The immediate impact of today’s announcement by Maritime Bus that it is cutting public transportation service to much of New Brunswick, will be to substantially reduce access to health care services for New Brunswickers of modest means, according to David Coon, the Leader of New Brunswick’s Green Party and MLA for Fredericton-South.

“Public transportation is an essential service for anyone who cannot afford to own a car or is unable to drive,” said Coon. “I am calling on Premier Higgs to join with his colleagues in Nova Scotia and PEI to negotiate a contribution agreement that will keep the buses on our roads, just as Premiers King and McNeil already have done.”

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Fredericton – On December 16, Green Party critic for Agriculture and MLA for Kent North, Kevin Arseneau, tabled a bill for the third time from the Greens calling on the province to create and maintain a sustainable, self-sufficient local food industry that puts people’s need for food at the centre of policies. 

“We only produce 8 percent of the fruits and vegetables we consume in the province,” said Arseneau. “In the spring Premier Higgs committed to increasing the local supply of food here in New Brunswick, so that is why I am bringing the bill forward for the third time.”

The bill aims to strengthen and ensure a sustainable local food economy in New Brunswick, promote local food procurement and access for public institutions, improve the health of New Brunswickers through increased availability of fresh local food and provide students with food, agriculture and garden-based education in schools.  

“We have been trying to move this file forward since Green Party leader David Coon first tabled a similar bill in 2015, but it was defeated by the Liberals” said Arseneau. “With grocery prices expected to rise significantly next year, it is vital that we act now to produce more food here in New Brunswick that supports sustainable livelihoods and respects the work of all food providers.”

On another Agricultural related topic, MLA Arseneau extends his solidarity to the tens of thousands of farmers in India who continue to protest new agricultural laws undermining small-scale food producers by rendering them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations.

FREDERICTON – With the release of the Saint John Human Development Council’s Child Poverty Report Card for 2020, Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon is calling on Premier Higgs to implement the report’s key recommendations to curb child poverty in New Brunswick.

“We know the solutions to child poverty, but in order to address this problem, the Premier needs to be willing to invest money in improving the lives of New Brunswick families,” said Coon.  “By making investments to increase social assistance rates, support local food production and build more affordable housing, the Premier could make a big difference in the lives of New Brunswick families.”

The Human Development Council’s report found that 26 communities in New Brunswick have a child poverty rate over 30 percent. The seven communities with the highest rates are all First Nations communities, with Esgenoôpetitj having the highest at 71.8%. Three of the fourteen communities with the highest levels of child poverty are in Green MLA Kevin Arseneau’s riding of Kent North.

“While the Premier and Minister of Social Development are not presented with child poverty in their ridings on a regular basis, since Quispamsis and Riverview have among the lowest child poverty rates in the province,  I see it daily in my riding, and it is heartbreaking,” said Kevin Arseneau, MLA for Kent North. “The Premier needs to act now to reduce poverty, so all kids in New Brunswick have a fighting chance at a decent life.”

FREDERICTON – Ahead of the First Ministers meeting between the Prime Minister and the Premiers on Thursday December 10, Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon is calling on Premier Higgs to first meet with his Atlantic counterparts to ensure they present a common front for a demographic adjustment to the Canada Health Transfer.

“The political history of Atlantic Canada teaches us that if we don’t hang together in dealing with the federal government we hang alone,” said Coon.  “It is essential that Premier Higgs take the leadership here, like his predecessors have in times of change, and bring Andrew Fury, Stephen McNeil and Dennis King to the table to ensure the Atlantic Canadian Premiers present a common front to other first ministers.”

Coon wants Higgs to initiate a meeting among the Atlantic premiers prior to the First Minister meeting to hammer out an agreement on a demand for a demographic adjustment to the Canada Health Care transfer.

“Our needs in this region of the country are unique because of our distinct demographics, making the simplistic per capita funding formula profoundly unfair, prejudicing our ability to deliver health care services on an equitable basis to Atlantic Canadians,” said Coon. “The current formula is unjust to Atlantic Canada, so we must stand up for ourselves at the First Ministers meeting.”

As Canada and the world grapple with the climate crisis, on the 4^th anniversary of the launch of a provincial climate action plan, Green Party leader David Coon is wondering why New Brunswick’s government seems oblivious to the fact the planet’s climate is rapidly destabilizing.

NB Power has just released its latest 20-year resource plan, but its emphasis is on extending the life of its fossil fuel plants, not replacing them with hydroelectric, wind and solar power.

