https://www.newbrunswicknow.ca/

NB Broken HealthCare, Moncton, NB (2026)

09/09/2026

“Slight Delay” Means Another Month for New Brunswickers Waiting for Addiction Treatment

New Brunswick’s new addiction treatment centre on the Kingston Peninsula will not open as originally expected.

Justice Minister Rob McKee, who is also responsible for addictions and mental health services, says the facility is now expected to begin accepting patients toward the end of October — describing the change as a “slight delay” of about a month.

The facility was announced last year and is eventually expected to provide 50 treatment beds. However, it will initially open with only 35 beds, with the remaining 15 to be added gradually next year.

Those beds are badly needed.

According to the minister, there are currently approximately 140 to 200 New Brunswickers waiting for addiction treatment at any given time, with waits that can stretch from six to eight months.

That is the part of this story that should concern all of us.

When someone finally reaches the point where they are ready to ask for help with an addiction, telling them to wait six months is simply not good enough. With fentanyl and other dangerous drugs circulating in our communities, delays can have devastating consequences.

There are also legitimate questions about how this project has been managed. Residents raised concerns after the facility had already been announced, including questions about water, sewage capacity and the suitability of the site. When Brunswick News visited the property on September 2, it reported seeing no obvious signs of construction or site preparation.

The new centre is a positive and necessary investment, but 35 beds will not solve New Brunswick’s addiction-treatment shortage.

New Brunswick Now believes the province needs a much larger, coordinated treatment strategy — one that expands detoxification, residential treatment, recovery supports and long-term follow-up across the province.

The objective should not simply be announcing beds.

The objective should be getting people into treatment when they are ready for help — not six or eight months later.

www.newbrunswicknow.ca

09/08/2026

Back to the Basics in Education

Every new provincial government seems determined to reinvent New Brunswick’s education system. New plans, new programs and new approaches are announced, yet student results continue to raise serious concerns.

The Auditor General recently reported that New Brunswick students failed to meet a single provincial literacy assessment target between July 2022 and June 2025.

New Brunswick Now believes education must begin with the fundamentals: reading, writing and arithmetic.

Parents should be able to understand what their children are learning and help them at home. Most importantly, no student should graduate from Grade 12 without being able to read, write and perform basic mathematics at a proficient level.

There will always be room for innovation in education, but innovation cannot replace the basics.

Before we reinvent education again, let’s make sure our children can read, write and do the math.

www.newbrunswicknow.ca

09/07/2026

A Message to the NB Broken HealthCare Community

In this video, I want to personally thank everyone who has helped NB Broken HealthCare grow into a strong community of patients, families, healthcare workers, and New Brunswickers who simply believe we can do better.

I talk about what we have learned, why frontline healthcare workers must be part of the conversation, and why fixing healthcare requires looking at the entire system — from emergency rooms and staffing to long-term care and primary care.

I also explain how that experience contributed to the creation of New Brunswick Now, while NB Broken HealthCare will remain an independent place for healthcare discussion regardless of political affiliation.

Together, we can make a difference. Because delayed care is denied care.

09/07/2026

NEW BRUNSWICK HEALTHCARE: A BLUEPRINT FOR RENEWAL

For too long, healthcare reform in New Brunswick has been approached one problem at a time: recruit more doctors, add another program, build another facility, make another announcement.

The difficulty is that healthcare does not operate as a collection of isolated problems. It is an interconnected system.

A senior who no longer requires acute hospital care but has nowhere appropriate to go can remain in a hospital bed. That reduces surgical and emergency capacity. ERs back up. Ambulance offloads are delayed. Healthcare workers carry heavier workloads. Burnout increases, making recruitment and retention even more difficult.

New Brunswick Now’s updated healthcare blueprint begins with that reality.

We see seniors housing and appropriate-care capacity as a keystone issue because relieving that pressure makes many other healthcare problems more manageable. But it cannot stand alone.

The plan also focuses on healthcare staffing and workplace culture, stronger primary care, a long-term specialist pipeline, better rural and regional access, mental health and addictions treatment, improved digital integration, and an independent review of healthcare governance.

The common thread is accountability.

Healthcare reform should not be measured by announcements, dollars committed or programs launched. It should be measured by results: shorter waits, faster ambulance offloads, better access to appropriate care, improved staff retention, stronger specialist access, and clearer public reporting.

We also have to be realistic about money. New Brunswick has finite resources. Fiscal discipline and better healthcare are not competing objectives. Every dollar lost to duplication, poor planning or ineffective programs is a dollar that cannot reach the front line.

The goal of this blueprint is not to claim that one policy will solve healthcare. It is to establish a system-first approach built on evidence, measurable outcomes and respect for both patients and the people who provide their care.

Healthcare workers deserve a system worthy of their commitment.

Patients deserve timely, reliable care.

Taxpayers deserve accountability.

Care can’t wait. And neither can we.

Read the full blueprint:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XzqZ_BOx_T7ePS0bHNWXq1F8aqESl7dr/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=106193274501513585983&rtpof=true&sd=true

09/06/2026

HEALTHCARE DOESN’T TAKE LONG WEEKENDS OFF

Illness doesn’t check the calendar.

Heart attacks don’t wait until Tuesday. Cancer doesn’t stop progressing because it is a holiday weekend. A patient waiting for a hospital bed doesn’t suddenly need that bed less because it is Sunday.

Yet one of the questions New Brunswick needs to ask is whether we are getting the maximum possible use from the healthcare facilities, equipment and people we already have.

We have spent billions building hospitals, operating rooms, diagnostic departments and laboratories. Before automatically assuming that every problem requires another building or another major spending announcement, we should be asking a basic question:

Are we using the healthcare capacity we already own as effectively as possible — seven days a week?

