Despite pleas, minister says he won't be rushed into municipal reforms

Article content

A little over a year since New Brunswick ushered in the biggest redraw of the municipal map in a half century, the Liberal opposition is accusing the Progressive Conservative government of delaying follow-up financial reforms that would help those communities thrive.

Jacques LeBlanc, a Liberal critic and former Shediac mayor, squared off against Glen Savoie, the local government minister, during spending estimates at the legislature on Tuesday.

In a testy exchange, both politicians accused the other of playing politics over the fate of 89 local governments that emerged from widescale amalgamations in 2023.

“I’ll hold you to account,” LeBlanc said after several hours of questioning. “I have a hard time believing all your strategy and philosophy. Maybe one day you should write a book on municipal reform.”

The Liberal MLA accused the Tory government of having “burnt bridges” with several municipalities that are struggling financially.

An independent report by two New Brunswick economists late last year predicted one-third of local governments would find themselves in a difficult spot because they were too small, having a property tax base below $300 million and a population of less than 4,000.

Without further changes, the only way out would be for those communities to raise taxes or cut public services, both unpopular measures.

Government after government after government has avoided dealing with this issue because it is fraught with peril.

Glen Savoie

But LeBlanc accused the Tories of delaying any meaningful changes before the provincial election, which must be held by Oct. 21.

“I can’t wait to see the next steps of what you guys are going to promise,” LeBlanc said. “Because we’re going to go through the election process here within the next six months. It will be a challenging time for you to try to bring in fiscal reform.”

Savoie rejected the criticisms, arguing his government had set out timelines several years ago and had hit all its targets. Municipal fiscal reform, he said, was slated to happen on Jan. 1, 2025.

“Government after government after government has avoided dealing with this issue because it is fraught with peril,” said Savoie, who pledged to keep working on the file right up till the fall election. “My job is to shepherd this job to its conclusion.”

Right off the bat, the two politicians were at loggerheads on Tuesday. LeBlanc first wanted to know if the name of the minister’s department and his title had changed. It took more than five minutes of squabbling back and forth for Savoie to say that the department was still officially called Environment and Local Government and that his title was now minister of local government, with the “local governance reform” part dropped.

LeBlanc also complained that the minister had cancelled a summit that had been planned with municipalities to discuss fiscal reforms.

“The member likes to take a little shot,” Savoie fired back. “We’ve made sure we’ve kept to the overall plan.”

The minister said that through consultations with municipalities, his department realized it would make more sense to have more “touchpoints,” not just one. He said dialogue between the two sides would be ongoing.

“Everybody who needs to be involved will be part of it. So the only ones talking about a summit now are the Opposition, and they’re obviously way behind.”

Undeterred, LeBlanc questioned why the Tories planned on spending more than half a million dollars this year on private consultants to work on the fiscal reform package. He said the independent report in the government’s hands had already set out a path for the right type of reforms.

“Do you feel you need to spend $546,000 for more financial experts to give you information and research and comms? We have those already in government, in the departments. Why do we need to use taxpayers’ money?”

The minister replied that more expertise was needed to make sure the fiscal reforms were done properly, including looking at what other provinces do.

“We need to make sure there’s enough meat on the bone so that we’re not leaving anything unturned here. We have to make sure this is done right.”

Nor would Savoie be boxed in to saying how much money he thought the province would eventually turn over to municipalities to ensure their success.

“It would be irresponsible of me to say, ‘well, I think it’s going to cost this much’ because I don’t know,” he said. “There could be some very small tweaks of our taxation regime or there could be a wholesale change.”