Minister said he expected an increase in spending
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A federal minister was surprised by New Brunswick’s move to cut almost $9 million in housing services from its 2019-2020 provincial budget.
According to CBC News, Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos had expected the province to instead increase the budget in light of the $299 million funding from the federal 10-year national housing strategy, the first instalment of which began this month. Duclos told CBC News that the federal government will still hold the province to the obligations that are in the housing agreement signed in July 2018.
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“We had everything we need for New Brunswick not to decrease but to increase funding in housing," Duclos told CBC News.
"Those most vulnerable people in New Brunswick in many cases need investments in housing for them not to find themselves on the streets or in shelters or in hospitals or in police stations or homeless.”
The minister also bristled against suggestions by Dorothy Shephard, New Brunswick's social development minister, that funding from the federal government was merely a continuation of an old program.
"Fortunately, we're not working under the old plan but under a new plan, which will send more money to people in New Brunswick to make sure more families have access to an affordable home."
CBC News reported that, under the old plan, the federal government provided $3.9 million a year to the province to fund affordable housing, whereas under the new plan the province is expected to spend $30 million over the next 10 years.
Shephard would not tell reporters how much of the $299 million would be spent in 2019-20. While Shephard told CBC News that the money will be ‘backloaded’ into later years rather than spread evenly over 10, it is still unclear how much of the money will be spent next year.
"The money is there, the objectives are there, the action plan is to make sure as we proceed, that all of the things that are expected on the part of New Brunswickers are indeed implemented under that agreement," said Duclos.
"There will be all sorts of measures to reassure people in New Brunswick that all those dollars are really invested and the action plan will be one such measure."
