27 mai 2019 – Times & Transcript

ANALYSIS: Why N.B., Ottawa are at odds on key issues

Marianne Bell has good reason to worry about the conflict between the Trudeau and Higgs governments.

The mayor of Perth-Andover has been striving for years to convince both federal and provincial governments to come up with a big fix for her village in northwestern New Brunswick, which was devastated by a historic flood in 2012.

More than seven years later, some 80 homes have been moved and the hospital has been flood- proofed, but many of the businesses on both sides of the upper St. John River remain in low-lying danger zones, including more than 50 commercial properties and apartment buildings, several municipal buildings, churches and local service clubs, not to mention the post office.

“There seems to be a bit of a tussle between the province and the feds about who’s going to pay for what," she told Brunswick News. "You hear, ‘oh the feds are going to pay for this because it’s a disaster.’ But we’re talking more than just fixing up a business and putting on a Band-Aid after a disaster. We’re talking about long-term, let’s get rid of this risk once and for all.”

Flooding is just one of several key issues the two levels of government have butted heads on as they head into federal election season.

Along with the carbon tax, the Francophonie Games, road construction and more, flood fixes are emblematic of the tension between the Higgs and Trudeau governments, the struggle to agree on funding and find solutions – and the effect all of it is having on New Brunswick.

Flood fight

Last week, Fredericton Liberal MP Matt DeCourcey questioned the Higgs Progressive Conservative government over its commitment to helping communities along the lower St. John River and Grand Lake that were swamped in successive spring floods in 2018 and 2019, causing more than $80 million in damage. He said the Tory government had not taken advantage of an “exceptional opportunity” to apply for priority projects under federal programs that could help – a charge Premier Blaine Higgs denies.

A couple of pundits told Brunswick News the wrangling was to be expected, given that it is a federal election year, with public policy expert Donald Savoie dubbing it “the silly season.”

Bell said she hoped this kind of squabbling wouldn’t delay Perth-Andover’s plans. The village council wants the roadways on both sides of the river, Route 105 and West Riverside Drive, moved back, but a crucial component is to help businesses acquire new properties along the raised roads and move them there. Such a fix would likely require the financial might of Ottawa and Fredericton, given that Perth-Andover only has 1,600 people and couldn’t afford such an expensive solution on its own. 27 mai 2019 – Times & Transcript

“I hope that in-fighting between the two sides is not a problem,” said Bell, whose council late last year received a report from the provincial government that suggested a future flood could be even worse than the 2012 inundation should another big ice jam occur on top of heavy spring rain.

“Even when we had a Liberal federal government representative and a Liberal provincial representative, we didn’t get it all worked out. Our MLA and MP were cousins, for pete’s sake. We should have had everything aligned to get the program we wanted, and I’m not sure why the province is reluctant to fix our problem.”

The mayor was referring to T.J. Harvey, the Liberal MP for Tobique-Mactaquac, and Andrew Harvey, the Liberal MLA for Carleton-Victoria, both of whom told Brunswick News in separate interviews Bell’s comments are unfair, arguing they had worked diligently to secure flood funding for the village.

Andrew Harvey said as soon as he was elected in 2014, meetings were set up, but it took years of detailed study by NB Power, the provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, archeological services and the village itself to come up with the best, detailed plans.

The first phase, to move Route 105, would have taken three to four years and cost about $19 million, a plan the Higgs government nixed in December shortly after coming to office.

“They cancelled the project right out of the blue,” Andrew Harvey said. “But now that Higgs has experienced flooding on the lower St. John River basin, the Tories keep saying, ‘we need to raise infrastructure and we need to raise roads.’ That’s exactly the kind of project they cut in Perth- Andover. It was going to be the first project that would raise a village based on historical flooding and serve as a model of what could be done.”

His cousin, T.J., still worries the delayed village plan is not the only area where the Higgs government will not work with Ottawa to find solutions.

“I’m worried about the tone," he said. "Even on files like road construction and maintenance, their plan for the next 12 months is austerity. I spent the entire morning today on roads on my riding that are horrible, getting comments from residents saying they need to be repaired. And there’s no money in the provincial budget to fix them.”

Higgs: Much happens behind the scenes

Higgs concedes there are areas where the two governments are at odds, but said it isn't true his Tory government can't work with Ottawa. For example, he said, when it became clear flooding was going to ravage communities again this spring, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called him back right away offering military support.

He said he spoke with federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau in Ottawa three weeks ago about tapping into disaster relief to help people who were immediately impacted and about mitigation programs to prevent future flooding. 27 mai 2019 – Times & Transcript

Much of the work, he said, is happening behind the scenes between different government departments.

“There is a good back and forth, and if we know a particular project is of value and will make a difference, we want to move quickly,” he said. “The big difference here is there’s no confusion over this being a need. This is an absolute need and we have to address people’s emergency concerns quickly. There isn’t any room for the political bantering back and forth.”

As for Perth-Andover, Higgs said it would be considered along with all critical areas that flood.

“It would be something to look at in the context of other areas. How does this rank and what is the risk? We have to put all of this in perspective of the big issue.”

The premier said co-operation is more difficult where Ottawa and Fredericton have butted heads, most notably on the cancelling of the Francophonie Games and the twinning of Route 11 near the southeastern coast, not to mention scores of other construction projects.

Carbon taxes are another area where the two sides can’t agree and are heading for a court showdown, with Higgs arguing New Brunswick is already doing enough to lower dangerous greenhouse gas emissions and the Trudeau government insisting more needs to be done to stop climate change.

'The silly season'

Fredericton Mayor Mike O'Brien, who hopes to announce some measures to help ease flooding in the city's worst spots in the coming months, said he has no big concerns over the intransigence between the two sides.

Speaking on Friday, he said it was the day he started in municipal politics 18 years ago.

“I've seen different governments come and go and work together. Some times there's a little bit of friction, sometimes it's real and sometime's it's manufactured. Elections certainly seem to get people a little excited sometimes, but we'll get through all of this.”

Savoie, who works at Université de Moncton, said the political bickering in the run up to a federal election is to be expected. He said he did not view DeCourcey’s public pronouncements as significant, given the young MP is not a federal cabinet minister.

“It’s the silly season,” he said. “You get close to the writ dropping for the federal election, the gloves are going to come off. And it’s hardly new. You go back in history, this has happened often in New Brunswick.”

Savoie said he would be more concerned if the prime minister and the premier were “going at it,” something he hasn’t seen yet. 27 mai 2019 – Times & Transcript

But another political observer predicted there’d be fewer announcements between the federal and provincial governments this summer given the heat between the two sides.

“Premier Higgs has probably decided to wait and see who he’ll have to deal with after the federal election,” said political scientist Roger Ouellette. “He’d rather have a Tory ally in Ottawa.”

The U de M prof said there was a danger in getting into fights with the federal government over the long-term.

“New Brunswick’s really a small player, it’s not Ontario, and it’s really dependent on money coming from Ottawa. Close to 40 per cent of its budget comes from federal transfer payments. So it’s more important for New Brunswick to have good relations with Ottawa than Ottawa having good relations with New Brunswick.”