Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions March 27, 2019 [Translation] Government Employees Mr. D. Landry: My question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, during his state of the province address, the Premier was very proud to note that John Mallory, a former deputy minister, is working in the Office of the Premier as a special advisor for a $1-per-year salary. Someone named Yennah Hurley indicated on her social media profile that she is the Premier’s special advisor for tourism. Is she also paid $1 per year?

If not, can the Premier explain the nature of her contract? Is she working full time? Was she hired through a competitive, merit- based process? [Original] Hon. Mr. Higgs: Thank you for the question. No, she is not paid $1 per year. She is on salary, and she is working in our tourism industry—working with the deputy and working with the minister. She spent an entire summer or year going through the province, seeing what the province has to offer. She ran a private business for many years. Mostly, she is a native of India. She has been in our country, I think, for about 25 years.

She is absolutely appalled that we are not able to convince the rest of the world and the rest of our province of what a great province we have. She is an ambassador from outside Canada who is willing to put her effort into New Brunswick to make New Brunswick what it needs to be. I am proud that she is working with the people in the department. I am proud that she is working with the minister because we are going to get things done by thinking differently. I am proud that she is part of the team. Thank you so much. [Translation] Mr. D. Landry: Mr.

Speaker, there is also a former Irving company executive who works as a special consultant for the Premier. His name is familiar to us; it is Bob Youden, who works directly at the Office of the Premier, according to his email address. There is also John Logan. I am not talking about the Deputy Attorney General, but about someone else with the same name, a former Irving Oil executive who now works at the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. We know that Mr. Youden received $139 443 from the Minister of Finance. Can the Premier explain the nature of Mr.

Youden’s contract, if he works full time, his salary, and if he was hired through a competitive, merit-based process? I would like to know the same thing for Mr. Logan.

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions [Original] Hon. Mr. Higgs: You know, it is interesting, Mr. Speaker, because, if the members opposite were to take a walk through the Premier’s Office—which I would encourage them to do—they would find a whole lot of empty cubicles in there. Before we came, it was absolutely full, brimming. Not all the salaries were booked to the Premier’s Office, but there were lots of people around. Mr. Speaker, we have hired subject matter experts. John Logan is one of them.

John Logan is somebody I worked with for many years. Do you know what he was focused on doing, as I was? Getting better value for money. He is working with the deputy in DTI. He is working with the minister in DTI because we are looking at every project and figuring out how we can get a better project with better value and do it in less time but do more for the money that is being spent. We made a commitment that new taxes are not an option, Mr. Speaker. The goal is: Let’s put in the right resources. Let’s change the game.

Let’s not keep thinking the way that we have thought for all these years and expect a different result. Putting the right people in the right places to kind of bring in a new thought process, a new mindset, and working with the great people inside to make it happen—that is the goal, Mr. Speaker. Mr. D. Landry: Are there any other consultants of a similar nature employed within government? Can the Premier explain the reporting structure of these shadow deputy ministers, the nature of their contracts, and the hiring process? Hon. Mr. Higgs: Mr.

Speaker, we are setting up a different model, as you will have seen from our change in the clerk’s role. We are focusing on some major initiatives, so we have created what we call a COO role. We have divided the clerk’s roles into one in policy and procedures and then another one in relation to a chief operating officer. We are going to have four, five, maybe six key initiatives. Municipal tax reform is one of them, and the individual who is currently the clerk on the policy and procedures side of it is going to be leading that. That is our goal—to have her lead that.

We are going to have Jean-Marc in our COO role. He is going to lead other initiatives with deputy ministers and subject matter experts in order to look at economic growth in real terms. It is not just how we distribute more money—more taxpayers’ dollars. We will look at health care. The Minister of Health is taking on a major initiative in health reform. The Minister of Education has a major initiative in education. Mr. Speaker, we are building the team to get results. That is our goal. Thank you.

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions Carbon Tax Ms. Rogers: Given a federal carbon tax rebate to New Brunswickers and given that the provincial government is collecting an extra $9 million in HST, I want to draw attention, as my colleague did, to a commitment that was made in the Conservative government platform. I will be more specific. It is on page 6.

It states: “If the Trudeau government imposes a carbon tax on New Brunswick, we will refund the money to taxpayers in the form of tax relief.” Would the Minister of Environment explain how and when this refund to taxpayers will be happening? Hon. Mr. Carr: I really enjoy being able to stand up and talk about this, because I think I have some questions to be asked as well. When the former government knew that its plan on the carbon tax, which was submitted to Justin Trudeau, was not going to be accepted, why did it just roll over and let it happen?