The Electricity Act’s target for renewable energy expires at the end of the month, but the Higgs government has failed to set a new renewable energy target¹.

Three years have passed without any action since the tabling of a public transportation strategy for New Brunswick in 2017.

“Our youth no longer have the confidence that governments will make the changes necessary to stop a climate calamity,” said David Coon, Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton-South.  “We are failing them.”

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FREDERICTON - Green Party leader David Coon is calling on the Higgs government to commit to an ambitious target to grow the renewable energy industry in New Brunswick, rather than continuing down path of expensive and risky nuclear power generation.

The legally regulated target set by Bernard Lord in 2006 to supply New Brunswickers with 10 percent of our electricity needs from new sources of locally produced renewable energy has now been achieved.  That regulation expires in three weeks without any commitment from the Higgs government to a new target for further expanding locally produced renewable energy in New Brunswick.

“A reasonable target would be to double the local supply of renewable electricity by 2030,” said Coon.  “Pairing this with a long-term contract for 700 to 1000 MW of hydroelectricity from Labrador and Quebec would substantially increase our supply of affordable electricity while laying the foundation to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

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Fredericton – New Brunswick Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon is calling on the Higgs government to provide support for those small businesses, such as cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars hit hardest by the second wave of the COVID and the public health measures needed to fight it.

“Businesses in the hospitality and accommodations sector are really struggling, especially those dealing with orange phase rules.  Should any region have to return to red, businesses in the fitness sector will join them.” said Coon. “It is time for the Premier to help those businesses as his colleagues in Nova Scotia and PEI have done.”

Coon is calling on the Premier to do three things:

1. Create a grant program of up to $5,000 per month to support small, independently owned dine-in restaurants, bars, and fitness and leisure establishments impacted by public health directives in the orange zones, or potential future red zones.
   
   
2. Create a Workspace Adaption Assistance Fund to retroactively offer grants for small businesses for expenses that were directly related to implementing safety measures of a COVID-19 operational plan.
   
   
3. Help small businesses reduce their costs by supporting energy efficiency upgrades with targeted loans and technical advice designed to achieve 15% to 35% savings on their energy bills.  This will also create work for local trades people and business for local suppliers.

“It is in the public interest for our local economies to weather the COVID storm, so public investment in the small businesses most affected by COVID measures is urgently needed,” said Coon.  “Small businesses are the backbone of our local economies and need our support.

Fredericton – David Coon, Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South, says that by shutting down the Legislative Assembly, the Higgs government is preventing important committee work from happening.

“The government with the support of the Liberal opposition has brought the work of the Legislative Branch of government to a screeching halt,” said Coon.  “There are seven committees that cannot begin their work because the Legislature has yet to approve their membership or chairs yet.  Without the ability for members to participate in the sitting of the Legislature virtually, I don’t see us reconvening until sometime in the new year.”

To date, the Legislature has approved the membership of only one committee, the Economic Policy Committee responsible for studying government bills. Committee membership must be established by a motion put to a vote by MLAs, which requires the Legislative Assembly to be in-session.

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Fredericton – In the Legislative Assembly this afternoon, Green Party MLA for Kent North and Acting House Leader Kevin Arseneau will move a motion calling for an emergency debate on hybrid or virtual sittings of the Legislative Assembly. A hybrid system is in use in the House of Commons. Since September, Members of Parliament have the option of participating in debate and voting virtually.

“My caucus colleagues and I have been consistently calling for virtual or hybrid system for Assembly sittings since April,” said Arseneau. “The Legislative Assembly has had over six months to study and implement such a system that would enable the MLAs who cannot be in Fredericton for public health reasons to represent their constituents by participating in debate and voting on important legislation.”

Section 45 of the Legislative Assembly’s standing rules allows for an emergency debate for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter requiring urgent consideration. Arseneau says that allowing the Legislative Assembly to continue to function during a pandemic is vitally important to democracy.

 “We cannot afford to suspend our democratic institutions in times of crisis, especially when there are proven and safe alternatives, as have been convincingly demonstrated in the House of Commons,” said Arseneau. “The Legislative Assembly has only sat for 12 full days of routine business out of 328 this year.”

“While Members of the Legislative Assembly are being asked to stay home, the government is asking workers across the province, including teachers, retail workers and healthcare workers to go to work every day,” said Arseneau “Democracy is an essential service.”