NBers would be late for Taylor Swift tickets, let alone relief: Steeves

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New Brunswick’s finance minister says he’s not worried about the dwindling number of households applying for a $300 workers’ benefit, arguing local citizens would even be late buying tickets to a Taylor Swift concert.

Launched in late February to help working people on modest incomes fight inflation, the program saw just under 50,000 applications submitted by the end of March, far short of the 250,000 households that are eligible. Making matters worse, the initial surge in applications has slowed down considerably, according to the Department of Finance and Treasury Board.

Ernie Steeves told a legislative committee on Thursday people still have to the end of June to apply, more than two months.

“New Brunswickers are famous for buying last minute,” said the minister from Moncton. “Even a Taylor Swift show might come to town, and the tickets might be sold at the last minute. That’s what happens in New Brunswick, for whatever reason, it’s an odd market that way. We do take advantage of deals and specials and tickets and the rest of it, at the last minute. So hopefully we’ll get more uptick from now until then, but it’s 300 bucks and we want New Brunswickers to have it.”

Premier Blaine Higgs announced the program at his State of the Province speech in January, but his Progressive Conservative government has been lambasted for making it too difficult to access. The criticism irritated Higgs, who mused in an interview that maybe he shouldn’t have offered help.

People who want the money must obtain a “proof of income statement” from the Canada Revenue Agency. Then they need to fill out a three-step provincial application form, a process Steeves insisted takes only five or 10 minutes.

Even a Taylor Swift show might come to town, and the tickets might be sold at the last minute. That’s what happens in New Brunswick, for whatever reason, it’s an odd market that way.

Ernie Steeves

René Legacy, the Liberal finance critic and deputy opposition leader, was trying to figure out how the lack of applications would affect the government’s bottom line. The program started last fiscal year (which ended March 31), so it is split between two annual budgets.

Overall, $75 million was supposed to be set aside to help up to 250,000 households that earn between $3,000 and $70,000 a year, people considered to be on modest incomes and feeling the pinch of the higher cost of living.

The Tories have posted six straight years of surpluses, one so high it was more than $1 billion, and Legacy wanted to know if they would use money left over from the program to pay down more debt.

“I agree with the minister New Brunswickers are famous for buying last minute, but this government is also famous for rolling out programs that are ill-prepared,” Legacy said. “So I think we’re seeing a lot of that, and not necessarily buyer lateness is the problem. It’s just that we weren’t ready.”

Legacy used the better part of the morning and afternoon to pepper the finance minister with questions about the budget, trying to find out who in government knew when expensive contracts for travel nurses were being used by the Horizon and Vitalité health networks.

A Globe and Mail investigation earlier this year showed that the regional health authorities in New Brunswick had signed three contracts worth a combined value of more than $150 million for travel nurses, whose private firms charge high rates. One Vitalité contract had an hourly rate of more than $300 per nurse – six times the hourly rate received by local nurses.

Higgs has said he didn’t know how expensive the travel nurses were – used to plug gaps in the health-care system – and asked Auditor General Paul Martin to investigate.

“We would not have had details on the contract or even that the contract existed,” Steeves said on Thursday.

Legacy was incredulous, given the number of financial experts in Steeves’ department who crunch numbers every day to ensure other departments, including health, stay on budget.

“The contracts for the travel nurses were going to be for significant amounts,” Legacy said. “If you’re only getting the information once the money’s being spent, then you’re essentially just doing secretarial work.”

Later, the critic would hone in on a report by the auditor general that showed the province had $2.7 billion in cash reserves, almost five times more than it had in the recent past.

If you’re only getting the information once the money’s being spent, then you’re essentially just doing secretarial work.

René Legacy

Legacy said he didn’t understand why the Tory government would keep so much money in the float, earning minimal interest.

“What’s the point in having all this cash sitting around? It could be used to pay down debt.”

Steeves grinned.

“That member sounds more and more like a fiscal conservative all the time, Mr. Chair. Goodness,” he said to the chairman of the estimates committee, pointing out that the credit rating agencies had appreciated his government reducing the province’s debt by more than $2 billion over six years and its liquidity practices.

Better credit ratings allow the province to borrow at more favourable terms, lowering debt servicing costs.

“That’s so important in how much money we actually pay in servicing the debt,” the finance minister said.

He added that the $2.7 billion in cash reserves changed on a daily basis and it was now “far lower than that,” without stating the actual amount in the kitty.