The honourable gentleman this morning had a statement asking what we were doing and why we did not do anything about it. Mr. Speaker, he was the minister responsible just one year ago, when nothing was done, and I have a feeling it was because the former Premier told him to step aside and roll over for Justin Trudeau. Let somebody else worry about it. We will tax them to the max because we are hungry for tax dollars. On this side of the House, we are here to clean up the mess. We are here to deal with the negative consequences of an imposed, unfair carbon tax in New Brunswick, and we will continue to do that. Ms.

Rogers: Mr. Speaker, I will ask the question in a different way, and I hope to get a clear and precise answer. Again, the Premier’s criticism of—yet taking and running with—the equalization money... And given the federal carbon tax rebate to citizens and also given an extra $9 million in HST, we know that the government’s platform commitment is possible to honour. Budgets are about priorities. Is this government going to collect money from New Brunswickers—money that it does not even believe in—and break its campaign commitment? How and when will this money be given to New Brunswickers? Hon. Mr.

Higgs: Thank you for the question. We said we would refund any extra money we got from a carbon tax, and we will do that. We will put in all our related costs into making that happen, but we will refund it. We will find out how to make that happen. Right now, our goal is to fight the carbon tax—unlike the members opposite, who believe we can just keep taxing more and taxing more and life will be good. They believe that New Brunswick can have an unfair advantage, which it does. We have put a carbon plan together.

We have put a proposal together reflecting what other provinces already have, and that is in the federal government’s hands. Do you know what we should be getting? We should be getting cooperation from the other side, because every business in this province was at an unfair disadvantage compared to every

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions other province and we were doing nothing about it. We are doing something about it, and we could use your help. Mr. Speaker, this is about fairness for New Brunswick. It is about standing up and fighting for New Brunswick and putting our province on the map the way it should be. Ms. Rogers: Mr. Speaker, standing up and fighting for New Brunswick means New Brunswickers. We still have not heard how and when this money will be refunded. However, Mr.

Speaker, in these times of fiscal restraint yet a surplus budget, this government cannot find money for the homeless, yet it found money to launch a massive political advertising campaign on carbon pricing. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask this: What is the cost to taxpayers for this advertising campaign on the backs of New Brunswickers? Hon. Mr. Carr: Well, Mr. Speaker, that is a great question, and I will take that under advisement and get back to the honourable member. [Translation] Tuition Mr. G.

Arseneault: The Free Tuition Program is designed to enhance access to university or community college by offering free tuition to students from families with an annual income of less than $60 000. Last year, 6 000 students took advantage of this program. Can the minister confirm that this program will continue, as we know it, providing free tuition for students who meet the current income criteria? [Original] Hon. Mr. Holder: Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very clear to the House that we have maintained our election commitment and are conducting a review. That review is under way and in its final stages.

One of the things that we have heard very clearly from students around this province who attend private institutions is that low-income New Brunswick students who attend private colleges and universities in this province were left behind with the previous plan. We are taking steps to create a new, renewed program that does not leave them behind. Mr. G. Arseneault: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we heard from students—and we heard from many of them—is that the Free Tuition Program worked very well last year. My question is to the minister in regard to that very same program. Is that program going to continue?

Is he proposing changes to that program, and if so, can he please table those changes as soon as possible? Students are being held hostage. Their families are being held hostage. We need answers. It is there. We are not talking about campaign promises here. We are talking about a real program that helps real students. Thank you. Hon. Mr. Holder: Well, Mr. Speaker, the member opposite might not be talking about campaign promises, but on this side of the House, we make promises, and we keep them.

Original by Hansard Office Translation by Debates Translation Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Oral Questions We heard very clearly. We heard very clearly. Do you want to talk about students being held hostage? How about the students who were left in the cold because they did not have access to a bursary program that they could take advantage of to attend private institutions? Mr. Speaker, we made it very clear in the budget speech that we are committed to a renewed program that is there for every New Brunswick student who wants to attend a postsecondary institution.

We will have 120 000 New Brunswickers leaving the workforce over the next 10 years. We need to make sure that our students meet those challenges coming before us so that we have the workforce to provide the prosperity that we need in this province. Nurse Practitioners Mr. D’Amours: Mr. Speaker, access to health care in many parts of New Brunswick is a big challenge. Many citizen