‘Mixed’ results on N.B.’s targets, premier admits in state of province speech after 1st year in office

The government has hit 10 of its 15 short-term performance targets laid out by Premier Susan Holt, but has fallen back on one of the most top-of-mind objectives for New Brunswickers.

Holt used her annual state of the province speech on Thursday to update progress on the 15 targets she established in last year’s version of the speech.

She reported that the number of New Brunswickers with access to a doctor or nurse practitioner dropped to 72.5 per cent — significantly down from the 79 per cent figure she was hoping to maintain in 2025. 

About 238,000 New Brunswickers are without primary care access — about 40,000 more than when Holt set the target a year ago.

“That’s a number that keeps me up at night,” she told the crowd.

“I would call it the most important metric. It is our top priority, and it is the worst one of the bunch.” 

The figure includes people attached to the 11 new collaborative care clinics Holt announced last year to improve access to primary care. 

Holt’s longer-term target is 85 per cent in 2028, the year she seeks a new mandate from voters.

But her speech last year also laid out interim, year-by-year targets.

Falling short of the primary care number will make it even harder to hit the longer-term goal in time.

Still, she said, she is confident that actions the government took in the last year, including the new clinics and a new pay structure for doctors, will start to turn the situation around.

“I believe firmly we have done the right things in the last 12 months, and if we give it time … we will see the results we are hoping for,” she said.

Health Minister John Dornan, who appeared onstage with Holt during the speech, said “the plan will work.” 

There was one positive indicator for primary-care access in the numbers, which were displayed on large video screens in the Fredericton Convention Centre room where the dinner was held.

The percentage of patients who have doctors or nurse practitioners who can get in to see them within five days was 34.2 per cent — better than the target of 31.4 per cent.

“I would call these mixed results,” Holt said of the results overall.

Progressive Conservative Leader Glen Savoie said the Liberal government had “finally come clean” about the lack of access to primary care but called the speech a marketing exercise overall.

Green Leader David Coon said it was fair that the government spent its first year in power laying the groundwork for its approach to the issue, but they had failed to invest enough money in the system.

Coon’s call for more money, however, came after Holt warned about cuts.

The premier said in the speech that her government will ask New Brunswickers next week to help “identify the areas where we can reduce spending in order to fuel our health-care system and our economy.”

Last November, officials projected an $834.7 million deficit this year, and Holt and Finance Minister René Legacy hinted Thursday night it will be even higher. 

That will mean ending some programs that people “adore,” she said.

There was some suspense Thursday about whether Holt would be able to deliver the speech in person at all.

She began the day in Ottawa, meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other premiers, and was scheduled to return to Fredericton on an Air Canada flight arriving at 6:03 p.m.

The flight was delayed, though, with a new arrival time of 8:48 p.m. — after the beginning of the broadcast window for the televised speech.

Holt told the crowd that Cooke Aquaculture allowed her to catch a ride on their corporate jet, which had been in Ottawa. 

She later told reporters she had cleared that with the provincial integrity commissioner.

The province will reimburse Cooke for the flight and the company will donate that money to local food banks, she added.

The other interim targets that the government failed to hit this year are:

Another education target, improving literacy outcomes, was only partially met. 

The percentage of students who passed provincial assessments fell in francophone schools but improved in anglophone schools.

Another goal, to ensure good air quality in schools, did not have any specific numerical targets when Holt delivered her speech last year.

She said 30.5 per cent of schools now have monitoring systems for air quality, but the government still hasn’t established targets for improving that air quality.

Other interim targets Holt said the government has met or surpassed: