Fredericton Chamber of Commerce Congratulates Premier-Designate Susan Holt
“We Stand Ready as a Partner to Achieve Impact in New Brunswick”
October 22, 2024 – For Immediate Release
With the close of New Brunswick’s 41st general election, the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce would like to thank each candidate and their volunteer teams for the countless hours leading up to election day on October 21st. Participation in our electoral process is central to our democracy and our citizens are more informed and engaged in our society thanks to those stepping forward.
We are proud that the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, along with our partners UNB and Ignite, were a small part of this process through our Leaders Interview Series.
With the campaigns over and the votes counted it is now time to get to work and we congratulate Premier-designate Susan Holt and the New Brunswick Liberal Party as they will form the next Government of New Brunswick. We are excited to work together immediately on the many pressing issues and exciting opportunities that stand before us as a province, with nowhere boasting greater opportunity or more pressing issues than the capital of Fredericton.
“Action” has driven our agenda at the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, and we wish to note our calls over the last year for action, and the need to move quickly as a new government to achieve the needed impact in our province, our business community and the lives of all New Brunswickers.
Housing
On May 7th the urban chambers of commerce of Fredericton, Greater Moncton and the Saint John region wrote to the Premier’s office to address the critical issue of housing in our province, particularly the immediate challenges facing our communities and the urgent need for increased development. We stressed the absence of measures to implement property tax reforms or provide incentives for the construction of new rental housing units. Unlike our neighboring provinces such as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick has fallen behind in attracting investment in this crucial sector. The lack of competitiveness by not removing the provincial portions of HST and not reforming property tax assessment policy further exacerbates the challenging housing market by making New Brunswick a less desirable location for rental housing businesses as seen by new housing starts data for 2024.
The intent of our call for action has been and remains to embrace a clear growth agenda to achieve a competitive livability aligning with our neighbouring provinces.
Health Care
Health care is an urgent concern affecting the lives of New Brunswickers and one that is already hindering future growth. Rather than simply restore a previous standard, we must modernize to provide truly world-class health care.
Last fall, we presented the urgent call for a Hybrid OR to be built in Fredericton as was planned for by our medical professionals and promised by the government. As has been made even clearer this past year, the service of a vascular surgeon is required in the hospital by practically every other surgical specialty. Following this call, we hosted our first physicians roundtable. The Greater Fredericton Region will require that the necessary resources be provided, but it will also require effective implementation of evidence-based policies. This is only achievable through consistent communication between the local health authorities and health care professionals. Health care and the future of our livable community is a collective effort, and we must align community actions in retention, recruitment and all steps advancing this ongoing goal.
As the new government begins to form, we too are prepared to get to work and identify the needed actions for immediate impact in Fredericton’s health care services. On November 12, The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with St. Thomas University, City of Fredericton and the New Brunswick Medical Education Foundation, is proud to announce Fredericton’s Health Care Summit, “Clear and Present Needs of a Growing Capital City” on November 12, 2024.
Education and Our Knowledge Industry
Education has been identified and advocated as an area of need and simultaneously a resource holding vast potential to address almost every issue area for our province. A lack of proactive measures such as supporting expediate school construction, adequate funding to support targeted literacy and numeracy standards dating back to pre-pandemic decline, represent huge gaps in k-12 needs. Our k-12 education system is a foundational service and resource in our communities across NB. Paired with immigration, our workforce of the future will come from our younger generations attending the schools across New Brunswick, and then attending post-secondary education and training at institutions such as UNB, STU and NBCC and the numerous private colleges available in our community.
Education is an actional example of alignment to apply numerous investments as solutions in our province and communities. In Fredericton, we have what we refer to as the knowledge economy, which means knowledge is our resource and strength and must be elevated to support Fredericton and the Province as a whole. We must work to recognize and engage with partners such as our post-secondary institutions, Research NB, the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and the numerous companies in Fredericton that offer innovative solutions and supports to social issues and challenges.
Immediate Action for Necessary Impact
The “Action” that we speak of refers to smart strategic investments with long-term gains, creation of synergies of existing resources and identification of strengths for application across multiple issue areas.
The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce thanks Premier-designate Holt for participating in both our Leaders Interview Series and the Urban Chambers of Commerce Candidate Questionnaire. The answers and policy positions provided reflected an alignment with our advocacy over this past year, especially concerning Housing, Health Care and Education.
We stand ready as committed partners for growth, alignment of resources, and elevation of strengths to achieve the competitive livability and business prosperity we jointly seek. This last year we have been advocating for action, and now with the election completed we will make the logical progression to identifying impact.
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The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, a nationally accredited organization with more than 1,000 members is an active business organization engaged in policy development and advocacy that affects the competitiveness of our members and the Canadian business environment. The Chamber’s vision is ‘Stronger Community Through Business Prosperity.’
Contact: Morgan Peters, CEO, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce –(506) 451-9742; ceo@frederictonchamber.ca
