'Negative' news coverage of affordability payments makes Higgs wonder why he bothered at all

With all the negativity surrounding the $300 "affordability payments," Premier Blaine Higgs is now wondering why he even bothered with the program.

He said the $75-million affordability measure "should be seen as a good news story."

"And if we're going to continue to kind of pick it apartto find who it did include and who it didn't include, and why did we do this, in my position you almost go back and say, 'Wow, with this much negativity around it, why did we do it to begin with?'"

His complaints over negative coverage of his affordability payments came during an interview with Information Morning Fredericton, where he also said that his office did not sign off on travel nurse contracts during the pandemic that saw some nurses paid as much as $300 an hour. He said he's called for an investigation into it.

Higgs also continued to refuse to say if he will call an early election, following the chief electoral officer saying that his election call musings in the fall cost taxpayers $1.7 million.

Affordability payment fallout

He said it's unfortunate that his affordability payments have received such adverse reactions. He did admit that communication could have been better.

They came with a requirement that recipients must be "working,"which eliminatedretirees. Higgs said seniors have already benefited from other affordability measures, such as increased benefits and social assistance rates.

"And now we take this abuse that we missed these groups. In fact, the group we had missed is the working poor," Higgs said, alluding to the group now targeted.

"The point is it's going to be helpful, it's a positive injection into a family income, and I guess it should be seen as that, not about how many issues we can find fault with that," he said.

When asked if the payments were contingent on positive coverage, Higgs said no.

"What's the issue is with how much effort is placed in trying to find a negative aspect of it. That's what is kind of surprising, in how hard the media is trying to make it a negative story."

Higgs calls for investigation into travel nurse spending

Higgs also called for an auditor general's investigation into Horizon and Vitalit'sspending on travel nurses, saying the government needs to be prudent in spending to get the best value for taxpayers.

"And this is a situation where it seems like we could have got better value," he said.

Last week, deputy health minister Eric Beaulieu was questioned before a legislative committee about the province's reliance on travel nurses.

Private agencies, such as Toronto-based Canadian Health Labs, chargedmore than $300 an hourroughly six times what local nursesearn.

Higgs said the rate was "surprising," and that he did not know about it before the report came out. He said not every contract comes through the premier's office, but this one should have come back through the Health Department or regional health authority boards.

"You just can't have any amount of money spent and just say, 'Well, it's all for better health care' without understanding how much better health care do you actually get for that money being spent," Higgs said.

Both the New Brunswick Nurses Union and the Canadian Federation of Nurses have called for an investigation by the province's auditor general, and Higgs says he agrees.

When asked why the province hadn't spent the money on retention bonuses for local staff, Higgs said it's a "different objective," because New Brunswick was short-staffed during the pandemic.

He said the province has "spent huge dollars on recruitment," giving new hires a $10,000 bonus and hiring about 1,100 new nurses since 2018. Higgs said New Brunswick is at a "net positive," having hired more nurses than have retired or quit.

Of the two provincial health authorities, Horizon can stop using travel nurses by the end of March, but Vitalithas some contracts through 2026.

In a previous email statement to CBC News, Vitalitpresident France Desrosiers acknowledged that the costs "represent a significant financial burden for our residents" and that they create inequality among staff.

But she went on to say that the decision was unavoidable due to staffing pressures during the pandemic and that francophone staffing options were limited.

Budget surplus was 'unpredictable,' says Higgs

Higgs also spoke about the province's budget surplus, attributing it to "unpredictable" revenue from HST rebates due to a growing populationand discretionary funding that results in more sales taxes than expected for the government.

Higgs said the main areas of focus for the extra money are health, homelessnessand housing.

Higgs coy on election call

Higgs was also asked if he was going to call an early election or hold off until the scheduled date in October.

"That's a good question. Do you think we should be?" Higgs responded.

"There's still some challenges within my group, but I'm hopeful that we can continue to manage government and the province can continue to benefit from that management."

Higgs was asked again if he would make a firm decision soon, given how much his elections musing cost taxpayers last fall.

"Well, we know that the date for an election is next fall. So I don't know why anyone's asking for a different decision," Higgs said.

He defended his musings last fall by saying that it's the job of Elections New Brunswickto be prepared for an election.