That does not mean asking exhausted healthcare workers to work more hours. It means organizing the system differently: appropriate staffing across the week, expanded diagnostic hours where demand supports it, better weekend discharge planning, stronger home-care and long-term-care coordination, and operating rooms used more efficiently.

There are still significant waits in the system. New Brunswick’s provincial health plan reports 1,576 surgeries waiting longer than a year in 2026.

This is one of the principles behind New Brunswick Now’s healthcare approach.

We need to move beyond simply putting more money into the same system and start examining how that system operates.

Healthcare is a 24-hour responsibility.

Our healthcare system should increasingly be designed around that reality.

New Brunswick Now
Practical solutions. Measurable results. Accountability.

www.newbrunswicknow.ca

09/05/2026

New Brunswick Now Needs YOU!

https://newbrunswicknow.ca/membership/

“Scan the QR code or click the link to join.”

09/05/2026

🍎 N.B. HOT LUNCH PROGRAM DELAYED AT SOME SCHOOLS

New Brunswick’s new province-wide school hot lunch program will not be ready in every school when students return next week.

Education Minister Claire Johnson says the “vast majority” of schools are ready, but some are still dealing with unfinished kitchen renovations and other last-minute challenges.

The province has not yet said how many schools are affected. A complete list is expected to be released Friday.

For schools where the hot lunch program cannot begin on schedule, bagged lunches will be provided temporarily. However, no timeline has been given for when every school will be fully operational.

The province is spending $26 million on the program for the 2026–27 school year, following a pilot project involving 25 schools last year.

Under the program:

• Kindergarten to Grade 8 meals will cost $4
• Grades 9 to 12 meals will cost $5
• Families unable to pay will receive subsidized meals

This is a major province-wide program, and challenges during a rollout of this size are not unexpected. But parents deserve clear information about which schools are affected, how long the delays are expected to last, and whether the project remains on budget.

The important thing is making sure students receive the meals they were promised — and that temporary delays don’t quietly become long-term ones.

We’ll be watching Friday’s list closely.

www.newbrunswicnow.ca

09/02/2026

THANKS TO YOU — WE ARE GROWING

I want to take a moment today to personally thank everyone who has recently joined us, as well as those of you who have supported us from the very first day.

To all of the new followers of NB Broken HealthCare, thank you for being part of a growing community that continues to push for better healthcare and greater accountability in New Brunswick.

To all of our members who have joined our provincial party, New Brunswick Now, welcome. We are grateful to have you standing with us as we work to build a stronger future for New Brunswick.

I also want to sincerely thank those members who have volunteered to become Riding Associates. Taking the step to put your name behind something new takes commitment, and we are extremely grateful.

Our party is growing.

Our support is growing.

And most importantly, more New Brunswickers are deciding that they want to be part of creating a better future for this province.

Major change does not happen because of one person. It happens because people come together, get involved, speak up and refuse to accept that things can never improve.

Every new follower, every new member, every volunteer and every person who shares our message is helping us move forward.

There is still a great deal of work ahead, but I am more encouraged every day by the people who are stepping forward.

There will be major change in New Brunswick — and it will happen because of each and every one of you.

Thank you for your support, your encouragement and your belief that New Brunswick can do better.

Peter Phillips
President
New Brunswick Now

www.newbrunswicknow.ca

09/01/2026

WEBSITE UPDATE

We have a new website for New Brunswick Now, hosted in Canada. It is more secure, so your data will always be protected.

Please be sure to check it out, and why not sign up for change in New Brunswick while you are there

www.newbrunswicknow.ca

09/01/2026

NURSING HOME STAFFING: SIX MORE MINUTES A DAY IS NOT A SOLUTION

Another serious issue is emerging from New Brunswick’s long-term care system — and once again it raises questions about whether government funding is keeping pace with the actual needs of residents.

New Brunswick nursing homes are currently funded to provide 3.09 hours of direct care per resident each day. That funding determines staffing levels for resident attendants, licensed practical nurses and registered nurses.

The Holt government has committed $2.6 million in the 2026-27 budget to increase direct-care hours.

What does that mean for an individual nursing home resident?

Six additional minutes of care per day.

The problem becomes much clearer when we look at the experience of Peter Oliver, a 62-year-old resident of Kings Way Care Centre in Quispamsis.

Oliver has multiple sclerosis, uses an electric wheelchair and has the use of only one arm. He depends on staff for basic daily activities, including personal care and being transferred into bed with a lift.

According to the current provincial funding model, his nighttime routine is expected to require about eight minutes of staff time.

In reality, it can take approximately 30 minutes.

This isn't a criticism of nursing home employees. Quite the opposite.

Workers are being asked to provide increasingly complex care with staffing levels that simply haven't kept pace with the needs of today's nursing home residents.

The New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes says some residents are even paying privately for additional home-care workers, foot-care services and other assistance because nursing homes don't have enough staff available to provide everything residents need.

The association has proposed a five-year plan that would gradually increase funded direct care from the current 3.09 hours to 4.1 hours per resident per day, bringing New Brunswick closer to Nova Scotia's level.

The proposal was submitted to government in July. According to the association, it has yet to receive a response.

This issue is bigger than six minutes.

New Brunswickers are living longer, and many people entering nursing homes today have significantly more complicated medical and personal-care needs than residents did years ago.

Our funding and staffing model has to recognize that reality.

Building more nursing-home beds is important, but beds alone don't provide care.

People do.

If New Brunswick is going to promise seniors dignity and quality of life in long-term care, we must also make sure there are enough people available to actually provide that care.

Six minutes a day isn't going to solve that problem.

Sign up for change - www.newbrunswicknow.ca

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