Meeting with the Honorable Blaine Higgs, Premier of New Brunswick

CAMPBELLTON, NB: The Chairman and the mayors of the Restigouche Regional Service Commission traveled to Fredericton on December 13th to meet with the Premier of New Brunswick, the Honorable Blaine Higgs, and other key ministers (DTI, Education, Healthcare, Local Government).

During this meeting, members discussed several topics related to Routes 11 and 17.
− From a winter monitoring and maintenance point of view, the Premier was particularly concerned for the safety of our citizens. We have reached an agreement with the Department similar to last year’s to ensure safe roads for our citizens.
− We also shared information on the need for additional wildlife fencing requirements as well as maintenance of existing fencing.
− We identified two sections of Route 11 that are in dire need of paving, one between the Eel River Industrial Park exit and the Charlo exit and the other between the Campbellton and Atholville exits. The Department has agreed to undertake an internal examination to see if these sections can be prioritized for 2024 and 2025.

Healthcare was also a topic of discussion particularly the need for a pilot project for a daycare for healthcare workers.
− The Premier and ministers appeared quite interested in the pilot project proposal. We will continue to work closely with Vitalité to see this project move forward.

The chair of the RSC, Brad Mann expressed that

“The Premier was very receptive to our concerns for all of our files. We left the meeting with the feeling that the message was received and we look forward to having these issues dealt with.”