Kevin Bissett March 16, 2021 - 12:48 PM
FREDERICTON - New Brunswick s Progressive Conservative government tabled a $10.7-billion budget Tuesday that is heavily influenced by the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While better days are ahead, we know that COVID-19 will continue to have a big influence on our lives for much of this year, Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said in the provincial legislature. We also know that continued support will be needed.
The budget includes almost $65 million to directly address COVID-19 through measures such as immunization and funding for the Tele-Care 811 phone line. It also has more money for physician recruitment and new nursing homes.
New Brunswick government tables $10.7-billion budget shaped by COVID-19 pandemic
by Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press
Posted Mar 16, 2021 3:48 pm EDT
Last Updated Mar 16, 2021 at 3:58 pm EDT
FREDERICTON New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative government tabled a $10.7-billion budget Tuesday that is heavily influenced by the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While better days are ahead, we know that COVID-19 will continue to have a big influence on our lives for much of this year,” Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said in the provincial legislature. “We also know that continued support will be needed.”
The budget includes almost $65 million to directly address COVID-19 through measures such as immunization and funding for the Tele-Care 811 phone line. It also has more money for physician recruitment and new nursing homes.
The Teddy, a pig-shaped award given annually by the CTF to government’s worst waste offenders, is named for Ted Weatherill, a former federal appointee who was fired in 1999 for submitting a panoply of dubious expense claims, including a $700 lunch for two. “Former governor general Julie Payette blew hundreds of thousands of dollars on her inauguration and bizarre housing renovations before resigning under a cloud of controversy,” said CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick. “And the Quebec government’s remarkable ability to crash ferries into docks has soaked taxpayers for millions. “Meanwhile, taxpayers in Toronto spent $160,000 to install bike lanes, and then another $80,000 to rip the same lanes out again just five months later. And no one will be surprised that the Phoenix Pay System, after years of being an enormous financial sinkhole, has earned the distinction of a lifetime achievement award.”
VANCOUVER Two B.C.-based bureaucratic organizations have been nominated for a sarcastic prize. The City of Vancouver and TransLink, the region s transit provider, made the short-list for the annual Teddy Waste Awards. The annual awards are given out by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to the bureaucrats behind financial decisions the CTF deems wasteful. While the winners of the 23rd annual Teddy Awards were not based in B.C., the province had some strong contenders, the CTF said Monday. Among the nominees in the municipal category were Vancouver city councillors who spent $316,000 of taxpayer money on designer office furniture.
More than a year after the provincial government pitched it, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is still waiting to see a public website that publishes municipalities’ basic financial . . .