A re-elected Liberal Government will invest more in infrastructure by extending its Strategic Infrastructure Initiative by two years at $75 million per year. Premier Brian Gallant, the Liberal Leader, made the announcement today adjacent to a major infrastructure project in Moncton.

The Gallant Government has increased investments in infrastructure by creating the six-year, $900-million Strategic Infrastructure Initiative in 2014, allowing for roads to be restored, for schools and hospitals to be upgraded, and for new schools to be built. Today’s commitment extends that initiative by $150 million over two years, through 2022.

Some of the major infrastructure projects that could not have happened without the Gallant Government’s Strategic Infrastructure Initiative include:

• Amphitheatre Jean-Daigle in Edmundston
• Centennial and Anderson bridges in the Miramichi region
• Provincial Centre of Excellence for Youth in Campbellton
• New Brunswick Naval Centre in Bas-Caraquet
• Significant investments in the Huntsman Marine Centre in St. Andrews
• Harrisville Boulevard overpass between Moncton and Dieppe
• Completion of the Fundy Trail Parkway and beginning of the connector road from the eastern terminus of the parkway to the Sussex and Alma regions
• Fredericton International Airport expansion
• Port of Saint John modernization

“Our plan is working,” added Gallant. “Blaine Higgs said it wouldn’t work, but he was wrong. The plan is creating jobs, it is building safer roads, it is building better schools and better hospitals, and it is doing all of this without impacting our efforts to be financially responsible.”

The Gallant Liberal Government developed the multi-year New Brunswick Economic Growth Plan, which aims to grow the economy and create job opportunities for New Brunswick citizens. The plan focuses on strategic investments in infrastructure, in the responsible development of New Brunswick’s natural resources, in fostering innovation within traditional industries as well as emerging ones like cyber security, in supporting small businesses, in developing a skilled workforce, and in boosting growth sectors like tourism. The Liberal Government’s plan has successfully turned around an economy in decline. Over the past four years:

• Government contributed to the creation of 15,000 jobs;
• The economy has grown every year compared to retraction under the Conservatives;
• The unemployment rate has gone from 10.1 percent to around 8 percent;
• As of 2017, New Brunswick has the largest population in its history; and
• Government surpassed deficit targets due to our economy growing faster than the private sector has predicted, and the auditor general has confirmed that government has a budget surplus in New Brunswick for 2017-18.