New Brunswick Tories promise to boost seasonal workers’ pay if elected

New Brunswick Premier David Alward (Screengrab from JDIrving Company footage)

CARAQUET, N.B. — Topping up seasonal workers’ hourly pay is the most recent campaign promise from New Brunswick Premier David Alward, made during Day 4 of the provincial election.

On Sunday, the Tory leader announced the four-year Seasonal Workforce Pilot Project, which would increase workers’ pay by $2 an hour for up to 14 weeks a year.

Alward said the move would not only benefit 2,500 of the province’s seasonal workers but would also strengthen key sectors of the provincial economy, including forestry, fisheries and agriculture.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, the New Brunswick Liberal Party announced it would increase the number of moose hunting licences if elected to govern in September.

The change would mean more New Brunswickers would be able to take part in the annual event, said Liberal Leader Brian Gallant.

He said more licences mean more of an economic impact from the hunt, including more jobs in rural parts of the province.

The Liberals also proposed reversing the Conservative government’s decision to extend the moose hunting season to five days, advocating for a return to the traditional three-day period.

Extending the season was intended to keep the province’s moose population down, but Gallant says increasing the number of hunting licences would have the same effect.

New Brunswickers head to the polls on Sept. 22 in an election being fought on a new electoral map that cuts the number of seats in the legislature from 55 to 49.

At dissolution, the Tories had 41 seats, the Liberals 13 and there was one Independent.