Leaders talk money, isolation and hips and knees

Party leaders have T-minus 20 days to deliver theirplatforms and win the heartsof New Brunswick votersbefore the provincialelection next month.

Today, CBC New Brunswick starts the Election Notebook, which will provide daily updates from the trail and sharestories behind the campaign for the Sept. 14 vote.

It's been just over aweek since Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs called the snap election, the first in Canada to take place duringthe COVID-19 pandemic.

Here's what the political party leaders have been saying:

Calling Higgs a turtle, Liberals promise to spend on infrastructure

Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers is looking to improve the province's relationship with Ottawa and boost spending on infrastructure across New Brunswick.

In 2018, Vickers said, the federal government set aside $673 million over 10 years for infrastructure projects for the province, but 78 per cent of the money remains unallocated.

InRiverviewon Monday, he vowed he wouldn't leavefederal dollars on the table.

"We can face those economic challenges boldly, courageously, or we can turtle," he said.

"Premier Higgs continues to turtle. He wishes to take our province into his shell. Where there is little light, little hope and little opportunity."'

Vickers also cited the$1.8 billion that Minister Justin Trudeau has earmarked for municipalities for transit on the condition aprovince matches the funding it receives.

Higgs refused the offer, saying the program was designed for larger cities, and New Brunswick's smaller cities need the money for other things.

But Vickers said transit systems in Moncton, Fredericton, Shediac and Miramichido need the money.

• Vickers sharpens abortion-access election promise

He's also concerned about the several high-profile projects Higgs postponed in 2018, includinga new Centennial Building and courthouse complex in Fredericton, a new New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, and the design of a new K-8 school in Campbellton.

"If we continue at this place it will take decades to recover," Vickers said.

PCs vow to speed up wait forhip replacements

PC Leader Blaine Higgswas in Saint John on Monday to announce his government wants to reduce wait timesfor hip and knee replacements.

He said the national benchmark in Canada for such surgeries is six months. In the first quarter of 2020-21, only 30 per cent of hip and knee replacement surgeries in New Brunswick were completed within that benchmark.

By March 31, Higgs promised to cut the wait in half for people who have been waiting more than a year for surgeries.

By September 2021, he said,the PCs would eliminate wait times of more thanone year.And by March 31, 2022, theywouldensure that85 per centof hip replacement surgeries and 75 per centof knee replacement surgeries are done within the 182-day national standard.

"We're not going to throw money at it," he said. "We're going to say we're going to organizeit differently and work with people who know how to make it happen."

The budget speech earlier this yearpromised an operating room dedicated to hip and knee replacements at St. Joseph's Hospital in Saint John.

"When re-elected we're committed to making that a reality," Higgs said at the hospital Monday, offering a plan that includes increasing the capacity at other hospitals, centralizing schedulingand using newertechnology.

Greens tackle isolation of nursing homes residents

Green Party Leader David Coon was in Fredericton, focusing on senior care.

He promised he would make it possible for family members to spend more time with loved ones in nursing and special care homes during the pandemic. Under his plan, a close family member such as a spouse or adult child couldbe designated a family care-giverto loved ones.

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CBC provincial affairs reporter Jacques Poitras and Radio-Canada political analyst Michelle LeBlanc answer audience questions about the New Brunswick election.

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the provincein March, nursing homes were closed to friends and family. InMay, the province was exploring ways to allow nursing home residents to have visitors, and a limited amount of visiting was eventually allowed.

Outside Pine Grove Nursing Home, Coon promised family members would be able to return to feeding their loved ones, which would reduce the burden on overworked staff and end the feelings of isolation among residents.

"Seniors are deteriorating in the nursing homes without regular contact from their family members, who had been acting as a family caregiver previous to the shutdown," Coonsaid.

He's also asking chief electoral officer Kim Poffenroth to designate the first two hours every day the returning offices are open exclusively for seniors and other vulnerable people so they can vote in a safer environment this election.

Coon said the Green Party has a plan to redesign senior care bygrowing a not-for-profit community-based system.

Senior care "has been made worse by government budgets, not based on quality of life as their objective, but on penny pinching," he said.

The party said details of its senior are plan will be released in coming days.

People's Alliance would improve virtual care after COVID-19

The People's Alliance is calling for better virtual care in New Brunswick.

"We have fought hard for virtual care in this province long before the pandemic so New Brunswickers could have access to physicians remotely," said party leader Kris Austin.

A recent poll conducted for the New Brunswick Medical Society suggests 77 per cent of respondentof New Brunswickers are in favour of virtual care even after COVID-19 is over.

Many health-care services in the province were temporarily shut down when the pandemic started, forcing the provincial government and the New Brunswick Medical Society to expand virtual health-care access for patients.

In the poll by Narrative Research of Halifax, a large majority of respondents also said they would not pay for virtual care if it were not covered by Medicare.

Austin said virtual care is a right New Brunswickers deserve,but he worries changes to funding through Medicare could lead to fewer virtual visits and longer wait times in emergency rooms.

"The People's Alliance is committed to expanding virtual care access in the province and ensuring it is properly funded."

NDP candidate crashes Higgs barbecue

Caitlin Grogan, who plans to run as an NDP candidatein Quispamsis,and a handful of protesters crashed a barbecue for PC Leader Blaine Higgs over the weekend to discuss Clinic 554 in Fredericton.

Although the family practice serves a range of patients, it also focuses on transgender care and abortion services. It's also the only private clinic that provides out-of-hospital abortions, but the province doesn't fund them through Medicare.

Last year, the Fredericton clinic went up for sale because the lack offunding was making running the clinic unsustainable.

According to a news release from theNDP, the protest in Quispamsis was disrupted when the owner of the campsite where the barbecue was being held contacted RCMP to remove the protesters. Higgs is seeking re-election in Quispamsis.

"[My only] regret is that the premier chose silence over meaningful dialogue,"said Grogan, who earned some notoriety for a tweet earlier this summer that attacked the Saint John police.

NDP Leader Mackenzie Thomason praisedGrogan's"attempt to engage the premier."

No polling stations at colleges or universities

Elections New Brunswick won't have polling stations at post-secondary institutions this election.

For the past three elections, students at colleges and universities have been able to goto the polls on campus, part of an effort to get more young people in the habit of voting.

But Paul Harpelle, a spokesperson for Elections NB, said that because of the pandemic, there won't be many students physically on campus anyway.

"There's going to be a lot of virtual learning," he said.

Instead, students can vote in their home ridings before heading to school or, starting next week,at the returning office neartheir college or university.

The New Brunswick Student Alliance was disappointed.

"Although all of our member institutions are having the majority of their classes online this fall, campuses are still open and not having on-campus polling stations will be a barrier to accessible voting for students in the province," said executive directorWasiimah Joomun.

The organization will continue holding its Get Out The Vote campaign, to ensure that post secondary students have the information they need to vote.

Where the leaders are today

People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin, Miramichi, 10 a.m.

Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers, Sussex Health Care, 10 a.m.

PC Leader Blaine Higgs,Moncton Press Club, 11 a.m.

Green Party LeaderDavid Coon, downtown Fredericton campaign office,1 p.m.

NDP Leader MackenzieThomasonwill be doing radio interviews andinterviewing potential candidates.

Standings at dissolution:PCs 20, Liberals 20, Greens, 3, People's Alliance 3, Independent 1, vacancies 2