N.B. should spend less on roads: Lord

The New Brunswick government should be shifting its focus away from building roads and investing in infrastructure that moves ideas, according to former premier Bernard Lord.

Lord spoke to an audience of 250 people in Moncton on Tuesday morning at the start of the Future N.B. Summit, which has been organized by the New Brunswick Business Council.

Lord, who served as New Brunswick's premier from 1999 to 2006, said strategic infrastructure means more than just roads and highways.

"For some reason in New Brunswick we love roads. And frankly, I think we probably have enough roads in New Brunswick," Lord said.

"We have more roads per capita that are paved I think than anywhere else in Canada and maybe in North America but there's other types of strategic infrastructure that is needed in the 21st century. Infrastructure that helps move ideas, not just people and goods."

Lord said besides the current downturn in the economic situation, the single biggest challenge facing New Brunswick is demographics.

He also said there's no excuse not to be prepared for the pressure the aging population is going to add to the province's health care system.

David Ganong, the chairman of St. Stephen-based Ganong Bros., and Camille Theriault, another former New Brunswick premier, have organized the two-day conference to discuss ways to kick-start the province's flagging economy.

'The next four years are going to be the worst four years of your life.' Don Drummond

Premier David Alward's Progressive Conservative government called the worsening economic situation a "fiscal crisis" in its throne speech last week.

Finance Minister Blaine Higgssaid in his fiscal update last Friday the current deficit is now more than $820 million and it is on track for a deficit surpassing $1 billion if action isn't taken.

Higgs has asked departments to cut one per cent from their budgets this year and prepare for two per cent less money in next year's budget.

HST increase needed

Don Drummond, an economist at Queen's University, told the summit that the New Brunswick government must either hike the Harmonized Sales Tax or freeze spending.

The failure to adopt either of these measures could lead to a $2-billion deficit within the next five years, according to Drummond.

"The next four years are going to be the worst four years of your life," Drummond said.

Drummond told the conference that if nothing is done or the Progressive Conservatives follow through on their election platform promises, the province is heading for financial ruin.

The TD economist said the fastest way to get out of the fiscal crisis is to raise the HST. A one percentage point increase in the HST is worth $125 million.

An alternate option, Drummond said, is to freeze spending for five years but he said won't be easy.

He said no New Brunswick government has been able to do it and only Saskatchewan, Alberta and the federal government were able to freeze budgets for more thanfive years in a row.