The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton is concerned by the lack of tough spending decisions in the 2026-2027 New Brunswick budget delivered Tuesday.
“The provincial government talked tough in the lead up to the budget,” Chamber CEO Kim Wilson said. “But the spending decisions – especially the reliance on large annual deficits – mean we are simply kicking the fiscal can down the road.”
The budget tabled by Finance Minister Rene Legacy in the legislature forecasts deficits of between $1.3 and $1.4 billion each year for the remainder of its mandate. The cumulative impact of that overspending, on top of this year’s anticipated $1.39 billion deficit, will add an anticipated $6 billion to New Brunswick’s net debt.
Economists such as Richard Saillant have already warned that will likely lead to an immediate downgrade of the province’s credit rating. It also means more government revenues will be dedicated to servicing the debt rather than on public services.
Wilson said the Chamber is pleased to see a focus on health care and education spending. Those were priorities outlined by CCGM members in a recent survey. But the lack of any economic development focus or inability to curb spending will not go over well with business, she predicted.
“There was only a passing reference in the budget speech to the government’s new economic development strategy and no real talk about property tax reform, which are key business concerns,” Wilson pointed out.
Under the Liberal spending plan, the province’s net debt to GDP ratio is expected to rise in each of the next three years. The government is forecasting GDP growth of one per cent in the next fiscal year.
Legacy said government’s focus in the budget is accessible healthcare, a stronger education system, and affordability. There is $710 million more spending in health – an increase of 17.4 per cent – as well as investments in school lunch programs, and more money for educational assistants. The budget also outlined additional spending for affordable housing and wraparound supports for the homeless.
Wilson praised the government’s commitment to reduce the size of the civil service by eliminating 1,400 positions (12 per cent) over three years. But she questioned the slow timeline.
She noted that over a four-year period, the public sector had increased by 13.9 per cent while the province’s population had increased by only 9.9 per cent over the same period.
She said the Chamber is not adverse to the government’s intention to start charging road tolls for non-New Brunswick vehicles at a toll plaza to be built in Aulac. She noted that New Brunswickers have been paying tolls for decades at the Cobequid Pass on their way to Halifax.
The CCGM advocacy committee, which consists of a cross-section of Chamber members, will now dissect the budget document in greater detail. Wilson said the Chamber may have further commentary based on those deliberations.
For More Information:
Kim Wilson
Chief Executive Officer
Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton
Ph: 506-856-4000
Email: kwilson@ccgm.ca