After record surpluses, N.B. finance minister cites travel nurse contracts for projected deficit
Contracts represent nearly 60 per cent of projected $164M overrun in Department of Health
New Brunswick is projecting a deficit for the upcoming year, with government officials pointing to costly travel nurse contracts as the main driver.
That projected $27.6 million deficit for fiscal 2024-25 comes after the province recorded four major budget surpluses and had projected a surplus for the year of $40.9 million.
But an update Thursday showed the first quarter surplus was $150.4 million, below government's budgeted $269.8 million surplus for the quarter.
Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said health expenses are largely behind the projection.
The Department of Health is expected to land $164-million over budget — $97 million of which the province is attributing to those contracts.
Vitalité Health Network's travel nurse contracts represent the bulk of that number.
The province has been aware of the cost implications of those contracts since early 2023, deputy minister Eric Beaulieu told a legislative committee this summer.
Deputy health minister, Eric Beaulieu, told a legislative committee the cost of travel nurse contracts were made clear to the department in March 2023. (Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick)
"The impact that travel nurses contracts are having on our bottom line is really no surprise," Steeves told reporters on Thursday.
But he appeared to backtrack when asked why the budget wasn't altered if the cost wasn't a surprise.
"You're always surprised at the amount of money and surprised by how it happened I guess," he said.
"And then looking at how we can ... come up with a solution and solve the problem. That's ultimately where we are now, and where we're moving forward to is, how do we solve this problem? This $97-million problem?"
Dr. France Desrosiers, president and CEO of Vitalité, says the health network plans to phase out the use of travel staff by 2026. (Bader Ben Amara/Radio-Canada)
France Desrosiers, the president and CEO of Vitalité, did not respond to questions Thursday about the regional health authority's projected cost for travel nurses in the coming year.
"Our financial results and projections are shared with the Department of Health on a monthly basis, following the usual process," she said by email.
"As we stated before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, agency staff have helped maintain essential services, ensure a safe threshold of nursing care hours per patient per day, and most importantly, save lives," Desrosiers said.
She noted Vitalité's plan is to phase out the use of travel staff by 2026.
Steeves said other personnel expenses, such as overtime and training new staff, along with supply costs, account for the rest of the overage estimate.
He said the projected deficit is 0.2 per cent of the budget and that quarterly data and federal estimates to come could change the outlook for the year.
Green Leader David Coon says he doesn't trust the province's latest fiscal projections. (Pat Richard/CBC)
Opposition parties were skeptical of the figures.
"We've done this song and dance for the last four years now," said Liberal finance critic René Legacy.
"One quarter we're projecting very low surpluses and then we end up with just humungous surpluses because the revenues are under-projected."
Green Party Leader David Coon expressed similar doubts.
"The premier and his finance minister have been off by a country mile on surpluses and projections in the last number of years, and so I don't trust the projections," Coon said.
Steeves said the last time the province recorded a deficit was in 2017, while the last deficit forecast was made in the third quarter of fiscal 2020-21.
Despite the prediction, Steeves said the Progressive Conservatives plan to forge ahead with an election promise to reduce the HST to 13 per cent — a move that would cost the province $450 million in revenue.
"We're still continuing to grow as a population, we're still continuing to grow with employment, and that leads to more income tax. So the revenue will go up naturally," he said.
Offer free ed on the condition of a five year commitment to working in public healthcare...
Forward Together.
If you want better health care vote NDP
Dennis Woodman
Reply to james bolt
And way more debt.
Henri Bianchi
Reply to james bolt
Sure. Emergency room closures and long waits to see a doctor in NDP-governed BC, one out of every six people do not have a family doctor, but you can access private surgical services such those offered by Cambie and the Surgical Solutions Network.
Ed Franks
Reply to james bolt
I live in BC, do you have any other advice. That advice doesn’t work in my province
Bob Smith
Reply to james bolt
Many in NB want a viable third party but the NDP here is a mess. The Green party is not much better.
Gabriel Boucher
Reply to james bolt
The provincial NDP collapsed under Dominic Cardy's leadership. It's not an option here in NB. If health care is a top priority of yours, look at either the Liberals or the Greens. You won't find it through the Cons. Higgs had 6 years to make the system better, but instead, he's relying on travel nurses to keep the health care system afloat. The Cons created this mess by not funding the health care system enough during the 6 years they've been in power.
Don Corey
Reply to Gabriel Boucher
Are you not aware that we have a Canada-wide healthcare crisis? Did you know that 6.5 million Canadian adults are without a family doctor? We are competing with all the other provinces, and many other countries, for doctors and nurses.
The Liberals did nothing here to improve healthcare under the Gallant government (which employed Susan Holt in various roles). So what do you think she'd do differently now, when medical personnel are much harder to recruit and maintain?
Oh, you can forget the greenies.....talk is cheap.
Douglas James
Reply to Don Corey
And if Higgs were serious about the problem, he'd have taken the initiative to get all the provinces and the feds together for a high level meeting to try to figure out a way forward. He did nothiing.
Deborah Reddon
Reply to Bob Smith
NB wants a viable alternative but no one is willing to go to the lengths that it takes. It's also very silly to think a small Province can to that. Get behind the best alternative based on issues you want resolved and push as hard as you can for success. That's why the Liberals have my vote, they're making health care a priority instead of Museums and Prison cells - 200 MILLION dollars from Higgs, it's incredible.
Jake Newman
Reply to Douglas James
the provinces did try, Justin has refused to meet over and over.....nice try though.
Bill Hanley
Reply to Douglas James
All the provinces, including NB, tried but Trudeau wouldn't meet with them.
Walter Vrbetic
Reply to Jake Newman
All the provinces agreed to a new healthcare funding agreement... and did so relatively rapidly.
David Amos
Reply to Don Corey
Talk is cheap for the Greens and the NDP too because they will never have any power to back up their rhetoric in NB but whenever another party leader who has the mandate starts yapping matters become very expensive indeed
David Amos
I was just sent a video about Bonnie Henry's radical plan It show that a hospital has a crack pipe vending machine.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/safer-supply-toxic-drug-crisis-dr-bonnie-henry-report-1.7260641
I could tell he was a song and dance man as soon as he joined the circus