🚨 ANOTHER LIFE LOST IN A HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM 🚨
A 33-year-old Alberta man, Travis Smith, died while waiting for care in the emergency department of Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital.
His family says they are still searching for answers about what happened during his final hours.
They want to know why he was left in the waiting room, what treatment he received, and why he wasn't monitored more closely.
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.
Across Canada, emergency rooms are overcrowded, understaffed, and struggling under increasing pressure. Families are being left to grieve while asking the same heartbreaking question:
"Could this death have been prevented?"
No Canadian should die waiting for medical attention in a hospital. No family should have to fight through bureaucracy just to learn what happened to their loved one.
Healthcare systems exist to care for people when they are at their most vulnerable. When patients die in waiting rooms, it is a sign that something is fundamentally broken.
At HealthCare First | NB, we believe healthcare must be the top priority of government. Political talking points won't save lives. Action will.
Every province is facing healthcare challenges. Every family deserves answers. Every patient deserves timely care.
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Travis Smith as they seek the truth and mourn their loss.
🇨🇦 Canadians deserve better.
🏥 Healthcare First. Politics Second.
#HealthCareFirstNB #HealthcareCrisis #EmergencyRoomCrisis #CanadaHealthCare #PatientSafety #HealthcareReform #NewBrunswick #Alberta #FixHealthcare #PatientsFirst
❤️ LIFESAVING CARE IS NOW REACHING PATIENTS FASTER IN NEW BRUNSWICK ❤️
This is the kind of healthcare progress New Brunswickers have been waiting for.
Advanced care paramedics across New Brunswick will soon be able to administer life-saving “clot-buster” medications directly in the field during cardiac emergencies — potentially saving lives and reducing permanent heart damage before patients even reach the hospital.
The province is investing $2.5 million to equip paramedics with thrombolytics, medications that break down dangerous blood clots and restore blood flow during heart attacks.
For rural communities especially, this could mean the difference between life and death.
Paramedics say these medications can now be delivered up to 30 minutes sooner for patients in remote areas where every second matters. Faster treatment means:
Fewer deaths
Less long-term heart damage
Better recovery outcomes
Reduced pressure on emergency departments
This is also an important recognition of the advanced skills and training our paramedics already have. New Brunswick’s frontline healthcare workers continue stepping up — often under enormous pressure — to provide care in a strained healthcare system.
HealthCare First | NB supports investments that strengthen emergency response, improve rural healthcare access, and allow healthcare professionals to work to their full scope of practice.
But this must only be the beginning.
New Brunswick still faces staffing shortages, ER closures, and major healthcare gaps across the province. Real reform means continuing to invest in frontline workers, expanding services, and making healthcare the top priority for every community.
Our paramedics deserve the tools they need.
Patients deserve timely care.
And New Brunswick deserves a healthcare system built for the future.
#NBHealthcare #HealthCareFirstNB #Paramedics #NewBrunswick #HeartHealth #RuralHealthcare #HealthcareReform #ANB
🚨 TAXPAYERS PAID FOR THIS? 🚨
While New Brunswick families struggle with overcrowded ERs, doctor shortages, and crumbling healthcare services, taxpayers are now learning that 13 government staff members were sent to a Toronto Blue Jays game for a tourism promotion event.
Questions are now being raised about how much the trip cost taxpayers — including reports of expensive stadium food and entertainment expenses — but the government has refused to provide clear answers.
At the same time, communities across New Brunswick continue to fight for housing support, healthcare access, and basic public services.
This week in New Brunswick politics also saw:
• Federal housing money redirected away from Miramichi
• Accusations of “political revenge” over tourism site budget cuts
• New legislation aimed at speeding up mining project approvals
New Brunswickers deserve transparency, accountability, and leadership focused on essential services — not political games and taxpayer-funded outings.
HealthCare First | NB
A New Brunswick Political Movement
TWO BABIES. TWO EMERGENCY DELIVERIES. LESS THAN 12 HOURS APART.
This is not “just another healthcare story.” This is a warning sign for New Brunswick.
One mother from Woodstock gave birth on the sidewalk outside the emergency entrance at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital after being forced to drive more than an hour because labour and delivery services were unavailable closer to home.
Another mother delivered her baby on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway the very next day.
Both mothers and babies survived. But let’s be honest — New Brunswick simply got lucky.
No family should have to race down the highway praying they make it in time.
No father should have to deliver his child outside ER doors in 5-degree weather.
No mother in active labour should hear: “Just keep driving to Fredericton.”
This is what happens when rural healthcare services continue to collapse under staffing shortages, temporary closures, and political delays.
The parents involved made one thing very clear:
They do NOT blame nurses, doctors, paramedics, or frontline staff.
They blame a system that has allowed essential services to become unreliable.
At HealthCare First | NB, we believe healthcare should be built around PEOPLE — not around press releases, excuses, or temporary diversions.
