N.B. premier-designate Susan Holt knows she has to deliver on promises quickly

FREDERICTON — Susan Holt says it hasn’t sunk in yet that she is New Brunswick’s premier-designate.

The day after her Liberal Party won a convincing majority in Monday’s provincial election, Holt says she feels grateful for the opportunity to serve, and that she recognizes the seriousness of the responsibility — and the amount of work ahead.

“There is a lot of big challenges that need to be tackled, and now it’s on me and my team to deliver and to help make lives better for New Brunswickers,” Holt said in an interview.

Winning 31 of 49 seats, the Liberals denied a third term in office for Blaine Higgs’s Progressive Conservatives, who won 16 seats. The Green Party finished with two.

Now comes the hard part.

One of the party’s central election promises is to open 30 health-care clinics across the province over the next four years. It’ll be sometime next year before the first clinic opens, she said, under the Liberal model of “collaborative care” that puts nurses, doctors, pharmacists and other health-care workers under one roof, operating from at least 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“It’s going to be in 2025 because there are some that are on the verge of happening, or are close to happening under the old model that the previous government was using,” Holt said.

“We believe we can take some of that work and transform the model within …. Vitalité and Horizon (health networks) are really keen to advance this.”

Other promises that New Brunswickers can expect to see realized next year include cheaper electricity bills — Holt’s party pledged to remove the provincial sales tax on power, which she said will reduce bills by 10 per cent. That should happen by April, she said.

One of her first tasks will be to send a letter to the Canada Revenue Agency to remove the provincial sales tax on electricity. It takes about 120 days for the agency to make the change, which can be implemented the following quarter, in time for April 1, she said.

She said she would “like to challenge” that waiting period, however, to ensure people have lower bills during the coldest time of the year in December, January and February. “We’re going to find out whether there’s any wiggle room with Canada Revenue Agency and the 120 days and the quarterly adjustment.”

Another election promise is to implement a three per cent cap on rent increases. Holt said she is aiming for the cap to be in place by Feb. 1 but will consult with the civil service to see whether that can be done sooner. “We give landlords time to adjust to changes like this … but we want to be able to put it in place quickly.”

Jamie Gillies, a political science professor at St. Thomas University, called Holt the “change premier,” adding she can expect a honeymoon period, but not a long one.

“I think on a number of files, particularly health care, that is going to be something that is going to take some time. And so the honeymoon period will last, but then it will end quite quickly.”

One of the ways to make sure she delivers on her promise to improve health care would be to collaborate with researchers, physicians and nurses, especially in rural areas, he said.

But expectation on health care will have to be tempered because that kind of change doesn’t happen overnight, Gillies said. “Trying to diminish expectations a little bit is, I think, going to be part of that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press