Last weekend some 33,000 households woke up to the news that this winter may be especially difficult. The Government of New Brunswick abruptly cancelled the home energy rebate program last week.
The rebate, $100, may not seem much to the millionaires in the legislature who serve the billionaires in this province. But it is a lot of money for many New Brunswickers who are on fixed incomes and who have been systematically left behind by our government.
Just days after this news, New Brunswick faced a cold snap with temperatures hovering around -30 C in parts of the province. NB Power even put out a tweet asking New Brunswickers to not turn up electric heat during the cold snap and to instead use wood stoves and fireplaces.
But what about low income New Brunswickers who don’t have woodstoves and fireplaces to use as an alternative? Should they not be able to heat their homes?
Does the premier want New Brunswickers to freeze? His response to the housing crisis certainly seems like he does.
Seniors and families across the province have been seeing completely indefensible rent increases over the past few months, putting people at risk of homelessness in the dead of winter.
In Fredericton, the Mazerolle family were hit with a $400 rent increase – a whopping 57% – after the home in which they lived was sold to new owners.
In Saint John, a senior citizen on a disability pension and his wife received a 61% rent increase of $380 more per month after their home was bought by a numbered company from Ontario. To add insult to injury, they were told they would have to start shoveling their entranceway themselves.
Seniors in another apartment building in Fredericton are facing rent increases between 40% and 67.5%. Many fear that they may face homelessness if this rent increase is allowed to proceed.
Our union has called for rent control to protect New Brunswickers – something that housing advocates have been calling for consistently. But the government has ignored these calls and has, instead, stood by and watched this crisis worsen over the last several years.
Instead of listening to housing experts, the government seems to be taking their cues from the landlord lobby – asking the fox how to guard the henhouse.
Indeed, the government’s changes to the Residential Tenancies Act last year have also done little to dissuade greedy corporate landlords.
It is no surprise to our union to see the government put public interest aside for their corporate friends. Last fall, when our union won historic wage increases for our members, it was not without a long and drawn-out fight during which this government had made their priorities clear.
They wanted to give zeros to the heroes on the frontlines of the pandemic while they were willing to give millions in power subsidies to pulp and paper mills, half a million in a tax giveaway to the Irvings at just one property in Saint John, and a quarter of a million dollars to a yacht club.
We have had enough. It is time to end this gravy train for the rich and powerful.
New Brunswickers need a Premier that will put people before profit, that will take care of everyone. Mr. Higgs needs to step up or step aside.
Steve Drost is the President of CUPE New Brunswick and a social worker.
