accepted at drive-thrus now, imo. Not everyone gets around in a smaller vehicle.


SarahRose Werner 



























Yvon Landry
Good to hear the truth. We will survive one way or another. Within 60 days we should see the result. No use to panic.


David Amos 

Yvon Landry
Reply to @David Amos: Do don't agree. If we as a civilize society work together there is nothing we can't overcome, pandemic or economic.


David Amos 

























Roland Godin
Premier Higgs may consider selecting four politicians, from whatever political brand, who are the most qualified and competent to form a special cabinet to govern the province through these exceptional times.


Roy Nicholl 


SarahRose Werner
The most interesting bit of news I've seen so far today is that China has reopened its cinemas - four months after its first COVID cases. That suggests to me that NB might begin to recover from this in June, because we had our first cases in March.


Dan Armitage 


David Amos  
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Methinks only evil people would make such a claim about simple truths N'esy Pas? 


David Amos
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: BTW I answered your query by only asking a very simple question that everybody linked to NB Power knows the answer to. 


David Amos
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: BTW The answer is KPMG Methinks you should be clever enough to figure out what my question was N'esy Pas?
























Brian Robertson
That's not news.
Everyone's budget is in a mess right now.
Name one government who had money sitting around for this contingency.


SarahRose Werner 





https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies



David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others


Methinks Green Party MLA Kevin Arseneau and former SANB President forgot to mention that his better half heads up the National Farmer Union N'esy Pas?

https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-brunswicks-two-week-old-budget.html



#nbpoli#cdnpoli



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/food-local-covid-market-closure-1.5503262#vf-all_threads-6854800019844

Demand for local food up but accessing customers during outbreak a challenge for producers

Kent Coates: 'I'm pretty lucky that I sell an essential item and hopefully people will be able to access it'

Tori Weldon· CBC News· Posted: Mar 20, 2020 8:00 AM AT



Kent Coates has seen an increased demand from his customers since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, but with farmers markets closed he and other producers are trying to find ways of getting their goods to consumers. (Submitted/Really Local Harvest)

Local food producers say customers want to buy from them but finding a way to safely access customers is proving difficult during COVID-19 shutdowns.

Even before the province declared a state of emergency Thursday, many businesses, including most farmers markets, closed their doors to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Kent Coates, an organic farmer and owner of Nature's Route Farm in Point de Bute, normally sells his vegetables directly to his customers on Fridays at the Dieppe market and again on Saturdays in Dieppe and at markets in Moncton and Sackville.

By last weekend, only the Sackville location was open, but business was still brisk.

"Our potato sales last week were probably up 200 percent from…the week before," said Coates.
People were stocking up on food in the face of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and Coates wants to be able to supply what they need.



Julian Howatt weighs romaine lettuce he grows hydroponically at his Moncton indoor farm, Local by Atta. (Tori Weldon/CBC)

"I'm pretty lucky that I sell an essential item and hopefully people will be able to access it."

Virtual market

In Moncton, Julian Howatt is tending to a variety of leafy greens at Local By Atta, a vertical hydroponic farm. He and his brother lost out on about a third of their weekly business when the Dieppe and Moncton markets closed last weekend. The business also took a hit when orders from restaurants dried up, but he said fortunately, he supplies grocery stores that have seen an increase in sales.

"We've also had a bit more interest in our weekly basket program, so that's working well," he said.

"We haven't quite offset the drop in demand elsewhere but we're working toward that."

Howatt, Coates and some other local producers had planned to hold a pop-up market at a parking lot in Dieppe, but cancelled it when the state of emergency was declared.

'Farmers are very resilient'

According to Maxime Gauvin, executive director of Really Local Harvest, "farmers are very resilient," and won't let the emergency measures act slow them down.



Maxime Gauvin, executive director of Really Local Harvest, said New Brunswick doesn't produce enough food to feed itself. He said, "I think some people will have been a little bit woken up by this situation and some habits will have changed." (Tori Weldon/CBC)


His group runs the Dieppe Farmers Market, which can see anywhere from 5000 to 7000 people through it's doors in a single day.

To help offset the huge loss in sales the market closure is costing producers, Gauvin's group is running a virtual market on Friday.

Customers must go to the group's website, place an order then pay for it. On Friday afternoon, outside the Dieppe market, customers pull up and open their trunk without getting out of the car. Employees and vendors place the orders in the trunk.

The transaction is done without any interaction.

Gauvin said about 30 orders were placed in the first 20 minutes of the order form being posted online.

Dependent on other regions for our food

Gauvin said some people may see farmers markets as social gatherings, but behind the coffee and conversation that normally goes on, important transactions are taking place. It's money spent that feeds the local economy, but also helps build a system that could make the province more food secure.

"We are very dependent on other regions for our food sources," said Gauvin.
Kent Coates will be participating in the virtual market and hopes these difficult times can help highlight the importance of the province being more self-sufficient.

"It doesn't take very much of a sequence of events to really change our whole outlook and this is one that I see."

"We really would benefit from having more local production," said Coates.

He said he started farming 15 years ago because of a belief that the region should be more food secure.

"Those passions that I had 15 years ago are still valid, the world is both a big and a small place all at the same time."







7 Comments




Michael G. L. Geraldson
If ever there was a good time to think about putting in a vegetable garden, this is it. Will be starting my seedlings soon.


