Premier Blaine Higgs delivered his State of the Province speech in February, celebrating what he described as a booming economy and progress on issues including health care. 

But the co-chair of the NB Health Coalition says it was the speech of a premier who doesn’t understand the crisis in the health care system.

“I think that was totally disrespectful,” Bernadette Landry said in an interview with the NB Media Co-op. “He seemed to be in a party mode.” 

With ongoing issues such high rates of child poverty, inadequate care for seniors, and an overstretched health care system, “this is not the time to celebrate,” she said.

Landry said the provincial government should focus on the retention and recruitment of health care workers, starting with better working conditions. “Things can be done,” she said. “We need some willpower.”

The province announced a surplus of more than $860 million dollars for the third quarter of the fiscal year the week after Higgs’ speech. 

The premier, formerly an executive with Irving Oil, runs the province like a private company and is out-of-touch with the struggles of ordinary people, Landry said.

“There’s so many people who can hardly afford to put gas in their car to go to work, and Mr. Higgs seems to be unaware of all those problems,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.” 

In December, the NB Health Coalition published an 11-page document with proposals to address the health care crisis. You can check out their recommendations here (PDF). 

(Landry is a member of the NB Media Co-op’s French-language editorial board.)