Finance Minister Ernie Steeves is defending his government's plan to postpone school projects in eastern New Brunswick but allow a proposed school in the education minister's riding to go ahead.

Steeves told Information Morning Fredericton the new Hanwell school, which will be located in Education Minister Dominic Cardy's Fredericton West-Hanwell riding, is needed because there's no more space for students at existing Fredericton schools and no more portable classrooms can be added.

Without a new school, children would have to be bused up to 40 minutes away.

"Those kids were going to face being bused out of the Hanwell region to either Oromocto or Nackawic," said Steeves.

"That school has been number one on the DEC's hit list if you will … for the last three years," Steeves said. "I remember Brian Macdonald, when he was MLA, going on about that a lot and the Liberal government had totally ignored it. Probably or maybe because it was in a Conservative riding. I don't know."

Steeves said the theory the project was saved because it's in a minister's riding doesn't hold water. He pointed to plans to build a new school for 1,300 students in Moncton, although he seemed to think the school was planned for nearby Dieppe. 

"We don't have any MLA there, nor do we have much chance of ever having an MLA there," said Steeves.

Moncton has three Liberals MLAs and two Progressive Conservative MLAs, including Steeves.
Construction has not started on the Hanwell school, and a decision hasn't been made about where to put it.

The tight capital budget Steeves delivered on Tuesday postponed planning for a new K-8 school in Moncton to replace Bessborough and Hillcrest schools and for the design of a new K-8 school in Campbellton

Concerns about Playhouse, plows

 

Steeves didn't bring good news for Fredericton residents looking for money for several projects in the city.

The city was expecting provincial money to rebuild the Playhouse and build a new pool.
But Steeves didn't inspire hope.

"It's not going to be this year," he said.

The People's Alliance has said it will support the capital budget but is concerned about a lack of funding to upgrade the  winter snow removal fleet in the province.

While Steeves said the concern was "legitimate," he didn't pledge more funding for it.

"We're doing what we can with what we have and [we] really are trying to do the best and make the best decisions for New Brunswick."

Hard sell

 

Steeves said the cuts to spending were difficult to present to caucus.

"That was a hard sell, yes, I will say that," said Steeves.

"Nobody wants to deliver tough news, but I had to deliver it to them."

And it's not all doom and gloom, he said. Many projects are still underway, including a $130-million, five-year refurbishment at the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst, and the capital budget overall is more than $600 million.

"We're still doing the upgrades," said Steeves.

"I don't want people to think that this is just about going away."

The new Progressive Conservative government is dramatically scaling back spending on infrastructure with a capital budget almost one-third lower than what the previous Liberal government had planned.

There is a smattering of new projects in the spending plan, including new kindergarten-to-Grade 8 schools for Moncton and Hanwell, but the overall belt-tightening is clear.

The government is postponing several major, high-profile projects, including:

• A new Centennial Building and courthouse complex in Fredericton.
• A new New Brunswick Museum in Saint John.
• Route 11 upgrades between Cocagne River and Little Bouctouche River and between Glenwood and Miramichi.
• Planning for a new school in Moncton to replace Bessborough and Hillcrest schools.
• The design of a new K-8 school in Campbellton.
• Renovations to the Memramcook Institute.

Total spending is $600.6 million in 2019-2020, far below the $865.5 million the Liberals had forecast for the same year.

Finance Minister Ernie Steeves told the legislature that while a burst of stimulus money a decade ago stabilized the economy after a global market crash, "we have failed to curtail our infrastructure spending as the economy started to improve."
He called the continued large-scale deficit spending on infrastructure "a large factor in the near doubling of our net debt" and warned that debt could grow more quickly if interest rates rise as a result of a downgrade of the province's credit rating.

In education, the PCs will spend $60.2 million in schools next year, down from the $105.8 million the Liberals budgeted for 2018-19.

That includes a new anglophone K-8 school for the rural community of Hanwell, outside Fredericton, in the riding of Education Minister Dominic Cardy. The school location has been the subject of a long local lobbying campaign.

Cuts in Liberal ridings

Cardy was jeered by opposition MLAs as he told the house the decision was a sign of the Higgs government taking politics out of school-funding decisions.

"In terms of schools and renovations to schools, the majority of projects that have been eliminated are in Liberal ridings, and at the same time the minister of education sees a new school being built in his own riding," said Liberal MLA Roger Melanson.

Steeves disputed that, noting the Moncton area is getting a new school for 1,300 students.
"I don't think that's founded at all," Steeves said.
He also told reporters that some of the postponed projects could be revived once the province has a chance to evaluate them.

"A lot of the projects are deferred and we'll see where they are next year," Steeves said. "For this year, we're focused on balancing the budget, on keeping that bond rating steady. If that goes down, our interest rates go up and we just spend so much more money."

The new Moncton school is a francophone K-8 school. The previous Liberal government had announced plans for the school to take pressure off two overcrowded schools in the city, École Le Sommet and École Champlain.

On roads and bridges, the Tories will spend $321.1 million, a reduction from the $458.1 million the Liberals allocated for this year.

The PC capital budget also includes $123.8 million for health-care infrastructure, an increase from the $99.9 million by the Liberals — but all but $32 million of the PC total is to continue work on projects already underway.
That includes a new maternity and newborn unit at the Moncton Hospital, a surgical suite addition at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre, additions and renovations at the Chaleur and Dr. Everett Chalmers regional hospitals and a mental health treatment centre for youth in Campbellton.

The budget includes a five-year spending plan that projects similar amounts of spending in all areas for the fiscal years through 2023-2024.