New BrunswickNew Brunswick’s Liberal government has updated its financial outlook, projecting an even bigger deficit than it did in August.Minister now projects $834.7M shortfall this year and won’t rule out hitting $1BJacques Poitras · CBC News · Posted: Nov 14, 2025 12:30 PM EST | Last Updated: 9 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.New Brunswick Finance Minister René Legacy says ‘difficult choices’ lie ahead, which could mean rejecting even higher spending requests from government departments. (Michael Heenan/CBC)The Holt Liberal government is sinking further into red ink this year, projecting an $834.7 million deficit that the finance minister acknowledges could go even higher.Revised projections for corporate and personal income tax revenue, and higher than projected spending in health care and social programs, led to the new calculation.In August the projection was $668.7 million, which was itself worse than what Finance Minister René Legacy forecast in his first budget last March.Legacy blamed the previous government’s spending restraint — which he said starved public services of the money needed to keep up with a growing population — for the impetus to spend now.“While this is not the fiscal situation we wanted to be in, years of neglect in our services and infrastructure have led us to this point, and we have to address it,” he said.The government of former premier Blaine Higgs produced fiscal surpluses, but Legacy says the Progressive Conservatives’ restrained spending on public services is to blame for the need to spend now. (Pat Richard/CBC)Asked if he would rule out a $1 billion deficit by the time the year ends, Legacy said a pending announcement on how doctors in the province are paid would have “a serious impact” on the bottom line.“If nothing else changes on revenues or on some improvement on expenses, there is a potential that it could still grow by fourth quarter,” he said.Don Monahan, the Progressive Conservative finance critic, said he expects that to happen, given the Liberal reluctance to rein in spending.“It’s a very sad state for all New Brunswickers, and New Brunswickers should be worried and concerned, because if this is what’s happening now, what can we expect in the future?” he said.WATCH | ‘It could still grow’: Holt Liberal deficit still growing:N.B deficit soars to $834.7 million and could go higherThe New Brunswick government’s fiscal shortfall continues to grow beyond Liberal projections and may reach $1 billion.Legacy spoke of “difficult choices” ahead, including before the current fiscal year ends next March 31. But asked for specifics, he would not commit to spending cuts and said many of the choices until now have been rejections of even higher spending requests from government departments.“We often equate ‘difficult choices’ with cuts, or with something disappearing,” he said.“To be truthful, sometimes we can’t acquiesce to their demands, and that’s a difficult situation … but you’ll never see that decision because we’re just not investing.”Saying yes to those kinds of requests ahead of the March budget could have produced a deficit of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion, he said.The PC opposition has been reluctant to suggest specific cuts the Liberals should make but Monahan said it may be time to look at slashing the civil service, as the Carney government is doing in Ottawa.PC finance critic Don Monahan said he expects the Liberals to run a deficit. He also thinks now is the time to evaluate the efficiency of the province’s civil service. (Mikael Mayer/RADIO-CANADA)“We should look at that exercise in New Brunswick as well to determine: are we running our department’s efficiency? Are there redundancies in some of these positions within government?“If we need to make some tough decisions, maybe our workforce is too large for the services that we’re delivering currently.”Green MLA Megan Mitton was surprised by that suggestion.“Saying something broad like that, you would need to really understand what you’re talking about,” she said.“I’d like them to give more details on this idea they’re throwing out.”Mitton said many public sector workers are overworked and don’t have enough resources.She blamed the deficit on the Liberals not budgeting enough for health and social spending in the first place and suggested they raise taxes on the wealthy to reduce the deficit.According to the fiscal update, lower than expected tax revenue and federal transfer payments has the province on track to collect $180.5 million less than it expected when it introduced its budget.Meanwhile, health and social spending is driving total expense projections $105.2 million higher than budgeted.Officials said the impact of U.S. tariffs and the economic uncertainty they’ve provoked are still not showing up in the budget.Legacy said the province’s total debt is still lower than most provinces relative to the size of the economy and to the population, “and it is remaining stable.”“It means that our province’s long-term financial sustainability is still very solid. We are certainly facing some strong headwinds, but we are well-positioned to weather the storm.”Earlier this week, a new poll by Abacus Data suggested that fiscal management was a weak point for the Holt Liberals among voters.Only 33 per cent of respondents approved of the way the government was managing the provincial budget, compared to 30 per cent who disapproved — a lower approval rating than it received on other aspects of governing.Abacus surveyed 600 New Brunswickers from Oct. 24 to 30, using a sample that would produce a margin of error of four percentage points in 19 out of 20 polls of that size.Legacy said some Liberal spending that is driving up the deficit now won’t yield immediate results that influence public opinion.”It’s giving away some of our political capital, because the benefits that will come from that change may not show up for another five or 10 years, but it’s the right decision,” he said.ABOUT THE AUTHORJacques Poitras has been CBC’s provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.
Liberal deficit jumps again, and it may go even higher