We will not accept a province where:
Mothers are told to drive hours while in labour
Rural families are left wondering if services will be available when they need them
Communities are forced to “hope for the best”
Babies are being born outside emergency rooms and on highways because local care is unavailable
Healthcare is not a luxury for urban centres only.
It is a basic service every New Brunswicker deserves — whether you live in Woodstock, Plaster Rock, Grand Manan, Miramichi, Bathurst, Moncton, or Saint John.
Because next time, the outcome may not be so fortunate.
HealthCare First | NB believes New Brunswick families deserve safe, reliable access to maternity care close to home. Rural healthcare cannot continue operating in permanent crisis mode.
Enough excuses.
Enough “we’re working on it.”
New Brunswick families deserve better.
🚨 Healthcare Pressure Isn’t Letting Up in New Brunswick 🚨
Green Party leader David Coon is calling for retention bonuses for diagnostic imaging technologists, pointing to serious staffing shortages at Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital.
Right now:
20 vacancies in diagnostic imaging
76 shifts unfilled this summer
Staff being asked to work double weeks
Vacations cancelled
These are the professionals responsible for MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, and more — the very services people rely on for early diagnosis and life-saving treatment.
And yet, patients continue to face long wait times, while frontline workers are pushed to their limits.
💬 During the last election, retention bonuses were promised for nurses—but what about the rest of the healthcare team?
This isn’t just about one hospital.
It’s about a system under strain across the province.
👉 If we don’t fix retention, we won’t fix healthcare.
HealthCare First | NB believes it’s time for real solutions—not temporary patches.
#NBHealthcare #HealthcareCrisis #RetentionMatters #HealthCareFirstNB #NewBrunswick #FixHealthcare
Vitalité CEO Not Expecting More Funding — Despite Growing Deficits
Vitalité Health Network CEO France Desrosiers says she isn’t expecting additional funding from the provincial government—despite a rapidly growing deficit and ongoing pressure on the healthcare system.
As of December 31, Vitalité reported a $57.2 million deficit, up significantly from earlier in the year. A major portion—nearly $38 million—is tied to the continued use of travel nurses, with the rest driven by staffing, training, and rising service demand.
Desrosiers was blunt: after years of hoping for a larger budget, she doesn’t believe it’s coming.
Meanwhile, Health Minister John Dornan says the government will fund regional health authorities “appropriately,” but stopped short of confirming any increases. A long-awaited budget review is still underway, with no clear answers yet.
The reality?
New Brunswick’s healthcare system is still operating under a funding formula from 2008, based on hospitals running at 85% capacity—something that hasn’t reflected reality in years. Hospitals today are routinely over capacity, and deficits continue to climb.
Premier Susan Holt has pointed to system transformation, including AI and efficiency improvements, as part of the solution—but for frontline workers and patients, the pressure hasn’t eased.
Deficits are rising
Hospitals are over capacity
Funding remains uncertain
At some point, the system needs more than reviews and promises.
What do you think? Is reform enough—or does the system need real investment now?
#NBHealthCare #NewBrunswick #HealthcareCrisis #HealthCareFirst #NBPolitics #FixHealthcare
🚨 Wishful Thinking 🚨
Holt shoots for the moon with so-called economic boon
Premier Susan Holt is promising big things — a 10% economic growth target by 2030, averaging about 2.5% per year.
On paper, it sounds great. Higher wages. More jobs. A stronger economy.
But here’s the reality: New Brunswick has struggled economically for generations. Hitting those kinds of numbers would be a major shift — not just a small improvement.
The government says the plan will focus on boosting productivity, attracting investment, and expanding exports beyond the United States. All important goals — but so far, the strategy is light on the how.
Critics are calling it “pie in the sky,” pointing out that without clear, concrete actions, targets don’t mean much.
And that’s the key issue.
Setting goals is easy. Delivering results is what matters.
New Brunswickers don’t need more announcements — they need real economic growth they can feel:
✔️ Better-paying jobs
✔️ Lower cost of living pressure
✔️ Opportunities that keep our young people here
Until there’s a clear roadmap, many will be left wondering if this is a real plan… or just wishful thinking.
🗣️ What do you think — achievable vision, or unrealistic promise?
#NewBrunswick #EconomicGrowth #NBPolitics #Leadership #Accountability
New report contends N.B. received $497 million more in equalization payments
A new report from the Fraser Institute suggests that a “design flaw” in Canada’s equalization program has resulted in higher total payments to provinces classified as “have-not,” even as the fiscal gap between provinces has narrowed in recent years.
The report estimates that equalization payments to have-not provinces were $10.5 billion higher between fiscal years 2018–19 and 2026–27 than they would have been without the current growth formula. It further states that New Brunswick received approximately $497 million of that amount, or about $611 per person.