Marguerite Deschamps 



Marguerite Deschamps
We should buy as much as we can from local producers. The money would stay in the province, it would lower the cost of transportation, less wear and tear on our roads and leave less carbon footprint while burning less fossil fuels. And their food is fresher, healthier and tastier to boot.


David Webb NB 





https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies



David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others


Methinks the scrappy little dude who is a former president of the SANB is too too funny indeed when he alludes to the awful truth of his character N'esy Pas?



https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-brunswicks-two-week-old-budget.html



#nbpoli#cdnpoli




https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/working-home-covid-pandemic-1.5503542

'We haven't killed each other yet': Working at home during a pandemic

The rise of COVID-19 means more people are relocating their work areas

Jacques Poitras· CBC News· Posted: Mar 19, 2020 7:13 PM AT





More and more New Brunswickers find themselves in the same boat as they adjust to working from home to avoid spreading the COVID-19 virus. (Credit: Getty Images)


It's day four of working from home in the Blakely household, and so far, so good.

Dominic Blakely, who works at a technology entrepreneurship institute at the University of New Brunswick, has set himself up on a folding table in a spare room of the family home in Hanwell.

His wife Heather, a school vice-principal, has commandeered the kitchen table.

"Separate rooms, so we're not in each other's way, but close enough that we can bump into each other at the coffee maker," Blakely said during an interview via the video meeting app Zoom.
"We haven't killed each other yet, so that's always a positive. But it's not really much different than being at work, except that most of my meetings are taking place exactly like this."

More and more New Brunswickers find themselves in the same boat: together in their aloneness as they adjust to working from home to avoid spreading the COVID-19 virus.

'An odd time'

Luke Randall, a co-owner of two downtown Fredericton retail stores, says he's now working from home about 75 percent of the time as the stores gear down to pickup and delivery sales only.

"This is definitely an odd time and there are times I just want get out and connect with people," he says.



Brandon Hubbard, a product manager at the Fredericton office of IT company Introhive said "there's a bit of a learning curve" when it comes to working from home. (Brandon Hubbard)


Home-office veterans, including workers in Fredericton's technology sector, suddenly find themselves dispensing advice on how to stay sane if the place where you live is suddenly the place where you also work.

"There's a bit of a learning curve there as the culture is forced to change immediately: the accessibility of people, whether they're on chat, what their level of availability is," says Brandon Hubbard, a product manager at the Fredericton office of IT company Introhive.

"A lot of people that don't have previous experience suddenly have to communicate in different ways, when they're accustomed to just walking over to somebody's desk."

Maintaining me time

Sarah Rennick, who works for a company providing tech support for e-commerce sites, says boundaries are important when all your work tools are just down the hall.



"It's really important to not overwork yourself just because you're at home," she said. "A lot of people will let that bleed into their evening time. When I'm done work, I'm done work."

Rennick has a company-provided computer for work and she turns it off when she's done for the day and leaves it off. Usually she'll lie down, catch up on her phone or chat with her boyfriend to create a clear dividing line between work hours and the rest of her day.

She and her boyfriend have also established ground rules for interacting.



Sarah Rennick, who works for a company providing tech support for e-commerce sites, turns off her company computer when her shift is over to create a clear dividing line between work hours and the rest of her day. (Sarah Rennick)


"He knows what my work hours are and if he comes to talk to me when I'm working, I can just say 'I'm busy' and he knows I'm working and doesn't get offended."

Hubbard, Rennick and others had a few universal suggestions: maintain social interactions, such as by using videochat apps to speak to co-workers or friends.

Hubbard and his co-workers use Slack and have set up some channels for lighter-hearted conversations.

Rennick does the same: "so if you want to talk to someone, someone's always around."

Snacking a problem

Hubbard and his co-workers are also talking about organizing a "virtual happy hour" where they can grab a drink together -- at home -- while connecting online.

He also recommends putting your home workspace a healthy distance -- literally -- from the refrigerator.

"One of the challenges people have is the constant snacking and the best bet is to try to keep it away from your desk," he said. "If it's not within arm's reach you're less likely to find yourself constantly snacking and eating."

Randall says he relishes the hour or so he has to spend at the stores every day to do tasks that he can't do at home.

"I kind of love going in," he said. "I do find it therapeutic to go in."


Green Party MLA Kevin Arseneau has set up a temporary constituency office in the nearby home of another family to separate his MLA life from his Rogersville-area farm life. (Kevin Arseneau)


Green Party MLA Kevin Arseneau, meanwhile, has set up a temporary constituency office in the nearby home of another family that is a partner in his Rogersville-area farm.

Working "at home" isn't new for a farmer, he says. "That part hasn't changed. I think what has changed for me is not being able to separate MLA work from the farm. That's the hardest part."

That's why he opted for a workspace away from his own house. "To have all of that in the same environment would not have been good for my mental health." He says he's still trying to find the right equilibrium.

Arseneau also says it's important to remember that not everyone is able to simply pick up their jobs and move them into their houses.

"People that have that privilege or the luxury of working from home are often better off financially. In low-wage-paying jobs, people are still physically having to go to work, and that's something that's been running in my mind: the question of the privilege that I also have."








8 Comments






David Amos
"To have all of that in the same environment would not have been good for my mental health." He says he's still trying to find the right equilibrium."

Methinks the scrappy little dude who is a former president of the SANB is too too funny indeed when he alludes to the awful truth of his character N'esy Pas?