Greens Would Create Dedicated Rural Affairs Department

The leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick says he would make rural New Brunswick a priority if elected.

Speaking in Hartland on Thursday, David Coon said a Green government would create a Department of Rural Affairs.

Coon said the new department would address issues that are priorities for rural New Brunswickers, whether it is social, economic or environmental.

“There is no New Brunswick without rural New Brunswick. Successive governments, however, have behaved as if, well, they’re ashamed of the rural nature of our province, even though we’re largely rural,” said Coon.

Coon made the announcement along the Saint John River, where water levels are among their lowest in decades to ongoing drought conditions.

He said farmers are concerned about the drought, but despite the fact it is affecting so many people, it has not yet been discussed this election.

“I think it’s because of the low priority that government after government has put on rural New Brunswick,” said Coon.

“When I listen to Mr. Higgs and Mr. Vickers, they don’t seem to get rural communities. They don’t seem to understand the needs of farmers and what’s involved in actually making a living year-in and year-out dependent on the weather. They just don’t seem to get the fact that rural New Brunswickers now are bearing the brunt of the consequences of the climate crisis and they see it every day.”

Coon said former Tory premier Richard Hatfield had a rural development branch, which was later eliminated under Liberal premier Frank McKenna.