According to the report, the current structure includes a “fixed growth rate” rule introduced in 2009, which ties overall equalization spending to Canada’s economic growth. The authors argue that while the rule was originally intended to stabilize costs during periods of widening fiscal disparity, it now continues to increase total payments even when provincial fiscal differences have narrowed.
The report also notes that Atlantic provinces continue to rely heavily on equalization. In New Brunswick, equalization accounts for approximately 23.6 per cent of total provincial revenue.
Fraser Institute senior fellow Ben Eisen, a co-author of the report, argues that the current structure limits the program’s ability to adjust to changing economic conditions and complicates broader reform discussions.
Equalization is a federal transfer program intended to ensure that provinces have the capacity to provide comparable public services at comparable levels of taxation. The formula is based on an assessment of provincial revenue-raising capacity, which has been the subject of ongoing debate among provinces and policymakers.
Critics of the current system have raised concerns over how natural resource revenues are treated, how provincial fiscal capacity is measured, and whether differences in service delivery costs—such as geography and population density—are adequately reflected.
New Brunswick is projected to receive approximately $3.36 billion in equalization payments in the 2026–27 fiscal year, up from $1.76 billion in 2017–18.
Supporters of reform have suggested alternatives ranging from adjustments to the current formula to simpler approaches based on broader economic indicators such as provincial GDP. The equalization formula itself is set through federal legislation and has remained largely unchanged in its core structure in recent years.
New Brunswick Property Owners Hit Twice — And Most Don’t Even Know It
A recent revelation from Mary Wilson highlights something deeply concerning: New Brunswickers are being charged twice for property assessment services.
Here’s how it works:
You pay a “cost of assessment” fee directly on your property tax bill
Your local government ALSO pays fees to Service New Brunswick — which are built into your municipal taxes
Result? You pay twice.
In just one year:
$16 million collected from taxpayers
$19.5 million collected from local governments
That’s over $35 million coming from the same taxpayers — just through different channels.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Aaron Kennedy defended the practice, saying the province needs the revenue due to the deficit.
Let’s be clear:
This isn’t about fairness — it’s about government relying on hidden costs instead of fixing the system.
New Brunswick families are already stretched thin with rising costs, housing pressures, and a struggling healthcare system.
The last thing they need is double billing buried in bureaucracy.
At HealthCare First | NB, we believe in:
Transparency
Accountability
Ending hidden taxes
Because if government needs more money, they should have the honesty to say it — not quietly take it twice.
New Brunswickers deserve better.
#NBPolitics #NewBrunswick #PropertyTaxes #Accountability #HealthcareFirstNB
Healthcare First | NB – Official Response
Liberals set to roll out ‘significant’ changes to property tax system
The Holt Liberal government has announced that “significant” changes to New Brunswick’s property tax system are coming, with legislation expected in the months ahead and implementation targeted for 2027.
At this stage, details remain limited. While Aaron Kennedy has stated that the current assessment system aligns with international best practices, many New Brunswickers continue to express concerns about fairness, predictability, and rising costs—especially following sharp increases in property values since the pandemic.
Municipal leaders have already raised alarms about past decisions, including the recent assessment freeze, warning of financial strain and shifting tax burdens onto residents.
Where Healthcare First | NB Stands
As a new political party, Healthcare First | NB will be watching these developments very closely.
Property taxes directly impact affordability, cost of living, and the financial stability of families—issues that are deeply connected to healthcare outcomes. When people are financially stretched, it affects everything from mental health to access to basic needs.
Our Commitment:
We support fair and transparent taxation
We believe no New Brunswicker should be blindsided by unpredictable costs
We will advocate for policies that protect both residents and essential public services
At this point, we are taking a measured approach. Once full details of the proposed changes are released, Healthcare First | NB will provide a clear and informed position.
New Brunswickers deserve transparency—not surprises.
We will continue to stand with you and ensure your voice is part of the conversation.
— Healthcare First | NB
Ever wonder why, after you choose a party and cast your vote, nothing really changes?
It’s a question many New Brunswickers have asked themselves—no matter which party they’ve supported. For at least the past 25 years, there has been no shortage of people speaking up about healthcare. From experienced former healthcare CEOs to frustrated patients and voters like myself, the concerns have been consistent, clear, and urgent.
And yet, the outcome always feels the same.
Election after election, the Liberal Party of New Brunswick, the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick, and the Green Party of New Brunswick all campaign on fixing our healthcare system. Promises are made. Platforms are released. Hope builds.
As voters, we do our duty. We choose the party we believe will finally deliver change.
The election ends. A winner is declared.
And then… we wait.
We wait for shorter wait times.
We wait for better access.
We wait for real reform.
But too often, that change never comes.
By 2028, New Brunswickers will have another choice.
A new party—HealthCare First NB—will be on the ballot. A party built around one clear priority: fixing healthcare, while addressing education and other critical issues facing our province.
If you’re tired of the same promises leading to the same results, it may be time to vote differently.
Make your vote count in 2028.
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