Tolls, closures, increasing fees: N.B. government unveils options to combat rising debt

New Brunswick is considering different ways to deal with its deficit.

The Susan Holt government has released 12 options to both save and make more money in order to combat the rising debt New Brunswick is facing.

The last fiscal update in November forecasted an $834.7 million deficit for the 2025-26 year. The opposition Conservatives believe it’s now over $1 billion.

The province released a document listing the 12 options it’s considering on Monday, asking New Brunswickers to send in their thoughts and opinions on the ideas by Feb. 20.

The options include:

• tolls on non-New Brunswick vehicles
• increasing some permits and fees
• “tightening” the collection of money owed to the province, like student loans
• better enforcing the 10-30 per cent of lobster landings that are currently going unreported, for tax revenues
• reducing the civil service
• selling or closing assets

The exercise has similarities to the strategic program review former Liberal premier Brian Gallant pursued in 2015-16. In the end, the provincial portion of the HST was increased, which saw the tax go from 13 to 15 per cent.

Premier Holt made it clear after her State of the Province speech last week that raising the HST isn’t on the table.

In an interview Tuesday, Finance Minister René Legacy wouldn’t confirm how much the deficit has become, only that the number is still being finalized.

But he says since releasing the 12 options on Monday, his department has already received a number of submissions from New Brunswickers, including from business and industry leaders.

He says the province could look at doing a mix of all the options, but he’s also open to new ideas from citizens.

“The realization is, if we’re already $830 - $850 million short and everybody’s still suffering, we need to look at things differently. We need to find a way. And that’s the whole point of the exercise. We have aspirations to do something differently. We just need to figure out how to do it.”

The deadline for New Brunswickers to share their thoughts is Feb. 20, a month before the 2026-27 budget is unveiled on March 17.

N.B. in a good situation, says economist

Randall Bartlett, deputy chief economist for Desjardins Group, says New Brunswick is in a solid financial position, compared to others across the country.

In recent years, the province has wrestled its debt-to-GDP ratio from over 40 per cent to a low of 25 per cent, and Bartlett believes that move was critical to surviving times like these.

“We’re seeing a challenging economic environment, but coming from a very strong fiscal starting point, and so my sense is that New Brunswick, more than most other provinces, actually has the room to be able to expand fiscally and provide the support that I think it has provided to the economy,” he said.

He says the year ahead could bring more “headwinds” though.

While the province has managed to navigate the ongoing tariff situation relatively well, 2026 could be difficult, especially for the softwood lumber industry - an industry where production has already slowed considerably, says Bartlett.

That’s why he applauds the attempt to cut costs and find more revenue sources.

“They’re already getting ahead of this and saying, we want to make sure that we’re addressing this issue before it becomes a major problem in the future and get back to the debt levels they have before,” he said.

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