N.B. leaders prepare for final exchange

The Progressive Conservatives in New Brunswick have released a platform with $11.4 million in new spending promises, just hours ahead of the final televised exchange between party leaders.

The document using the slogan, "Recover. Reinvent. Renew," is coming out in the final stretch of the campaign before Monday's vote.

The platform repeats last year's budget plan to provide a modest spending increase in health care, it continues a push to retain immigrants, and it commits to provide updated civics classes and better internet service to schools.

However it also details new spending commitments that include $1.4 million annually for nurses to support the transition of seniors out of hospital and into their own homes or nursing homes, and $3.5 million annually for improvements in mental health services.

There will also be an added $1 million for a school food program and pay increases for early childhood educators that will cost $3.5 million a year. The platform also includes an increase of $2 million annually for policing.

Party leaders will have a chance on Thursday evening to debate the latest Tory proposals during a roundtable discussion being hosted on CTV. The four leaders whose parties have members in the legislature are taking part in the virtual event.

The Tory platform summarizes the kind of message leader Blaine Higgs has been delivering on the campaign trail and in the party debates.

In its opening pages, Higgs says the minority Tories achieved 62 per cent of the party's promises from the 2018 election, noting that prior to COVID-19 there was net debt reduction of $129.3 million.

The document also emphasizes that Statistics Canada is projecting the province will achieve a rapid return to pre-COVID-19 employment levels.

Health care has been a tender area for the Progressive Conservatives — and the platform emphasizes that the prior budget's small spending increases will be maintained if the party is re-elected.

Earlier this year, Higgs had to retreat from his party's plan to reduce emergency room hours and convert acute-care beds into long-term care at six rural hospitals after a public outcry.

Liberal party leader Kevin Vickers has accused Higgs of having a secret plan to cut health services.

However, the Tory platform repeats prior announcements on health care to provide $5 million to recruit doctors in rural areas, $4.2 million to add nurse practitioners to clinics and ERs, and to cut "excessive wait lists" for hip and knee replacement in half by next March.

The spending increase on early childhood education confirms this year's 75-cent increase in the hourly wage, and the platform promises wages will go from $16 to $19 hourly by 2023.

Monday's election is the first in the country since the start of the pandemic.